Day 33 | The Blankets are Bad Again!

April 11, 2017

Unfortunately, we’ve been delayed again because two of my new blankets got contaminated and needed to be washed ASAP.

A couple weeks ago, a badly contaminated sleeping bag and a pair of pants cross contaminated all my bedding. The contamination didn’t wash out of my clothes and blankets so we eventually decided to start over. We got rid of everything… except the cot. We decided to give up on sleeping bags altogether and bought four large fleece blankets instead.

All four of the blankets felt good the first night but by the second night they were already feeling really itchy. I’m thinking it was probably a mistake to keep my cot. We should have made a completely clean break. I knew the cot had also been contaminated but thought that replacing the mattress pad would be enough. I guess I was wrong. So discouraging!

This morning, I posted about the bedding situation on the Mold Avoiders Facebook group and got some helpful responses. Several people mentioned that synthetic fabrics seem to “go bad” quicker and stay bad. In their experience, contamination washes out of cotton much more easily. I thought that was really interesting and might explain why my cotton t-shirts haven’t been “going bad” like the bedding has.

We’ll see if the contamination washes out or not. If it doesn’t, we may have to go shopping again and just buy a large stack of cotton blankets. It’s such a struggle to stay warm without a sleeping bag though! They do make cotton sleeping bags but washing those by hand would be very difficult. I was sort of wondering if snow pants and a jacket would work. I wish they made 100% cotton snow pants but I haven’t been able to find any affordable ones yet.

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4 Comments

  • Sara

    From my experience, cotton *is* much better for me (I have the same things). Continuing to pray for you!

    April 13, 2017 at 8:27 am Reply
    • AnaHarris

      That’s great Sara!

      April 13, 2017 at 10:48 am Reply
  • Chris

    Ana, definitely 100% cotton is the way to go. That is a much more natural fabric and less prone to respones of any kind -whether mold or just skin sensitivities. You might be able to find 100% cotton baby quilts (or lap quilts) which might be easier to wash out (not as big) rather than large ones. Then you could pile them on. I know I prefer 100% cotton quilts and have found some at JC Penny (have to be careful that the inside is not polyester). Ana if you find something (like cotton snow pants etc) and cost is a factor – just let me know either by email or on a post (I think my email comes to you as its listed in this reply section) and I will donate the needed funds to cover whatever you need. I would be honored to help so just say the word and I’ll send the funds to your one caring site. Prayed for you both this morning. That God would heal you and provide wisdom, direction and a peace that surpasses all understanding!! I’m excited to see how He’s going to do all this! (You can see I’m going to Him continually so just like parable that Jesus told, I’m determined and God’s gonna move mountains, even if its just because He’s going to get tired of hearing from me!! LOL)

    April 13, 2017 at 10:12 am Reply
    • AnaHarris

      Aww… You’re so sweet! I think we’re going to be okay. 😊Thank you so much for your kindness and continual prayers. I like the idea of smaller cotton quilts. That could work.

      April 13, 2017 at 10:52 am Reply

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