My electric blanket was in need of a good clean (Image: Nicola Roy)
Every year I try to go as long as humanly possible without turning the heating on. I’m not sure who I’m in competition with but it’s a tradition at this point and I haven’t folded quite yet.
However, I genuinely wouldn’t last a day without my electric blanket. I use this pretty much every single night from October right through until March, and can’t imagine trying to do these bleak colder months without it. But I have a confession to make: in the four years that I’ve had it it’s never been properly washed.
I’ve tried to spot-clean it whenever there’s a major spillage, but it’s never seen the inside of a washing machine. I could have done it in summer, but it’s in storage during that time of year, and whenever I bring it back out I simply don’t want to have to wait for it to dry.
But I decided the other week that it had gone too far so consulted some experts on how to clean it. Their most important tip was making sure it could definitely be machine washed and, after checking the label on mine, I could confirm that it was.
The experts also recommended spot-cleaning it beforehand with a super cheap and natural item: a lemon, which costs as little as 37p from Asda, although you could probably get it even cheaper from a greengrocer.
I spot-cleaned my electric blanket with a lemon and it worked brilliantly (Image: Nicola Roy)
How I cleaned my electric blanket
First, I assessed the damage. I unplugged the electric blanket, much to the dismay of my dog, and laid it out properly to look at the stains — and there were a good few.
I then prepared my spot-cleaning mixture by squeezing the juice of one lemon into a bowl then adding some salt and mixing it to create a paste.
The salt should add a bit of abrasion but for an even better stain-lifting effect, I grabbed a rough-sided sponge, dipping this into the mix and using it to scrub away at any harsh stains.
I scrubbed at the stains with a lemon and salt solution (Image: Nicola Roy)
Now this didn’t get rid of them entirely, but I wasn’t expecting it to. However, the natural cleaning power of the lemon juice definitely reduced the appearance of the stains, as well as giving it a general freshen up that it was definitely needing.
If your blanket isn’t machine washable, you could just leave it there, hanging it up to dry. But because mine could go in the machine, I decided to run it on a gentle 40C wash as recommended on the label, using a light detergent.
You definitely don’t need any bleach or fabric softener here, as these can mess with the internal wires, meaning your blanket may not work when you plug it back in again.
The blanket looked so fresh and clean afterwards (Image: Nicola Roy)
An hour later and the cycle was done. I took the blanket out of the machine and was happy to see that pretty much all of the staining had completely vanished, leaving behind a clean surface that genuinely looked brand new.
How you dry the blanket is also equally important. I don’t have a tumble dryer, but the experts said you shouldn’t use this anyway, so I did what I do with all of my laundry and carefully draped it over my clothes airer where I left it to dry completely before plugging back in.
This was the moment of truth, but I had nothing to worry about as the blanket seemed to be in perfect working condition. This was a far easier process than I’d expected it to be so I wish I hadn’t waited so long to do it. If your blanket has also gone years without a wash, a lemon is an amazing tool for reducing stains.
