By the time you finish reading this, you will find great new ways of taking care of your stuffed animal collection. Actually, I bet you will not dread it as much as you do now. A lot of people I know love having plush toys around, but always end up putting them in boxes and locking them in the closet. The reason is almost always the same: these cuties get dusty and dirty and most of us do not know how to make them look happy and clean again. If you are one of those people, then skim through these advices and you will find the joy of keeping your favorite stuffed animals in plain view once more.

A good step to start with is to dust them off occasionally. One of the reasons your teddy bears start looking dirty is that they slowly accumulate dust. We usually don't notice that until it is too late, and the toys do not have the same lively colors as before. So, if you just dust them during your regular cleaning sessions, you considerably reduce the problem. You can use your regular duster, or you can use wipes. I found baby wipes to be very useful when I was taking care of my stuffed animals. Although it sounds quite unusual, trust me, they are quite effective and do a very good job.

For larger plush toys, you can also use a hand vacuum. This assures you that you get all that nasty dust out of your cute toys. What is more, a vacuum is sure to take out all the dirt better than a plain duster. Pay close attention to what your plush animal is made of though. Some vacuums are too powerful, and you do not want to leave your teddy bear without a nose or a button from their clothes.

Nevertheless, the most effective way is to machine wash them. The same way food labels contain a lot of information regarding the product, a plush toy label will state if you can machine wash it or not. The trick with this type of care is to use a gentle cycle and always use softener. This is to ensure that you maintain the softness of the toy. I remember once washing my favorite plush cat and once I took it out, its fluffy body looked rather worn out. So I simply used a hair dryer to poof it up again and the results were amazing. My little cat was fluffy again. I used the same technique on my stuffed lion, as its mane was not looking up to par after I washed it, and it turned out really nice and puffy. So, the point is that blow-drying definitely works to poof up any stuffed toy.

If you used to dread all the dust that accumulates on your stuffed animals, these quick tips should make your life a lot easier. You can incorporate in your cleaning routine a small dust-off session of your animals, or simply load them up in your washer if the plush toys are machine washable. There is no reason to lock them in a closet. So go ahead show your teddy bears off!