The ultimate clean bedroom checklist

Nobody wants to spend the night in an unclean or ick-inducing bedroom. But where to start? Sometimes the thought of doing a deep clean of your bedroom can feel a little overwhelming. If you’re unsure of the best way to go about cleaning your bedroom – or you just want to ensure you don’t miss anything essential – we’re here to help.

So read on below for our step-by-step guide to turning your bedroom into a peaceful and pleasant-smelling haven.

The ultimate clean bedroom checklist

• Step one: Take out the trash
• Step two: Clear away your clothes
• Step three: Dust your surfaces
• Step four: Vacuum the floor
• Step five: Strip your bed
• Step six: Rotate your mattress
• How often should I clean my mattress?
• How do I clean my mattress?

Step one: Take out the trash

The first step is the simplest – but don’t underestimate the difference it can make. A wastebasket in your bedroom is a great idea, but if you don’t keep on top of emptying it, it can make for an off-putting sight. There’s nothing less conducive to a restful atmosphere than an overflowing bin! So, your first step is to empty it – it’ll instantly make you feel a whole lot better.

Of course, if you don’t have a wastebasket in your bedroom, you’ll probably find that bits of rubbish have accumulated in random places – in a drawer of your bedside table, piled on top of a dresser, or even just dropped on the floor. We don’t need to tell you that this will not make your bedroom feel welcoming! So grab a small bin bag and gather it up – and order yourself a bin while you’re at it.

Step two: Clear away your clothes

Another all-too-common bedroom issue is dirty clothing. We all know just how quickly piles of clothing can accumulate – it can feel like a few days is enough to generate mountains of laundry!

Whether you try your best to keep them off the floor or just leave them wherever they’ve fallen, dirty clothes can make your bedroom feel cramped at best – and at worst, they can add an unpleasant odour that will not help you drift off at night.

So, your next step is to pick up any dirty clothes and put them in the washing machine. If you don’t have a laundry hamper, we’d recommend getting an open-top hamper that fits in your bedroom. The easier it is to put your clothes straight in the hamper when you get undressed, the less likely you’ll be to drop them on the floor.

Step three: Dust your surfaces

Dust is one of the most common allergens. As a result, a dusty bedroom can easily disrupt your sleep, and that means dusting is a key part of any clean bedroom checklist.

Begin by dusting any flat surfaces, moving any ornaments as you go to make sure you don’t miss anything. Then, you’ll want to tackle your curtains or blinds. This step is easy to overlook, but it’s extremely important – if you have heavy curtains or venetian blinds, in particular, dust can gather quickly and disrupt your sleep.

Use a duster with a long pole to get to hard-to-reach areas, or you can use your vacuum cleaner on a low setting and with the appropriate attachment.

Step four: Vacuum the floor

Now you’ve moved any rubbish and picked up your dirty clothes, you can finally see your bedroom floor again – but you might not be all that happy with what you see! If you’ve been struggling to navigate around your bedroom, chances are you won’t have been cleaning the floor regularly. And that means it’s probably not going to be as fresh as you might like.

If you have carpet in your bedroom, you’ll want to give it a good vacuum. Try your best to get under any furniture – especially the bed itself. If you’ve got hardwood flooring in your bedroom, you may want to give it a good mop too, especially if it’s been a little while. It may feel like a lot of elbow grease, but trust us – it’s worth it.

Step five: Strip your bed

At last, it’s time to tackle the most important part of any clean bedroom checklist – the bed itself! Dusting your surfaces and taking out the trash is all well and good, but if your bed isn’t fresh, you won’t see the real benefit of a clean bedroom.

The first step is to strip the bed and put fresh bedding on. Ideally, you should change your sheets once a week, or once a fortnight at most. That’s because your sheets will quickly accumulate musty odours and stains, even if you’re in the habit of showering before bed. And of course, if you let your pets sleep on your bed, that’s another major source of dust and grime to contend with!

Once you’ve replaced your sheets, put the old bedding in the wash, making sure you use the right temperature. That way, you’ll be prepared with clean bedding for next time, making the whole process much smoother and less onerous.

Step six: Rotate your mattress

While you’re changing your sheets, there’s one extra step that many people overlook, but which can make or break your bedroom cleaning process: rotating the mattress.

Your mattress is fundamental to the quality of your sleep, and keeping it fresh and clean can make an enormous difference. Investing in a quality mattress is a must, but you also want to make sure you maintain it properly – and that means rotating and flipping it regularly. This allows you to vary the part of the mattress that bears the most weight and reduce wear and tear.

We’d recommend rotating or flipping your mattress once a month in an alternating fashion – so, rotating it by 180 degrees in month one, flipping it over in month two, then rotating again in month three, and so on.

Of course, this will rely on you having a double-sided mattress, something we’d strongly recommend. If you’d like to know more, we’ve written about the challenges that come from a one-sided mattress here.

How often should I clean my mattress?

We can’t overstate the importance of mattress maintenance for a good night’s sleep – and that means you’ll sometimes need to do more than just rotate it. You’ll also want to clean your mattress regularly in order to ensure it doesn’t accumulate unpleasant odours or unsightly stains.

How frequently you’ll need to clean your mattress depends on various factors. In the first instance, we recommend using a mattress protector. This will help prevent your mattress from becoming stained or marked, while also improving the overall comfort of your bed.

Generally speaking, we’d recommend doing a deep clean of your mattress every 6-12 months, alongside spot cleaning any spills as they happen.

How do I clean my mattress?

Cleaning your mattress might sound like a time-consuming job, but with the right tools it can actually be a quick and painless process. Here’s how to remove stains from your mattress quickly and easily:

1. Fill two bowls with warm water. Add soap to one of the bowls.
2. Take a clean cloth and dampen it in the soapy water.
3. Use the cloth to lightly sponge any stains in a circular motion.
4. Use the soap-free water to clean the cloth as you go.
5. Once the stain has been removed, dry the area with another cloth.
6. Leave the mattress to dry, ideally in a ventilated room with an opened window.

For more details on how to keep your mattress clean, as well as other maintenance tips, read our in-depth post on mattress care and maintenance.