The care label sewn into the item beats everything on this page. Every schedule below is a general guideline written for a whole category, and the manufacturer wrote theirs for the exact thing you own. Where the two disagree, follow the label.

Care Calendar

Everything on a bed, and how often it goes in the wash

This is the whole calendar on one page, grouped by where each item sits in the stack. The frequencies are ordinary laundry practice for a category, not instructions for your specific item. The column that matters most is the last one, because the things listed there are the mistakes that end a piece of bedding in a single cycle.

Mattress Protector

Every two months, and immediately after any spill.

Item	How often	Watch out for	Replace when	Never
Mattress protector	Every 2 months, and immediately after any spill	A crackling sound, stiff patches, and elastic that no longer snaps back at the corners. Crackle means the waterproof film is breaking up.	When it crackles, when liquid reaches the mattress through it, or when the corners no longer stay put.	Do not dry a waterproof protector on high heat. The waterproof layer is a thin film, commonly a TPU laminate, and heat above what it was built for makes it stiff and then cracks it. Follow the temperature on the label. Do not iron a waterproof protector, ever. Do not bleach one unless the label specifically permits it.

Mattress Topper

The cover, if it comes off, on the same schedule as your sheets. The foam itself, never, unless the manufacturer says otherwise on the label.

Item	How often	Watch out for	Replace when	Never
Mattress topper	Removable cover on the sheet schedule. Foam itself: spot clean only	A dip that stays after a day off the bed, grit inside the cover from crumbling edges, and a cover that has shrunk and no longer stretches back over the slab.	When the dip does not recover, or when the foam has started to shed. A fiber pad is finished when the fill has migrated into lumps that shaking will not fix.	Do not machine wash or tumble dry a foam topper unless the manufacturer says so. This is the firmest rule on the page and it applies to every foam item on this site. Do not pair a topper with an electric blanket, heated mattress pad or heating pad unless both manufacturers specifically allow the combination. A topper is an insulating layer and heat builds up under it instead of dissipating.

Sheets

Weekly for the sheet you sleep on, and weekly for pillowcases.

Item	How often	Watch out for	Replace when	Never
Fitted and flat sheets	Weekly	Pilling where a forearm rubs, elastic gone slack at one corner, and thinning at the foot of the flat sheet where heels do the work.	When the fitted sheet will not hold a corner through the night, or when a thin patch has opened into a hole.	Do not wash rayon or viscose sheets hot. The fiber is at its weakest wet, and heat plus agitation is what puts holes in them before they look worn. Do not dry a resin-finished wrinkle-free sheet on high heat repeatedly. The finish is what makes it smooth, and heat degrades it.

Comforter

Every three to four months if it is under a flat sheet or inside a duvet cover. Every four to six weeks if it is the layer against you.

Item	How often	Watch out for	Replace when	Never
Comforter or duvet insert	Every 3 to 4 months under a flat sheet or duvet cover; every 4 to 6 weeks if it is the layer against you	Fill drifting to one end, cold spots you can feel through the cover, and quilting stitches that have let go along a line.	When the fill no longer redistributes after a wash and a shake, or when the shell has worn through at a seam.	Do not cram a comforter into a machine that cannot turn it. A comforter that does not tumble does not get washed, it gets soaked, and the weight can damage both the item and the machine. Do not take a comforter out of the dryer while the middle is still damp. Fill that dries folded in on itself mildews.

Pillow

Polyester fill pillows every three to four months, if the label allows it. Foam pillows never go in a machine; the removable cover does, and the foam does not.

Item	How often	Watch out for	Replace when	Never
Pillowcases	Weekly	Yellowing along the fold where the head rests, and a fabric that feels slick rather than clean after washing, which usually means detergent is not rinsing out.	When the fabric has thinned enough to see through at the fold, or when a stain has set through repeated washing.	Do not bleach a colored or a finished case unless the label allows it. Optical brighteners and resin finishes react badly and the damage is not reversible.
Pillows	Polyester fill every 3 to 4 months if the label allows. Foam pillows: cover only, on the sheet schedule	A pillow that folds in half and stays folded, lumps that will not knead out, and a shell yellowed all the way through.	When it no longer springs back, or when the fill has felted into separate masses.	Do not put a memory foam pillow, solid or shredded, in a washing machine or a dryer unless the manufacturer explicitly allows it. Foam takes on many times its weight in water, will not release it, and the cell structure tears apart under that weight while being handled. Do not wash a pillow whose fill the listing never named. With the contents undisclosed there is no safe assumption to make, and the label on the item is the only source.

Two things this page will not do

It will not tell you a temperature for an item it has never seen. Care symbols exist precisely so a manufacturer can specify that per product, and the rules for what those symbols have to mean on goods sold in the United States are linked below.

It will not connect a wash schedule to anyone’s health. Washing bedding is housekeeping. Where a listing on this site uses health-adjacent language, that language is reported as the seller’s and nothing more, and where a symptom comes up the answer here is the same every time: that is a question for a doctor.

To turn this into a schedule for one particular bed, use Wash Plan. To work out whether your sheets still reach around the stack, use Pocket Check.

Where this comes from

Care symbol requirements, the foam program named on these listings, heating fire safety, the recall database, and the sleep guidance referenced above.