Putting on fitted bed sheets has to be one of the most annoying chores of all time. Particularly annoying if your bed is against a wall, like mine has been.
I would kneel at one corner of my mattress, beads of sweat forming on my forehead as I tried to wrangle the heavy foam and springs up against my knee so that I could tuck the sheet on underneath. Oftentimes, by the time I was on the third corner of the sheet, I’d realise I’d put the whole thing on the wrong way ‘round and would have to start all over again.
Even now, with my bed in the middle of my room, it’s still a painful process. So much so that, as much as I love fresh sheets, I often find myself changing them far less often than I probably should.
Enter this fitted bed sheet hack. I stumbled across it a couple months ago and it’s since changed my (chores) life. Are you ready for it? When putting on a sheet, the tag inside the sheets… always goes on the top left. Or bottom right.
Yep, who knew? (Well, actually, two fellow writers on our story brainstorm this morning. But another hadn’t. And I, of course, hadn’t either. So, I felt compelled to share.) But yes, once the tag is matched to either of those two corners, it’ll always be put on the right way ‘round.
Which is handy considering most experts recommend you wash your sheets every one to two weeks. Sound excessive? Not so much when you think about the fact sheets can accumulate significant amounts of dirt, dead skin cells, body oils, sweat and even — and this’ll really have you convinced — dust mites’ carcasses and their fecal matter.
Side note: if you aren’t sure what dust mites are (I wasn’t), they’re microscopic creatures that live off dead skin cells and reproduce at prolific rates. “At any given time, there can be tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dust mites living in your mattress and bedding,” according to the American Sleep Foundation. Lovely.
“Some people should wash their sheets even more than once a week,” the Foundation continues. “If you have pets, and particularly if you let them sleep in your bed, a wash every 3-4 days is recommended.”
“It’s also recommended to wash sheets more often in the warm summer months, as you will likely get more sweat on your bedding. Likely, if you have seasonal allergies in the spring or summer, washing sheets more often may help relieve symptoms.”
And now, with this sheet hack, it’ll be that much easier.
Read more stories from The Latch and follow us on Facebook.