🔗 Save $6,000 A Year with My Complete Amish Home-Saving Method I teach: https://eliasyoder.com Discover the easiest way to wash your pillows and get them looking fresh, clean, and comfortable again! 🧼✨
In this video, I’ll show you a simple step-by-step method for washing your pillows at home, removing dirt, sweat, stains, and unwanted odors without making the process complicated.
Whether your pillows just need a refresh or haven’t been cleaned in a while, these easy cleaning tips can help bring them back to life.
Watch until the end for helpful tips on washing, drying, and keeping your pillows fresh for longer!
👍 Like the video if you found it helpful, and subscribe for more easy cleaning tips and household hacks!
#CleaningHacks #PillowCleaning #LaundryTips #CleanHome #HomeHacks
In this video, I’ll show you a simple step-by-step method for washing your pillows at home, removing dirt, sweat, stains, and unwanted odors without making the process complicated.
Whether your pillows just need a refresh or haven’t been cleaned in a while, these easy cleaning tips can help bring them back to life.
Watch until the end for helpful tips on washing, drying, and keeping your pillows fresh for longer!
👍 Like the video if you found it helpful, and subscribe for more easy cleaning tips and household hacks!
#CleaningHacks #PillowCleaning #LaundryTips #CleanHome #HomeHacks
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Here is a thing that will trouble you once you know it, and I tell you not to fret you
00:05but to move you to act.
00:08You wash your pillowcases every week, faithfully, but the pillow inside, the one your face presses
00:16against seven, eight hours a night, you have very likely never washed in your life.
00:22And all that while it has been drinking up the sweat and the oils of every night's sleep
00:28and the dust and the dead skin until, and this is the plain truth of it, a pillow you have
00:35slept on for years weighs near double what it did new, and a good part of that added weight
00:41is not stuffing but all that your body has left in it.
00:45So today I am going to show you the right way to wash your pillows and bring them back to
00:51fresh, fluffy, sweet smelling and light again.
00:55For every kind of pillow there is, so the thing you lay your head on each night is as
01:00clean as the case you put over it.
01:03Let me show you.
01:04Here is the thing to understand first, before you wash a single pillow, for it is the one
01:10rule that saves you from ruining a good pillow.
01:13Not every pillow is washed the same way, and some must not be washed the usual way at all,
01:19so you must know what your pillow is filled with before you begin.
01:22A pillow of feathers or down is washed one way, a pillow of the man-made polyester fiber another,
01:30and a foam pillow, the solid kind or the shredded kind, must never go tumbling in a machine at
01:37all, for it will tear apart.
01:39So the very first thing, always, is to find the little tag on your pillow and read it, for
01:45it tells you what is inside and how it may be washed.
01:48And if there is no tag, I will tell you how to know and how to treat each kind.
01:53Know your pillow first, then wash it right.
01:56Now let me take you through them.
01:58Quick word before we go further.
02:00My name is Esther Yoder, and the old household ways handed down to me, the kind I am sharing
02:06today, and a great many more besides, are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
02:12I have gathered the whole of them into a book, and you will find it at EliasYoder.com.
02:18If today's tips serve you, that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught
02:23me lives, all in the one place.
02:26Now to the pillows.
02:28My grandmother kept her pillows fresh and sweet for many long years, feather pillows,
02:33some of them older than she cared to say.
02:35And she had a saying about the bed that I have given you before and will give again, for
02:40it is true, that you cannot rest clean on a foul bed.
02:44And the pillow is the very closest part of the bed to you, right against your face and
02:49your breath all night, so it above all must be kept sweet.
02:53And she leaned, as she did for so much, on the sun and the fresh air.
02:58For she said air and sunlight were the finest fresheners a bed ever had and free to all.
03:03So her ways run through the wash line and the sunny yard, and mine will too.
03:08But let me give you the washing of each kind first.
03:12Let us begin with the most common, the pillow of man-made fiber, the polyester filling, which
03:18is the sort most folks have, soft and fluffy and cheap.
03:22These are the easiest, for they wash well, and most may go right in the washing machine
03:28for those who have one.
03:29And here is the great secret with these, the one thing to get right.
03:33Wash two pillows at once, not one.
03:36For a single pillow washing alone will throw the machine off its balance, all its weight to
03:42one side, and set it thumping and lurching.
03:44But two pillows, side by side, balance each other and the machine runs smooth.
03:50So wash them in pairs.
03:52Use a warm or hot wash if the label allows, a gentle cycle, and only a little mild soap,
03:58less than you think.
04:00For too much soap is the great trouble with pillows, as I will come to.
04:04And then, and heed this, run them through a second rinse.
04:08An extra rinse with no soap, to be sure every bit of soap is carried out.
04:13For those without a machine, you wash these fiber pillows by hand in a tub of warm soapy
04:18water, pressing and squeezing the water through them, the same as a machine would.
