I don’t like going to bed. Nor do I like getting out of it. It’s a conundrum.
My office desk is exactly 7 feet away from my bedroom. Every time I leave my office to go downstairs or outside this is what I see. Comfortable bed, napping cat, linen bedding, fluffy duvet …
It’s not that much of a temptation in the summer, but in this gutter of a season we call late winter – it’s as persuasive as a late night infomercial to an insomniac. I’ve only succumbed to the temptation once or twice and the main reason for that is not my military-like discipline. It’s the fact that my bed is already made.
If it were all a jumble of sheets and pillowy down I might be more likely to swan dive into it. But it’s made, so I continue on with my day instead of curling up to sleep. Pulling back the covers and getting into an already made bed in the middle of the day is pathetic. Whereas falling into one that’s still an unmade mess is just practical. Smartly taking advantage of a situation, really – I mean when you think about it.
That’s reason number 1 to make your bed in the morning. The other billion reasons all lead to happiness.
According to a study by Hunch.com only 27% of people make their bed. Which is too bad because
70% of people who make their beds consider themselves to be happy.
Happiness expert, Gretchen Rubin; The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg; and US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven all believe in the POWER of making your bed.
Gretchen Rubin says making your bed is also one of the most effective and easiest triggers of happiness.
Charles Duhigg describes making your bed every morning as a “keystone habit”. A way to kick start a pattern of good behaviour for the rest of the your day, week, month, life.
But most impressive is US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven’s commencement speech. Here’s just a little bit of it …
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
I make the bed as soon as I get up, because otherwise while I’m in the bathroom the dog is snuggling himself down in my pillows and sheets. He sleeps all night on his blanket at the end of the bed, but has a compulsion to roll around in my spot if I leave it “open”. Black hair on pink sheets. Ick.
Yes I make my bed every morning. It is one of my chores after my coffee and sometimes after breakfast which I don’t have as soon as I get up. I don’t like dirty dishes lying around and a bed not made. I guess I was brought up like that and my main reason to be truthful I don’t like to get into a messy bed. My husband and I sleep together and I like my share of the covers.
I am a very happy person and always in a good mood and it does not matter what time I get up.
I do not make my bed, yet am still happy!
I make my bed 20 % of the time but to be perfectly honest you could hardly tell if my bed is not made. Once my head hits the pillow I am dead to the world, it seems I do not move. I get up well rested and happy 😃
For your statistics: We have a beach house and invite lots of different friends and family to stay with us on the weekends. Usually, all three guest bedrooms are filled with guests times at least 8 weekends. NO ONE ever makes their beds! I am always amazed, but by now I am used to it. Just this last summer we had a family visiting , and both, the parents and their two sons in their twenties, who each had a separate bedroom, made their beds. I was delighted to see that the bedmaking runs in the family. In our family, we all make our beds. Even the 9 and 13 years old who are up at 6 am make it everyday without reminder.
My husband makes our bed every single morning. He started doing it for me (love). It made at least one room in our house feel uncluttered and “together”. On Sundays he doesn’t make it because after church we have a nice breakfast, and then he goes back to bed for his Sunday nap. Incidentally, Gretchen Rubin has a new book coming out entitled “Outer order, inner calm”.
LOVE LOVE LOVE that book title and it immediately goes into my little journal of quotes! I believe with all my heart that is true and more relaxing than being messy and way less work. No messes to constantly scream at you to clean up.
It’s a great book!
I make my bed every day. I feel better getting into a made bed at night. I also feel great getting into it in the middle of the day for a nap, if necessary, but I make it again when I get up ;)
I “pull my bed together” every day I’m up but I am prone to getting back in it halfway through the day. Rarely make it properly (fluff the duvet, etc unless I’m changing the bedding (about fortnightly at the moment). Maybe I should clarify I have ME so sleep/rest a lot and have days where I can’t get out of bed so a lot of my life is lived from my bed. Part of the ME is depression and mood fluctuations and so the consequences of life mean I’m not as happy as I should be or want to be.
Maybe when my kids leave home I’ll have a room just for sleeping and move from a night bedroom to a day bedroom? Oooo haven’t thought of that one before, I like the sound of that 🙂
I’ve got to tell you, Karen: I just bought a year’s subscription to Ad Remover, and it’s amazing!!! Your page used to take ages to load, because of the ads. Now – bam! The whole page loads instantly and it’s so pretty! I sure hope it doesn’t impact your income, because I know ads pay the bills. (Do the advertisers know their ads aren’t appearing?) For me, the internet just got a whole lot better and I’ll be visiting The Art of Doing Stuff more and more. Love your blog!
