But I Don't Wanna! 5 Reasons Why You Should Make Your Bed

We had our monthly member "freestyle" Q&A webinar last Tuesday night, when our members can send in photos and questions and get live consultations (no additional cost, included in our membership program). Always such a blast! One member asked me this week,

"Why should I make my bed every morning?" 

Here are 4 good reasons why, plus one more:

• You can start your day off on the right foot with one super-easy success. You just did something right-- what an easy win! You can feel great about how you're keeping up with your clutter maintenance in your house first thing every single morning. It takes no more than 3 minutes to make up a king-size bed, even with lots of decorative pillows. Time it-- that's a fact. 
• Leaving something undone gives you the subconscious message that this room can be let go a little, so you do. One unmade bed leads to laundry on the floor, dishes not put away, and then everything goes downhill from there... Have you ever heard of the "broken window theory" in urban sociology? I wrote about it previously here. When people take more ownership in their neighborhoods and attend promptly to vandalism and disrepair, the neighborhoods stay more stable. When they let small things like broken windows and graffiti go unattended, crime is thought to be more likely and neglect becomes the norm. Maintaining something good is much easier than recovering from something much worse.
• Making your bed gives you a large, smooth work surface for working on projects like folding clothing or organizing drawers or packing/unpacking for a trip. Better yet, when you start a project on a bed, you have to finish it because later you'll need to sleep there! It's good incentive.
• You're setting an example for your kids. Do you want them to grow up seeing that you take care of yourself and your belongings and spaces?  Or do you want them to see disarray as normal?

And finally, the best reason of all... the one that I wish I had said to my caller on our webinar:

Because you deserve it.

It feels good to make your bed and walk in and out of your room the rest of the day and see that you did that nice thing for yourself. When you get into the covers at night, they feel fresher and more inviting and more comfortable. I talk with my members about this concept of my "Future Self," in which I do things now that I know my Future Self will later appreciate, as a favor to "her." (I wrote a blog post about that previously here, called "Have I Lost My Mind? You Decide.") Let yourself enjoy the fruits of your 3 minutes of easy labor every time you walk into the room later that day and when you climb in to sleep that night.

When you make your bed, you are giving yourself a little gift. And you deserve that.

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Comments

[Dane Findley]

It's true, "making the bed" makes no logical sense. Why not let the sheets air out -- you're only going to unmake it later anyway? However, as I've often said, we need little daily rituals to help us be refined and "civilized" ladies and gentlemen. Making-the-bed is a sacred part of our quotidian precisely because it is unnecessary.

[Jacki Hollywood Brown]

We make the bed every day by straightening the sheets & blankets and folding them down so that the bed airs out during the day.

This gives the bed and the room a nice neat look too.

[Debra Marrs]

Five great points, Lorie. I DO make my bed every morning the minute I get out of it and always have. I'd never thought of the concept of my "future Self" though. That's such a good one, I'm borrowing it as a motivational helpmate for everything I do. Thanks so much!

[Grace Brooke]

Making my bed is like treating myself to an ice cream each and every day! It makes walking into my bedroom each time more relaxing and enjoyable. This simple enjoyment is FREE. As they say, some of the best things in life are FREE! :)

[Lorie Marrero]

Thanks, everyone! Great comments! I am so glad you liked my Future Self thing... our members have also mentioned often that this resonates for them. I am about to go to bed for the evening but I just spent 5 minutes cleaning the kitchen so that my Future Self can walk in tomorrow morning and find it done and ready for the day. She will thank me. ;)

- Lorie

[Francie Bush]

I'm 55, just became a Grandma & I'm still learning the basics. Thanks so much for sharing the "broken window theory" - that applies to me!

[Timo]

The biggest reason for me from organization's standpoint is, that since my bed covers most of my bedroom space, my room looks much better and organized when I have made my bed. With this simple action alone I can make my room look more organized (at least this is how I feel).

Also, I have read from couple of places that you shouldn't make your bed right away after waking up. You should let it air out for some time first. This makes the living conditions for the dust mites more difficult.

[Joanna]

As winter approaches, I find that one benefit of making the bed is that I can stay in it and stay warm longer. :) I keep my robe next to the bed, sit up and slip it on, and then slide my feet out from under the covers, pulling them up as I go -- I haven't had to get out from under the covers until I actually get up. :)

[MaryLou]

My niece was going away to college. My sister-in-law (her Grandma) told her, when you get up in the morning just turn around and make the bed. That way it's done, you don't have to worry about it and if someone comes into your dorm room it looks nice. I have to admit that prior to hearing that I was not a regular "bed-maker". But once I tried it, I realized how easily you can do it daily. Silly not to, really.

[George Snider]

The mighty house dust mite. Actually, it’s not mighty at all. These microscopic little buggers are running rampant in your bed (sorry, but it’s true). In fact, the average bed can be home to 1.5 million of them. House dust mites feed on human skin scales (ew), so they love to take up residence with us under the sheets. The allergens they produce (which are actually the mites’ poop) are easily inhaled during sleep and are a major cause of illnesses like asthma. They don’t exactly help dust allergies, either.

It only makes sense, then, that when we sweat and roll around during the night, our skin is flaking off everywhere, the sheets are dampening, and the mites are having a feast. In the morning, if we pull up the sheets and make our beds immediately, all of the skin scales, sweat and mites will be trapped underneath.

But, friends, if we don’t make our bed, the mites, the scales, the sweat, all of it, will be exposed to fresh air and light.

“We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using small glands on the outside of their body,” Dr. Stephen Pretlove of Kingston University’s School of Architecture said. “Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die.”

Experts recommend leaving your bed unmade for the entire day — yes, the entire day — and making it (if you must) when you get home later on. By that point, many of the mites will have died an unceremonious death. Good riddance, you gross little things.

Thanx to theloop.ca