How to Store a Sleeping Bag? Tips and Tricks

A sleeping bag is a wise purchase if you are a travel enthusiast. Are you keeping your sleep sack appropriately between travels? It is often said that no other thing than negligence can destroy your expensive sleeping bag.

We have compiled a list of essential steps to consider when storing your sleeping bags.

Sleeping Bag: The Ultimate Essential for Tourists

Every season is a camping season for true hikers, and the sleeping bag is a must-have for night stays during these travels.

Sleeping bags are designed to protect users from cold environments and damp and rainy conditions and provide warmer and more comfortable sleep. These bags come in different shapes and sizes and are available for all age groups.

Rectangular, semi-rectangular, double, kid-sized, and mummy sleeping bags are the most popular and used shapes.

While choosing your bag, consider its temperature ratings, lightweight property, zipper, length, etc. Investing in a superior-quality sleeping bag and taking good care of it will save you money and prevents the hassle of repurchasing. 

Storage of Sleeping Bag – Important Steps to Follow

Proper storage is the key to ensuring your sleeping bag lasts for decades. How to store a sleeping bag? The following are some crucial measures to be taken: 

1.  Unpack And Clean Out Immediately

Just stepped into your home after a two-day hike? Relax for some time and unpack your hiking bag. Don’t throw your bag as it is in the backyard until the next trip!

After you have done emptying, clean the bag thoroughly. After sleeping in it all night, your bag could be laden with dirt, grease, sweat, or even soil. Use a bottle shower and towel to clean the entire surface of your sleeping bag.

You can use biodegradable soap in case extra dirt sticks to your bag. Make sure to dry it properly before storage so that no moisture and dampness can ruin its quality.

2.  Freshen Up With The Spray

If you want to delay your cleaning process after you return home, consider using an anti-mold or odor-fighting product.

It's an excellent technique to eliminate all the microbes you brought home with your sleeping bag before they multiply and cause diseases.

Thus, hang your sleeping bag and apply an anti-microbial spray to eliminate disease-causing agents before storing it.

It will give your bag a fresh, natural smell and act as an anti-odor mist. The following types of sprays can be used to avoid any disease risk:

• Enzyme spray
• Anti-microbial spray
• Anti-mold mist 

3.  Remove The Excess Air Out

We recommend campers stuff their sleeping bags instead of rolling them up and putting them in storage.

High compression to remove air can cause damage to the fillings of your sleep sack. As a result of this compression, insulation will be compromised, and your bag will lose its resilience in less time.

However, if you are still using a stuff sack, release your sleeping bag immediately when you reach home, and fluff it up so it will regain its loft.

If you remove a lot of air from your sleeping bag or store it in a compressed state, synthetic and down fills will be ruined, and feathers will break off. 

4.  Always Store Your Bag In a Dry Condition

Maintaining optimum environmental conditions is critical in the storage of your sleeping bags. It is as necessary as the cleaning step, so overlooking this factor will highly reduce the shelf life of your sleep sack.

Keep them away from damp basements, as the humidity will spoil the texture and material of the bag.

Moreover, avoiding temperature extremes while storing your bag is essential to keep it in shape for long periods. Humidity and temperature-controlled places like closets and cubicles are the best positions to store the sleeping bag.

These little efforts will save you hundreds of dollars, and you will have a sleeping bag as good as brand-new on the next trip.

5.  Hang The Sleeping Bag From The Hook

Traveling is a fun and exciting activity that boasts dopamine. It is mandatory to keep your traveling equipment safe and store it in the best possible way.

Storing your sleeping bag may take effort, but the outcome is well worth the labor. As described above, intense compression can damage your bag, so keep it as loose as possible.

The best option is to hang it from a hook in your storage room, so the air can easily flow around it.

You can also position the sleep sack over a flat surface of your cupboard to maintain the fluff. 

Repair Your Damaged Sleeping Bag before the Next Hike

Sleeping bags are sturdy enough to be used for years. You only need to clean your bag after camping trips, store it correctly, and repair it if damaged.

Utilizing it on a rough hike can disfigure and damage the surface of your sleeping bag. The possible problems with your sleeping bag after its excessive use can be:

• Slight tearing or down leakage
• Zipper dysfunction or broken zippers
• Large holes

For slightly torn bags, use repairing tapes to avoid further damage. If the features of down fill are coming out of the bag, don’t pull them out repeatedly.

Instead of constantly removing more elements, attempt to pull from the inside to retain the down feathers. Otherwise, you will widen the hole.

You wouldn't want your zippers to get stuck or break while traveling.

You can use safety pins to keep your bag intact, but as soon as you have reached home, fix the broken one using a zipper repair kit or take professional help. 

Bottom Line

We hope this article has answered your question, "How to store a sleeping bag?" Maintaining your luggage properly will extend its lifespan for many years.

Buy a high-quality bag, store it in good condition, and use it for a beautiful experience of gazing at the star-studded sky at night.