A mum has been asking other parents if she's alone with her mattress hoovering habit.
Sharing a photo of the dirt that came off three mattresses after just a week, Rachel Bates said it's something she's always done.
But with her other half calling it 'strange', she took to the Family Lowdown Tips & Ideas Facebook group to find out whether other people do the same.
"Does anyone else hoover their mattresses in between bedding changes !! my fella said it’s strange," said the mum-of-two, from Baguley, Wythenshawe.
But then adding a photo of the grime collected in her Shark hoover after just a week, she added: "Well I think I have proved him wrong. Just for the people who say they don’t do this !! See this pic, it’s three mattresses, 1 week's worth."
Rachel was inundated with replies from people - and it seems not everyone is in agreement on what level of cleaning is necessary in our homes.
One mum said: "At the risk of sounding like a minger…. Why?!?!? If you sleep on a sheet on a mattress protector is that not enough???"
While another added: "Blimey who has time to hoover all the mattresses every week, certainly not me. Lucky if I get time to hoover the house once a week."
But others told Rachel she's not alone.
"Yep of course," said one mum. "Skin dust etc land on the bed and I'm sure it will penetrate a sheet, even though I use mattress protectors too, also spray with antibacterial spray and then Febreze and leave to air with ventilation for the day before remake the bed, you spend a lot of your life in that space so I damn sure make sure it's as clean as possible."
"Always," said another. "And when I strip my bed, I always do it in the morning and leave it stripped to air all day before making again."
And it's not just mums who are in on the act. One dad said he takes it a step further, saying: "I sprinkle and rub in bicarbonate of soda on it and let it settle for a bit then hoover it up now and then to help freshen up."
Rachel, whose post attracted hundreds of comments, said she was surprised by the response and shocked that so many people do the same.
"I honestly thought I was the only one," she said. "I didn’t think it would blow up like that."
Do you hoover your mattress? Do you have a cleaning tip you swear by that other families would benefit from? Let us know in the comments.
