Resourcefulness: Eradicating Mold

I wrote the story below on Tuesday. I emailed it to a handful of close friends because, at first, I was hesitant to post it here. I guess I was afraid that you would think less of my hygiene/cleaning habits or something. But I've decided to not worry about that. So, without further ado, here's Tuesday's story...

So...I've got a story for you all. My planned day of laundry, cleaning, etc hasn't exactly gone as I had expected. I changed the sheets on our bed today....well, actually I should say I STARTED changing the sheets on the bed. I took the sheets off, and the mattress pads/covers too - I figured I'd be thorough today. And since I was being thorough, I decided to flip/rotate the mattresses (our bed is king-sized, but what they do in Europe is put two twin mattresses together). So I flipped my mattress over and was greeted by little black spots....hmmm....mildew/mold. Hmmmm....I don't think I've had this problem before (at least not on the mattresses...German houses aren't ventilated like American ones, so mold on the walls can be a problem if you don't open the windows for a bit each day to let fresh air in). Weird. But I can't just leave it. I then flipped Mike's mattress over, and there were a few black spots, although not as many as on mine. My mattress is actually a foam mattress with this cloth cover thing on it. So, I eventually figured out how to unzip it (there was a label sticker covering part of it) and threw the cover in the washing machine with bleach.

Meanwhile, I googled "how to get mildew out of a mattress" - sunshine is key - they recommend taking the mattress outside for a few days - to dry it out, and because the UV rays in the sunshine kill the mold. Hmmmm....I understand the concept, but I'm sure you can understand that dragging my mattress outside is not exactly feasible (being in an upstairs apartment without access to a yard, etc) , plus I'd kind of like to sleep tonight (yeah - how I'm going to get everything clean and dry - we don't have a dryer - and put back together by bedtime, I'm not sure. Maybe I'll have to come up with a Plan B....) White vinegar is my new favorite thing to clean with - especially on soap scum. And especially because the white vinegar here is actually four times stronger (or something like that) than the stuff in the US. Some of the websites mentioned bleach and vinegar. I decided to start with vinegar, because I'd rather deal with the smell of vinegar than bleach. The vinegar started the job (there was a bit of black spots on the foam part of my mattress - oh and Mike's mattress is a "real" mattress), but I wasn't satisfied that the mold was eradicated.

Meanwhile, I went downstairs (well, an hour and a half later...German washing machines take longer than American ones. It's because the machine heats the water up, they use less water, etc.) to retrieve the mattress cover thing from the washing machine. I was disheartened when I examined it and realized that it appeared no different than when I first put it in the washing machine. I quickly decided that putting it through another cycle would not do any good. So I brought it upstairs and decided to bring out the SUPERPOWER - bleach! I decided (thanks to my earlier Google searching) that a spray bottle was the best way to "apply" the bleach. For some unknown reason (well, actually, I know the reason - "they were here when I moved in," but that's a different story for another time:), there are two bottles of glass cleaner in my cleaning supplies cupboard. So I combined the two into one, and then proceeded to fill the now-empty spray bottle with bleach and water (about half and half). Feeling mighty powerful and laughing with an evil laugh at the mildew, I proceeded to thoroughly spray the mattress cover with my new secret power. Then, I hung the mattress cover out the bedroom window (we don't have screens here, and the windows are on hinges, unlike most/some in the US) where it is currently being bathed in direct afternoon sunlight. (Note: Hanging bedding out one's window is perfectly culturally acceptable here. Granted, I think I usually see it done in the morning, but oh well.)

I then got the rest of the mold off the mattresses with my bottle o'bleach. I'll take a hair dryer to them in a bit (Mr. Google's suggested sunshine alternative). I'm thinking that I should now wash the pillows, but they definitely won't dry in a day... so I'll save that project for another day. (Might have to see if I can take them to one of the dorms and dry them in a dryer there...) Oh, and then I took a faithful Sharpie and wrote "BLEACH" all over my bottle o'secret power, lest the hubs mistakenly thinks it is glass cleaner. :)

I really hope that this story is as amusing to you as it has been to me today.

Resourcefully yours,
K.

PS - The end of the story: The mold is gone, and my Amazing Hubs helped me put everything back together that evening. Making sure things were dry involved an iron and a hair dryer (until I overheated it, but no worries - it eventually recovered:)