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Did you understand that the National Sleep Foundation recommends you exchange your pillow every one to two years?
This could not look like lengthy, however pillows undergo fairly a bit of damage and tear. And since you relaxation your face on them, they will accumulate fairly just a few disagreeable issues like saliva, pores and skin oils, make-up, lifeless pores and skin cells, and sure, even dust mites and mold.
So, if the common particular person is changing mattress pillows that always, what occurs to all of the outdated pillows? Luckily, these squishy cushions can nonetheless be helpful after their days on the mattress are executed.
Take a take a look at just a few inventive methods to place outdated pillows to make use of and hold them out of landfills.
1. Make Floor Cushions
If you’ve got a number of outdated pillows to reuse, making bigger flooring cushions is one sensible resolution. Perfect for impromptu video gaming, film events, or gathering round board video games, just a few massive cushions make a welcome addition to any household room or playroom.
It may be as simple as discovering pre-made cushion covers (some could match two or extra mattress pillows). Or you can sew your individual covers with materials that match your decor. Check out Homedit for some inspirational concepts. Or, make a nifty lengthy cushion/pillow mattress through the use of outdated pillowcases, as described on It’s Always Autumn (it’s tremendous easy!).
2. Make Pet Beds
You know how one can spend dozens of {dollars} on a elaborate mattress for Fido or Fluffy, but they’d nonetheless quite curl up in your soiled laundry? A pet mattress made out of your outdated pillows can clear up two issues in a single go.
First, it’s a simple approach to repurpose pillows and second, it smells such as you and never a random manufacturing facility so your pet could also be extra apt to nap there. Check out Handimania’s easy outdated sweatshirt pet mattress, do this no-sew pet mattress from Instructables, or re-stuff an current pet mattress together with your outdated pillow.
3. Use as Packing & Moving Material
Keep outdated pillows round to make use of as packing filler or for transferring. Vacuum storage baggage generally is a good approach to compress them till wanted. Then, when you’ve got a field of delicate objects to ship or wish to defend furnishings from scrapes, you’ve got them helpful. This is an effective manner to make use of strong reminiscence or latex foam pillows for the reason that supplies may be lower to dimension.
4. Make Throw Pillows
No must pay large bucks for designer throw pillows after they’re one of many easiest DIY stitching tasks round. You can compress the filling and make them into square throws with limitless potentialities for DIY or store-bought covers, flip them into smaller travel-size pillows, or flip them into oblong bolster pillows for a bench or daybed.
5. Seal Up Drafty Doors
Drafty doorways and home windows can have your AC or heater working extra time, equaling a number of wasted power. Draft stoppers are a reasonably easy DIY challenge, and a great way to reuse pillow stuffing.
Try this nifty draft stopper repurposing lengthy socks, or this one utilizing outdated pillowcases. Place them in entrance of exterior doorways, by drafty window sills, or to maintain sure rooms cooler or hotter. They could make a cute housewarming present, too!
6. Make a Gardening Cushion
Gardening is a rewarding and superior passion, however all that weeding and sowing generally is a little robust on the knees. Rather than shopping for a brand new knee cushion, double up an outdated pillow in a sturdy pillowcase. Or in the event you’re artful, make a canopy with outdoor-safe cloth so it’s extra sturdy.
Check out the tutorial on Sum of Their Stories for a helpful gardening kneeling pad stuffed with pillow stuffing. And The Bumbling Bee has a tutorial for a pad with a detachable cowl.
7. Donate for Reuse or Recycle
Secondhand shops and charities like Goodwill, Easter Seals, The Purple Heart Foundation, and the Salvation Army settle for all textiles for donation so long as they aren’t “moist or contaminated with hazardous supplies.” If they will’t promote the pillows, these organizations have relationships with textile recyclers so there’s an excellent likelihood they’ll get recycled.
You might also have some luck donating outdated pillows to an area animal shelter or wildlife rehabbers (or, flip them into pet beds and donate these). You may additionally give them away by way of Craigslist or Freecycle to somebody who may get a little bit extra use from them.
You might need a textile recycling facility close by that makes a speciality of materials and fibers and that accepts pillows. Some will solely take linens, and foam pillows may be greatest taken to mattress or foam recyclers.
Check Earth911 Recycling Search or search for American Textile Recycling Service bins (they settle for family textiles and are accessible in a number of states). If your pillows are feather or down, you may empty the feather into your compost bin.
Making Your Pillows Last Longer
There are additionally just a few methods to increase the lifespan of your pillows. The first is to purchase good-quality, sustainable pillows that are likely to hold their form longer. Product assessment web site Sleep Like The Dead finds that latex foam, buckwheat, and down pillows are typically extra sturdy than down various and polyester pillows.
The second most essential factor you are able to do is use a pillow protector. These zippered circumstances go instantly on the pillow, beneath the pillowcase. Protectors are usually cheap and forestall moisture and a few allergens from reaching your pillow, prolonging the lifetime of your pillow.
Other useful suggestions embody recurrently swapping the facet of the pillow you sleep on usually, following the producer’s washing directions, and recurrently fluffing the pillow.
Have outdated bedding, too? Check out these tricks to see what to do with old sheets.
Feature picture courtesy of Kim Love. Originally revealed on June 24, 2015, this text was up to date in January 2022.
