Forget making the bed, let's start with washing it!

I must confess, I've been a little preoccupied with the bedroom lately. Whether it's decorating choices, inspirational photos and products or the simple question of whether you should make your bed daily (and, it turns out, more than half of Yourhomers - 58 per cent - do), the boudoir has certainly been on my mind.

Despite all these thoughts of bedroom decor, I never stopped to consider just how clean it is when you're slipping between the sheets.

A recent survey conducted for Sunlight laundry detergent, as part of the launch of their new Deep Clean line, found out that more than a third - 36 per cent - of Canadian women admit to going a month without changing their sheets! As a once a week (and, when I can swing it, changing out the pillowcases midweek!) washer, I can't help but cringe at the thought.

Worse yet is the thought of what's lingering in those sheets. Ninety-five per cent of the survey's respondents said they were confident their laundry was free of sweat and body oils after washing (something I'd certainly always taken for granted as fact!) but Sunlight's lab, using fluorescing agents, found sweat and body oils glowing under UV lights even after they'd been washed with other detergents. Ew. (Of course, the company's new product line is designed to target that gunge that you can't see.) 

If you watch out their commercial (embedded below) you can see the UV test - which looks pretty nasty.

Other fun (if gross) laundry facts:

- Almost half - 46 per cent - of Canadian women have fished clothes out of the dirty laundry basket to wear again

- Over a quarter - 26 per cent - only wash pants, skirts or dresses when they become visibly dirty

- 14 per cent admit to wearing the same socks for several days in a row

- 31 per cent wait to wash their jeans until they're visibly dirty

- One per cent wait until underwear are visibly dirty before they are washed

I suspect that even the queen of half-assed housekeeping would not approve!