04:23And then rinsing and rinsing again in clean water, till the water runs clear with no suds.
04:30Either way, gentle wash, little soap, extra rinse.
04:34Now the feather and down pillows, the fine old kind.
04:38And these too can be washed, and washing brings them back to a wonderful fresh fluffiness.
04:44But they want a gentler hand.
04:46You wash them much the same, two at a time for balance, on a gentle cycle in warm water,
04:52but with even less soap, the barest bit.
04:55For feathers and down hold on to soap dreadfully, and it is the very thing that mats them.
05:01So the least soap, and then two or three extra rinses.
05:05For you must get every trace of soap out of down, or it dries stiff and clumped, instead
05:11of soft and lofty.
05:12By hand the same, warm water, the least soap, and rinse and rinse and rinse.
05:19Feathers reward a gentle wash, and punish a soapy one, so go easy.
05:25And now the foam pillows.
05:27And here I must give you a firm warning, for this is where folks ruin a good pillow.
05:32The foam pillows, whether the one solid piece of memory foam, or the kind filled with shredded
05:38foam bits, must never go into a washing machine, and never into a hot dryer, for the tumbling
05:45and the wringing, tear the foam apart and destroy it, and the heat can ruin it besides.
05:51So a foam pillow you never machine wash.
05:54Instead, you clean it by hand and by air.
05:57Take the case off, and spot clean any stained or soiled place with a cloth dipped in mild
06:04soapy water, dabbing gently, not soaking it.
06:07Then wipe it with a clean damp cloth to rinse, press out what water you can, gently, without
06:14wringing or twisting it, and let it dry fully in the air.
06:18And for the freshening of a foam pillow, which cannot be washed through, the great friends
06:24are the baking soda and the sun, which I will come to for all pillows in a moment.
06:29So, foam is spot cleaned and aired, never washed in the machine.
06:35Know if yours is foam before you ever put it in water.
06:39Now here is the step that folk get wrong more than any other, and it matters more than the
06:44washing itself, so hear me well.
06:47The drying.
06:48A pillow that is not dried all the way through, clear to the very center, is worse than a pillow
06:54not washed at all, for the damp shut up inside a thick pillow breeds mildew and a musty rot
07:00in its heart that you will never get out, and then the pillow truly is ruined and must
07:06be thrown away.
07:07So you must dry a washed pillow thoroughly, completely, to the very middle, and this takes
07:13far longer than you would think, for a pillow is thick and holds the damp deep inside.
07:19If you use a dryer, dry the fiber and feather pillows on a low or a gentle heat.
07:24Low so as not to scorch or clump them.
07:27And dry them a good long while, longer than seems needful.
07:32And here is the old trick that makes all the difference, and it is a good one.
07:36Put a couple of clean dry towels in the dryer with the pillows, to help draw the moisture
07:41out and speed the drying.
07:43And best of all, toss in two or three clean tennis balls, or a couple of balls of clean
07:49rolled up socks, or a knotted sock with a ball inside.
07:53Those balls tumble and thump against the pillow as it dries, and beat it and fluff it and
07:59break up the clumps of wet filling, so the pillow dries even, and comes out fluffy and
08:04lofty instead of flat and lumpy.
08:07It is a wonderful trick.
08:08The balls do the fluffing for you.
08:11And whether you dry by machine or not, the finest drying of all, my grandmother's way, is the
08:17sun and the open air.
08:19Hang or lay your washed pillows out in the bright sun and the moving air on a fine dry day,
08:25and turn them and plump them now and again.
08:28And the sun and air dry them clear through and sweeten them besides.
08:32For sunlight is a natural freshener that leaves bedding smelling of nothing so much as clean
08:38itself.
08:39Even for those who dry in a machine, a spell in the sun after finishes the job beautifully.
08:45And do not, ever, put a pillow back in its case and onto the bed until you are certain sure
08:52it is bone dry, clear to the center.
08:55Press it, squeeze it, feel deep into the middle of it for any cool damp.
09:01And if there is the least dampness, dry it more.
09:04Bone dry, always, before it goes back on the bed.
09:08Now how often should this be done?
09:11Not near so often as the pillow case, but more often than never, which is what most folks
09:17do.
09:18Twice a year is a good rule for washing your pillows.
09:22At the changing of the seasons, spring and fall is easy to remember.
09:27But between those washings, here is how you keep them fresh, with no washing at all.
09:32And this is where the baking soda and the sun earn their keep, for every kind of pillow,
09:38foam and all.
09:40Every few weeks, strip the case and sift a light layer of baking soda over the pillow,
09:47and let it sit an hour or more to drop the odors and the damp.
09:52Then brush or vacuum it off, just as I showed you for the mattress.
