With this handy trick, mattress stains could be a thing of the past.

Cleaning a mattress is no easy task. Sleeping on it every night is bound to cause stains over time, whether it’s sweat stains from hot summer nights or blood stains from scratches or menstrual leaks.

You can’t just lift up your mattress and throw it in the washing machine, so how do you get the stains out? Stain removers can help in a pinch, but treating stains on other fabrics usually requires a regular wash afterwards, which isn’t possible with a large, bulky mattress.

According to a cleaning fan on social media, there’s an easy way to remove mattress stains. All you need is a mixture of three ingredients and one household appliance – your iron.

In a video shared on TikTok, a woman named Ekcho explained that she treats her mattress stains by soaking a towel in three common ingredients you might have in your kitchen cupboard. She then wraps the towel around her iron and uses the steam to work the products into her mattress.

She said she takes two tablespoons of baking soda, half a cup of laundry detergent, and half a cup of water and mixes them together before soaking a towel in the mixture. Then she wrings out the towel, wraps it around her iron, and heats up the machine.

Ekcho said, “Start scrubbing (with the iron), and the steam will clean the mattress.” Then she showed the before and after picture to prove that the iron really did remove the stains from her mattress.

In the original video, Ekcho also said she adds fabric softener to her mix, but people in the comments warned her against using the product because it is “basically melted wax” and leaves residue on the mattress – and can also “ruin” washing machines.

The woman then said that she had no idea how “bad” fabric softener was and would not use it in the future.

Other commenters were ecstatic about the trick, with many saying they never thought of using an iron to clean their mattress, but noting that the steam “works wonders” when cleaning.

One person wrote: “I really needed this and TikTok sent it to me.” Another added: “This is awesome.”