My Dust Challenge - Cotton Futon Mattresses

[taubel]

My house is SO dusty. We have three boys, a sort of small house, and LOTS of dust. I have been working hard to declutter, and that does seem to be helping a bit.

But I think our main source of dust is my kids' futon mattresses. In order to avoid mattresses with chemicals, we opted to buy cotton filled futons (not treated with any flame retardants or borates).

These have been great mattresses, but we have had them for three or four years now and they are getting worn down - and now I keep imagining them as big bags of dust.

We didn't buy regular organic mattresses in the first place because of the extreme cost. But now I have the idea that grandparents, relatives, etc. could go in on new mattresses for our kids for the holidays (as opposed to more toys we don't have room for).

I haven't researched organic mattresses for years. Does anybody have any websites they could recommend? We would want something totally natural, in twin sizes. I'm hoping that perhaps the cost might have come down as well, but that is probably a lost cause!

Thanks!

[zoebird]

we used The Organic Mattress Store in the US and loved the quality. it was also in the middle price range for organic mattresses.

in the mean time, you can have fun beating the dust out of the mattresses. take them outside and drape them over a chair (wooden or some such). grab the kids and some brooms or similar, and beat the hell out of it. flip it, and do the other side. it will get a lot--if not all--of the dust out.

you might want to put down a bedsheet on the ground, so that the mattress doesn't get dirty when you drag it out side.

[zoebird]

oh, and if you have a high powered vacuum, give it a good vacuum once you bring it back into the house, and do a good vacuum every week after that, and it should keep the dust down.

[ASusan]

Another vote for vacuuming.

This store - A natural home - is near me, and we used them when we were looking for natural mattresses. Very helpful people.

[mum4vr]

great ideas! we have also not been able to find a good mattress, and have very seriously considered straw stuffed ticking mats!

(but I have very country children and a very back-to-the-land lifestyle as is-- my dc would love that part of the adventure, LOL; I'm not so sure)

[taubel]

Hmmm - never thought to bring the mattresses outside and beat them with something. My kids would LOVE that! They are just SO heavy though - but DH could help.

I do vacuum them from time to time. I didn't think it was helping, but maybe it is. No way to know for sure.

I'll check out the Organic Mattress Store as well.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[taubel]

Update. Just checked out the prices for the organic mattresses. Can't find anything for under $700, and we would need three of them!!

The cotton futons we have are either 6 or 8 inches thick. It will be REALLY hard to drag them outside to beat them. I don't even know what we would drape them over, since they're so heavy.

Has anyone tried thinner cotton futons? Maybe that would work? Or maybe we could layer two thin ones together? At least they'd be lighter to move around.

Thanks!

[wallabi]

in Japan, home of the futon, we put them outside as often as possible - getting them out in the sun makes a huge difference.

sounds like yours are pretty thick - I would def. go the thinner futon route, air them often and vacuum them once a week or so, too.