Nancy Birtwhistle's dry cleaning foam recipe is perfect for refreshing bedding and tackling stubborn stains
Don't bother with chemical cleaning agents at the dry cleaners when this natural alternative works just as well
Duvets, pillows, bedspreads and mattresses are often left unwashed longer than we'd like to admit. But because of their bulkiness, it's hard to achieve a thorough clean at home. That was until we found Nancy Birtwhistle's dry-cleaning foam recipe.
There are so many household items we should be cleaning more regularly, and both pillows and duvets rank very high on that list. They get neglected because of their size and shape, making them hard to throw into the washing machine. And the dry cleaners are expensive, not to mention they tend to use harsh chemical cleaners.
Before you give up hope, the home expert Nancy Birtwhistle has taken to her Instagram, @nancy.birtwhistle, to share her genius dry cleaning foam recipe. It'll make quick work of your yellow, grubby soft furnishings all without using those nasty chemical cleaning agents.
Nancy Birtwhistle's 'dry cleaning foam' recipe
While duvets, pillows, bedspreads and more aren't exactly on your list of daily cleaning habits, they should be cleaned more often, and luckily, this method will help you do that with ease.
"Now, when it comes to cleaning those huge items that are too big for the washing machine, duvets, I've got a bedspread here, large pillows, that sort of thing. Rather than the toxic chemicals that are often used at the dry cleaners, plus the expense, I'll show you how to make and use my dry cleaning foam," says Nancy.
"You need a fairly large bowl, and then into that I'm adding washing soda and green bleach, boiling water to activate the two, stir it until they dissolve and then add cold water and eco-friendly washing up liquid. And that's the solution ready to go," she continues.
The precise recipe, as found in Nancy's book Clean Magic, is as follows:
- 4 tbsp washing soda
- 2 tsp green bleach
- 100ml just-boiled water
- 150ml cold water
- 20ml eco-friendly washing-up liquid
- Sugar shaker filled with bicarb for tougher areas (optional)
If you've got one of the best duvets on the market and it's rather large, then you might want to follow Nancy's lead and fold it in half. It's also worth putting something down underneath the item you're cleaning to keep the mess to a minimum.
"Now this bedspread is huge, so I've decided to fold it in half and clean it on the floor and close up, you can see it is really grubby along this frill," says Nancy.
"So what I'm doing is agitating that solution to create lots of suds and then just use the bubble and an exfoliating glove to work at this bedspread. Really concentrating on the grubby areas and as I do a section I then use a clean dry old tea towel to remove that loosened dirt," she explains.
"Keep agitating your solution to create more suds as you're working. Now, when my workout was finished, I could either dry it near an open window. But I decided instead to peg it out in the rain, and then the sunshine whitened and brightened it even further," Nancy states.
Should the weather be misbehaving during summer, then utilise your dehumidifier to help dry the item indoors quickly.
Having a cleaning method like this to hand will be a big help when you clean your pillows as often as you should.
