5 Bedding Hacks That Will Help You Get a Deep Night’s Sleep

Something so simple could be holding you back from getting your best possible night’s sleep: your bedding! Your bed should be the most comfortable spot in your home. So follow these easy tips to freshen your bedding and boost its snuggly factor, and you’ll be on your way to the restorative slumber you deserve.

Soften blankets with conditioner.

When you crawl under the covers, the last thing you want is to be met with a scratchy blanket. Luckily, softening it is easy, says Bailey Carson of Handy.com. “Just as hair conditioner smooths your tresses, so does it soften blanket fibers.” Simply submerge the blanket in warm water and massage in a squirt of conditioner. Let sit for 10 minutes, rinse and let air-dry. The conditioner plumps fibers, making it soft as silk. Aah!

Fluff up your comforter with tennis balls.

If your comforter is falling a bit more flat than full, just toss it in your dryer with two to three clean tennis balls. “It’s such a quick and easy way to restore a limp comforter,” promises Carson. “Simply set your dryer to tumble dry — the tennis balls will bounce around the machine, breaking up the condensed or compacted filling in the blanket, making it nice and fluffy by the end of the cycle.”

Freshen your mattress with a lavender spritz.

In a spray bottle, mix one cup of water, ⅓ cup of vinegar and a few drops of sleep-inducing lavender essential oil. Spritz your mattress, let dry, then dust it with a bit of baking soda; allow it to sit a few hours before vacuuming. Vinegar kills bacteria while baking soda absorbs moisture.

Secure a duvet instantly with strategic binder clips.

You love your comforter, but hate wrestling it into its pretty duvet cover. The fix: binder clips. “Tuck the comforter into the duvet and secure each corner with a clip,” says Carson. Shake out the whole thing—the comforter will fill in evenly — and remove the clips. If the insert bunches up at night, consider securing the corners with safety pins. “They’re discreet, so you can leave them in.”

Get pillows pristine with a vinegar bath.

Pillows trap skin cells and body oils — even when covered by a pillowcase — and that can make them so yellow that you can see it through a pillowcase! The fix: Soak pillows in two cups of hot water, one cup of hydrogen peroxide and ½ cup of vinegar for an hour, then throw in a regular wash cycle. Says Carson, “The peroxide and vinegar destroy dead skin cells, making your pillow like new.”

This story originally appeared in our print magazine.