The advertisers pay based on views and clicks, so if you’re not viewing the ad, Karen’s not getting paid. You’re taking money out of Karen’s chickens’ mouths. To save yourself a second or two.
It does of course impact my income Heather. Those ads are literally my only source of income. That’s how bloggers make enough money to continue to blog. If it weren’t for them there would be no blogs. Not half decent ones anyway. Many blogs are actually now not allowing access to people running Ad blockers because of that. However … You can set the ad blocker to allow certain sites to show ads. Mine for instance. ;) ~ karen!
But, if you NEVER click on the ads, does it still affect you?
It doesn’t make any difference really Sandra. :) The ads just need to be shown. ~ karen!
I was such a good child, but now . . . I’m a grownup and I’m NOT going to make my bed, so there! ( Raspberry sounds) And I still have good credit, am a responsible citizen, and am pretty happy!
Sometimes, very rarely, well ok never. I guess I should swallow that frog, but my husband does a much better job at making the bed…so I just sort of pull the covers up and maybe fluff it a bit. To me that counts as making the bed, but to him, it does not. So it does get made every day, just not by me…thanks Karen, for the opportunity to say swallow that frog!
Yes, I make the bed everyday. I am happy. I usually don’t sleep in the nude.
I don’t really like making my bed but I do it, because I like coming into my bedroom in the evening and seeing my neatly made bed. I didn’t always make my bed, I know that, but I can’t recall when I began making it everyday, so I must have been doing it for a long time now. Am I happier?…Yeah, I think I am. I’m always happier when I just get on with things I don’t really like doing instead of procrastinating. And since I like the appearance of a neat and tidy home, the bed-making has to be done. That said, I’m a terrible piler. I leave what I think are tidy piles of books and other things everywhere. I’m working on that bad habit. Hoping Marie Kondo will steer me in the right direction. She’s certainly helped me to organize my clothing in an incredibly satisfying way.
I make my bed. Always. I don’t have a poll to prove it, but I can tell you with certainty it’s not a genetic thing as my kids don’t make theirs most days. Drives me so crazy, I have to do it for them.
I don’t know if it really counts when all I do is fluff the duvet(no top sheets are allowed on my bed). Or that I’m all that disciplined when all I’m trying to do is keep the dogs from nesting in it. (The little rotters just make a nest between the pillows and the duvet so I really don’t know why I bother)
Yay, another fellow no top sheet believer! If I have time in the morning I pull the duvet up and straighten the bed, but if my kitty is snug in the folds of it I let things be. He’s old, he needs peace and I hate rules, anyway.
O.K. I was just thinking about this last night as I got into bed. It was too warm to be covered in a duvet completely, but not so warm that I didn’t need anything. Enter … the top sheet! You can keep the duvet just down by your waist and have the sheet above. Perfect temperature control, lol. ~ karen!
Always make the bed-makes my heart happy to see it all plumped up and tidy, but not first thing. Must first experience the imperial joys of morning coffee! That lets it air out as well. And yes, Happy Happy! Sometimes I even stroke the bed as I walk past later in the day cuz it’s so satisfying. Simple pleasures!
Just as you were shocked when you read the study of how many sleep in the nude, I am shocked at how many people actually make their beds every morning and double shocked that they do it right away….and amazed they are happy. I never make the bed except when I change the sheets. And I am very happy, in part because I never feel compelled to make my bed. I subscribe to the let it air out theory and to the theory every one should take a nap every day. If you are going to take a nap why make your bed and if you are going to go to sleep at night in your bed,,,again why make your bed? I suppose if I thought someone was going to see the bed I might feel some pressure to actually make the bed, but no one sees this room except for the cats, dogs and my immediate family, and they seem to take in stride.
Yes. And yes. I make my bed EVERY morning and I am happy. The odd less than 1% of the time I don’t make my bed it does indeed ruin my day a little (& I make it at night). Of course. This is already a biased stat as the only reason I wouldn’t make my bed is if I was sick. So. You know. Not the best day to begin with.
