I have tried washing pillows and, you’re right, they do take a long time to dry. The biggest issue I found is that the fill bunched up so the pillows became “lumpy”. I would recommend disposal. For the pillowcases, if you’re not going to use them and they are clean, how about donating them to a thrift or charity store?

Very good point about the lumpiness. You've saved me a lot of time. [g]. Donating is a good idea, if I can't use them, but the lace trimmed cases are a favorite, that haven't been used in awhile, so they are a little dingy/yellowed. I'd still like to try to save them, is bleaching them a bad idea?

Bleach the pillowcases. If you wish, try an oxygen bleach first and then if it doesn't work, try Clorox bleach. Throw out the pillows- even though you can wash them, drying them takes many hours in a dryer and they may still have wet insides when the outer parts are dry.

Okay, thank you both. :-)

If the pillowcases are old (20+yrs) just use an oxygen bleach. Liquid bleach like Clorox will weaken the fiber and hasten their demise. Or you could try boiling them on the stove with a small amount of oxyclean or mild detergent. I think we had a discussion here a few years ago about that and mamapinkyo was part of that one. Oh, how I miss her! :-(

I'm not sure how old they are but probably not 20+ years. Yes, I was thinking the Clorox would have an impact. I should have an oxygen bleach somewhere. I rarely bleach anything. Does anyone have a brand they recommend?

I have washed pillows many times ... but the type of washer is a large factor in the success of it. Agitator machines can cause mangling. Frontloaders surprisingly can also be aggressive depending on the selected cycle. Long soaking time is better than long tumbling. The best washer for pillows in my experience is a Whirlpool (or Kenmore) Calypso but those have been off the market for years (I have one).

Detergent dosing is tricky to avoid oversudsing due the stuffing holding air and generating foam. Oxygen bleach is good. Biz powder is good (but does generate some sudsing).

Drying is best done at repeated timed cycles on low temperature. I've never had mildew occur.

For brands of oxy bleach for whitening bedding, I've had good luck with Oxyclean and also with the Grab Green tabs. IME, oxy bleaches work better at a hotter wash temperatures but the Grab Green detergent formula includes TAED which activates the oxy bleaching agent at warm temperatures when you need to use lower temperatures. I've had good luck with removing dinginess from old white items, including some coffee stained bar towels, by letting them soak for in hot water with oxy bleach as mamapinkyo prescribed.

For washing pillows, my experience matches dadoes's. Also, in answer to the question in your original post --- it would be a bad idea to try drying by laying them out in the sun all day. That will cause the clumping that results in mildew and lumpiness. The thing I've found that really helps with drying and avoiding clumps/lumps is the advice that I found here --- from mamapinkyo, IIRC --- to use dryer balls and/or tennis balls. Running several drying cycles with the balls not only helps eliminate clumps but also assures that the filling dries all the way through. This works for natural and synthetic down pillows (and comforters, sleeping bags, jackets, etc.) and has worked for me with shredded foam pillows, too. Be sure to read the tag on the pillows, though, because some cannot be machine washed.

My experience with bed pillows in our FL ... one pillow filled up with water and the machine could not spin. The cotton casing is tightly woven, so the wash water got in and couldn't get out. What a mess, and I had to toss the pillow.

Since then, I undo three or four inches of the seam at the end, loosely pin it closed with one large safety pin so the poly stuffing cannot escape ---but water and air can --- and it works fine. After drying in the dryer, I sew up the opening. If I was smart, I would install a 4" zipper and call it a day, but I never remember.

Any brand of oxygen bleach will work fine, AFAIK.

I take them to the recycling depot.

Our indoor dog gets old pillows. It gets washed every time I wash him and his quilt. Pillow is lumpy but he likes them that way :)

Toronto Vet - that's a good idea too. We get recycling picked up at curb, but I could just put them in the bin.

Monica, I love that idea! I thought of doing that, but I don't have a dog. [g]. He looks so comfortable! Is that a Corgi? We've been thinking of getting another dog.

Coincidentally I washed one of those "boomerang" body pillows this afternoon (inherited from grandmother several years ago). Used deep fill Sleeping Bag cycle on HE toploader. Didn't agitate much due to retained air but recirculation showering and soaking time did the job, and I flipped it once during the wash and again in the rinse (cycle rinses twice). Run twice on 80 mins low temp dry, may need once more after sitting a while to acclimate. Sweat stains are gone. 2 tbsp STPP, 6 tbsp Biz powder, 3 tbsp Cheer powder.

I had some old feather & down pillows that had seen better times. Dumped the feathers & down in the compost pile. If the ticking is 100% cotton, you can compost that, too. If the old pillowcases are 100% cotton, they will be excellent to use for washing windows. I have some old torn up 100% cotton sheets that I use for cleaning windows. Won't use anything else.

Wow, there are a lot of very thrifty people here. lol. I'm usually in the minority of people who are not so quick to throw things out.

"Toronto Vet - that's a good idea too. We get recycling picked up at curb, but I could just put them in the bin."

Just make sure your municipality recycles textiles. Toronto doesn't, so I take mine to a neighbouring city's depot (about 40 minutes away). I probably make a trip there 2-3 times a year.

Many animal shelters welcome old blankets and pillows as well as old towels.

I’d soak the pillowcases in Biz. It’s great for removing stains or yellowing out of about anything. I’ve used it a lot on antique linens.

Awwww, cute dog!!!! 💗

prairiemoon, you thought of using an old pillow for a dog but you don't have a dog? LOL Adopt a dog! You won't be sorry :) I can see why you think he's a Corgi. My mother thought the same thing the first time she saw a picture of him. He landed on our back patio during a horrific storm one night 4 years ago. We like to say a tornado dumped him on us. No one around here claimed him and it was during a crazy tornado filled night. Actually we say God and Carly (our choc Lab that passed away 6 weeks earlier) sent him to us. As to what kind of dog he is, it's not 100% certain. Vets say Australian Cattle Dog but he really doesn't look like pictures of Aussie Cattle Dogs. He DOES look like photos of Dingoes tho (which Aussie Cattle Dogs come from) and share many of their traits. Smart and the most well behaved dog we've ever had! He has spoiled us to ever having another dog. I know we'll love another one just as much as we do him but I don't think we'll be lucky enough to get another dog with this level of intelligence and behavior. Our only problem with him is keeping him in the pasture with a 4ft chain link fence. He climbs over it! He has a curly tail that touches his back :)

DINGOES...

Monica, thank you for sharing your story. of your dog. I think the way he was lying on the pillow made him remind me of a Corgi. He has the ears that stick up too and similar coloring. He also reminds me of one of the dogs we had, who was a golden lab mix. My DH's coworker found him by the side of the road. I have been looking to adopt too. It's been a long time since we had a dog. One of our kids had a black lab mix that stayed with us during the day while they worked, so it was almost like having a dog and she just passed in February and we miss her. Dogs are such a blessing and it sounds like yours definitely is!

This is the dog we used to have that was found, who reminds me of your dog, and he was a Golden Lab mix. He was a puppy here, but at maturity, his ears stuck up too and he was about the size of those dingos.

I had a hard time finding photos that didn't include any people in them, so I cropped this one to show what he looked like at maturity. These are old snapshots that were scanned into the computer. [g]....