Making a bed is a mundane task we face every day. For some, it is a gospel tradition, but for others, the thought barely crosses their mind. Yes, no one’s going to see it. You’re just returning in a few hours, and it’s a waste of time… any more excuses we're missing?
Either way, we're here to enlighten you on the importance of bed-making and hopefully convert a few of you into bed-making fanatics. It’s more than corner-to-corner; the entire process goes a long way. There are also plenty of benefits gained from making your bed every morning, such as the following:
Start as you mean to go on
A wise man (Naval Admiral William McRaven, to be precise) once said, “If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. By the end of the day, that one task will have turned into many tasks completed”.
Every morning, the sun rises, and we open our eyes to a new day. It’s up to you how you spend it, whether you delay getting on your feet to spend the day binge-watching the latest Netflix series or plan to jump out of bed to a jam-packed day of productivity. We're not saying there’s anything wrong with spending a day in bed; in fact, a lazy day is necessary once in a while to recharge our batteries, but, at some point, the covers have to come off, and we must rise from the warmth and comfort of bed.
However, there is no better way to start a productive day than getting up and making bed. It sets the tone for the day, and although only a small task, it’s the first milestone of accomplishments we plan to make that day. At the end of the day, or at the beginning, it all starts with a clean bed.
The pursuit of happiness
Yeah, sure, we’ll just get back in bed at the end of the day, right? It might seem like a waste of time, but those 30 seconds set the tone for your day. Simple tasks like making your bed can lead you to achieve great things that day.
In Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, research found that making your bed leads to the happiness we crave while lowering stress levels. Why? It makes the bedroom look cleaner, allows things to be found more easily around the bed, and simply promotes a peaceful environment. That makes it worth 30 seconds of your day if you ask us!
Making your bed is more than a mundane task of rearranging warm sheets - it’s about mindset. People who make their beds in the morning have a positive mindset and get things done without cutting corners. Their mindset reflects their ability to participate in daily micro-actions to better their lives.
Start with making a bed, move on to getting that promotion, and inevitably end by ruling the world!
Tidy room, tidy mind
Regardless of your daily plans, humans have consistent thoughts and responsibilities running through their minds. Send that letter, pay the rent, do the laundry, and make lists of three. To live a life without having to complete regular tasks would be impossible, despite our wish to live the life of a sloth.
A clean bed seems to be more than preparing for the night before; it triggers something in our brain that motivates and drives us. Charles Duhigg, in his Power of Habit, explains a tidy bedroom as directly linked to “a greater sense of well-being and stronger skills at sticking with a budget”. Well, what do you know! Making your bed in the morning can save you money? Sign us up!
The best room in the house
Bedrooms specifically serve the purpose for us to unwind and relax. Many spend thousands of pounds and hours perfecting theirs to build a pleasant environment for a little me-time. Rightly so, as the average person spends 25 years of their life in bed.
An untidy bed simply cannot achieve a beautiful bedroom. We challenge you to clean around a mountain of slept-in bedsheets and be happy with the result; it can’t be done. Making your bed in the morning immediately brightens up your bedroom and brings a tidy and organised aesthetic. In fact, a clean bed can brighten up even a cluttered room; ah, the bed's power is beautiful!
Once your bed is made and your room looks beautiful, you’ll be more likely to keep the other areas of your bedroom tidy - win-win!
Sneezing solved
The average person spends around eight hours in bed; when you think about it, eight hours in one confined space sounds like a long time. During our sleep, dust, dead skin cells, and animal hair (if you’re a proud parent to a fur baby) can settle into the sheets. This can all build up over time and cause allergies, which I don’t need to tell you doesn’t exactly make a bed cosier.
When we make our beds in the morning, we shake our sheets to remove all dust. If you have a cat or a dog, I’m sure they’ll view this as an affront to their hard work, giving you, their beloved master, a whole heap of fur. Be that as it may, they simply have the opportunity to give you more, so it’s best for both parties.
If we did not make our bed in the morning, we could sneeze uncomfortably from dust buildup the following nights. We all bed-makers will sleep happily at night while the latter may lose sleep lying in their own dead skin. A lovely image, we know, but you can’t deny it’s a motivating thought!
The perfect end to the day
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as coming home from a long day to a perfectly made bed. Who wants to enter their bedroom to be greeted by a messy pile of used sheets? No one, surely. You don’t need a million throw cushions and luxurious bed throws to make a bed look welcoming. All you need is a strong base, such as that granted by divan beds, and you need to teach yourself the ‘hospital corner folding’ trick to give your bed a seamless finish, like climbing into a hotel bed every night.
It’s surprisingly simple! First, you tuck the sheet at the foot of the bed under the mattress, then you take the end of the untucked sheet and pull it up diagonally, leaving it on top of the bed, and tuck the hanging sheet under the sides of the mattress. Finally, pull the sheet you pulled up before and drag it down, tucking it under the mattress as a third fold.
