You may be going to bed at night with millions of little creatures crawling around in your mattress and pillows and you may not even know it! Housekeeping guru and author of The Accidental Housewife, Julie Edelman sheds some light on when mattresses and pillows should be replaced. And just wait until you hear what your children have been snuggling up next to when they're holding their stuffed animals!

In Your Bed

Dust mites feed on dead skin cells, which means your hair, skin, even dandruff are meals for these microscopic pests. "In one bed, over a course of time, you can have 100,000 to 10 million of these dust mites," explains Julie. "One single dust mite will produce 20 droppings. Do the math." Allergies are caused by these droppings, not the mites themselves. To help cut down on allergy symptoms and the mites themselves -- because you can't really get rid of all of them -- wash your sheets regularly (every two weeks) in really, really hot water, and try a dust mite mattress covers or fitted sheet. Julie also recommends vacuuming the bed and changing the vacuum bag because mites can live in there. Even so, she suggests getting a new mattress every five to seven years. But what about where you rest your weary head?

Pillows need to be replaced every one to three years. To prove her point, Julie weighs a brand-new pillow and one that's two years old. The old one weighs almost a half-pound more than the new one, meaning up to a half-pound of mites!

Stuffed Animals

Who knew you had to protect your kids from their stuffed animals? Stuffed animals are "a real haven for not just dust mites but bacteria," says Julie. "They're everywhere. One bacteria cell will grow and divide in 24 hours into eight million of them."

Nine-year-old Amy agreed to part with her beloved Daisy long enough for her stuffed animal to get a complete workup.

Before you rush to throw your child's favorite toy in the washing machine, you might want to reconsider. "'Baths aren't necessarily great because what can happen on top of bacteria is mold. Once you see those rips and tears, water's going to seep in and it's not going to dry thoroughly," says Julie.

Is there any hope for saving poor Binkie the Bunny from getting thrown in the trash and causing your child no end of heartache? For those really old, vintage stuffed animals, Julie recommends putting the toy in a plastic bag with baking powder and shaking it up. This way, she says, "it won't get wet but will still get rid of some of the stuff hanging out in there."