09:57And air your pillows in the sun regular, every fine week or two if you can, laying them out
10:03for an hour or two, both sides, which dries out the sweat they take up and freshens them.
10:10Soda to deodorize and sun to freshen, regular, and your pillows stay wholesome all year and
10:18want the full washing only twice.
10:20And two more plain bits of good keeping.
10:24The first, use a pillow protector, a washable cover that goes on under the pillow case,
10:30just as I told you of the mattress cover.
10:33It takes the sweat and the oils and the wear, and you wash it easily and often with the sheets.
10:40And the pillow itself stays clean and new far longer and wants washing far less.
10:46It is the cheapest and easiest way to keep a pillow sweet, and it saves the pillow.
10:52And the second, know when a pillow is past saving, for even the best kept pillow does not last forever.
11:00Here is the old test, fold the pillow in half and press the air out and let go.
11:07A good pillow springs back open, a worn out one stays folded, limp and dead, it's loft gone for good.
11:15When a pillow no longer springs back, no washing will restore it, for the stuffing itself is
11:22broken down, and it is time for a new one. Wash and keep the good ones, let the dead ones
11:29go.
11:29Now think a moment about why we wash the case religiously every week, and never once think
11:36of the pillow inside it, sleeping year after year on a thing we would be ashamed to see the true
11:42state of.
11:42It is worse than a plot, for no one had to arrange it. There is money in selling a new
11:49pillow every
11:50year or two to folk who let the old one go foul and flat, and none at all in teaching
11:56you that a good
11:57pillow, washed twice a year and aired in the sun and kept in a cover, stays fresh and lasts many
12:04years.
12:05So the plain old knowing of how to wash and keep a pillow just stopped being handed down,
12:12because no one profits by your pillow lasting. My grandmother's feather pillows lasted longer than
12:19some marriages, kept sweet with a wash and the sun, and somewhere between her day and ours we forgot
12:26the pillow wanted washing at all. The mending of it is a wash, the sun, and a little keeping. You
12:33read
12:33the tag and know your pillow, and wash the fiber and feather kinds two at a time with little soap
12:40and a
12:40good extra rinse, and spot clean and air the foam ones. You dry them thoroughly, clear to the center,
12:47with a couple of clean balls to fluff them, and finish them in the sun. You freshen them between
12:54with baking soda and sunlight, and you keep them in a washable cover, and you let go the ones that
13:01no
13:01longer spring back. And the thing you lay your head on each night is as clean and fresh as the
13:07case over
13:08it, and your good pillows last you many long years. That is how it comes home, one washed pillow,
13:15one sunny afternoon at a time, the keeping of your own rest back in your own hands.
13:21So here is what I would ask of you. This week, take your own pillow out of its case, and
13:26give it the
13:27fold and spring test I showed you, and if it passes, wash it the right way for its kind, and
13:33dry it well,
13:34and air it in the sun, and then come back and tell me in the comments how much fresher and
13:39fluffier it
13:40came back, and how much lighter, for I do love to hear of a good night's sleep made sweeter.
13:45And tell me too, while you are there, your county and the age of your house, for the damp climates
13:51make
13:52the thorough drying matter all the more, and the old houses have the sunny yards and the good lines for
13:58airing bedding, and I learn from every one of you how it goes where you live. And if your own
14:03mother or
14:04grandmother had a way of keeping a pillow sweet that I have not named here, tell me that most of
14:09all,
14:09for that is how this goes. We share what we were given. I read every comment, and I learn from
14:15you
14:15the way the old women learned from one another across the fence line, one household and one season at a
14:21time. Next time I will show you how to wash and keep the rest of your bedding sweet and fresh
14:27and lasting,
14:27the quilts and the comforters and the good wool blankets, each in its right way, so that the whole
14:33bed, top to bottom, is kept the good old way and lasts you many years. There is a right and
14:40an old way
14:40to keep a household's bedding that runs on a gentle wash, the sun, and a little care rather than on
14:46buying a new. But this week, you start with the one pillow. You read its tag and know its kind.
14:52You wash it
14:53right, two at a time and gentle and with little soap. You dry it thoroughly clear to the center with
14:59a
14:59couple of balls to fluff it. And you finish it in the sun and keep it in a cover after.
15:04And you will
15:05understand, as my grandmother did at her own beds, that the pillow is the closest part of the bed to
15:11you and wants keeping most of all. That a washed pillow must be dried bone dry to its very heart,
15:18or it
15:18is worse than not washed. And that a good pillow, rightly kept, comes back fresh and fluffy and sweet
15:25and lasts you many long years. The household kept the plain old way is the one that remembers how the
15:31old women kept every pillow sweet and lofty, with a gentle wash, a couple of balls to fluff it, and
15:38the
15:38sun on the line. And that is a thing we are only just starting to remember.
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