I also wear pajamas. In case you want to get real technical in your survey. 💁♀️
I’m the odd one out, I sleep in a chair. I have terrible arthritis in my neck, shoulders and back (and everywhere else, to a lesser degree). I complained to my doctor some years ago. I said that some nights I would hurt so bad that I’d get up and go sleep in my recliner chair. He asked if I sleep well there, I do, so he said to get rid of the bed and put a chair in my bedroom. I did and now I sleep well every night!
I have a leather recliner chair, I made a padded cover for it so I can wash the cover and have a nice, clean bed. I wipe the leather with Murphy’s oil soap each month. And I have a duvet to tuck around me. In the morning, I sit up, fold the duvet and toss it over the chair and I’m done.
Tina, me too! I had shoulder replacement surgery in November and it was recommended that I sleep in a recliner for the first couple of months. When the Dr. told me I could remove the splint and sleep without it and go back to my bed, I did.
The next morning my back hurt so bad I could hardly walk, so back to the recliner I went. No bed to make. LOL I do however straighten the blankets on my recliner every morning and I am a happy person. Anyone want to buy a bed?
I’m at the point where I get minor panic attacks at the idea of sleeping at a hotel or friend’s house! But I do have a lot of friends who have changed to chair sleeping. The best choice I made was to make slip covers for the chairs. I can take them off and wash them a couple of times a week and it’s just like fresh sheets!
Aaawwee,..I love this post,….:)….and I love making my bed every morning,…..double duvets in the winter,…two cats who are SO use to having the bed made around them that they just keep sleeping while i tug and smooth out the covers they are buried in,…it makes me smile to have perfectly smooth white linens in my minimal bedroom,….a wondeul start to the day,…..and OH,…how i do love climbing back into tight beautifully made covers at night,….:)….thanks for this,..! Cj
I’m old. I need to pee as soon as I get up and then it is time to feed the cat and check my e-mail. Then it’s time to work on some craft project, or go some where, or do something else I really want to do.
Since my days and nights belong to me. I can, and do, sleep when I want without any real concern about sunlight outside, or darkness.
I do make my bed when I change the sheets or if I have company coming over, so I guess I’m not totally an animal.
Bottom line is my life is my own. I’m living it to the fullest for how ever long I have left. The bed is on it’s own. That is true happiness.
I love your philosophy, Carol…and, so well said💕💕. I am now an old lady, too. In my younger years, I subscribed to the made-bed rule. 52yrs in nursing and making hospital beds made me realize I would love to have the luxury of having someone (else!) put clean sheets on my bed every single day!
That Karen-Girl… she makes us think about the darndest things! 😁
I DO make my bed every day. I even make it when I get up from my day-sleep (now don’t get judgmental, I work nights) and my husband is getting into it in a few hours. It’s just… neater? More comfortable? Better all around, getting into a made bed at the end of a day, or after a long night of work.
Make it up every morning right when I get up and on average consider myself pretty happy. On the rare day I don’t make it up, I have noticed I don’t feel the same…less focused, not ready to face the world…have a genuine dislike for going to bed in an unmade bed. Probably stems from childhood, we had to make our beds up daily and it just became a habit I do without thinking much about it.
I don’t put the fancy pillows on every day, but pull up and straighten the sheets, tucking the spread over the pillows we sleep on. I don’t like getting into the bed at night if I didn’t make it up in the morning – seems untidy. LOL
My mother’s bed making routine involved turning back the bed when you first get up, to let it ‘air’, which addresses Wendi’s concern. Then, after an hour or so, you made it. I discovered duvets, so mine gets made when I get up, or maybe after feeding the cats, anyway before my breakfast. Sometimes in summer it does get aired. How well it gets made depends on my mood, available time and sleeping cats. I like how a made bed looks, so it’s worth the energy. And yes, happy.
I don’t make the bed and I’m very happy! I read that it’s healthier to let it “air out” when you first get up. Otherwise you trap dust mites… so now I don’t feel guilty about not making. I was a bedmaker as a kid, Mom insisted and heaven help you if you didn’t! I do like how it looks when made so i will sometimes go back later to do it.
I’ve read that too! But it’s a bit of a misnomer. Like it or not there’s nothing you can do about dust mites/ bed mites. You’re going to have them no matter what. Made or unmade bed. You just can’t think about it, lol. ~ karen!
Proud wild child here! No I don’t make my bed. And I have to say, I’m pretty darn happy. I’m of an age that I sweat when I sleep, and it kinda skeeves me out to think about covering that up and letting it fester and mildew in that warm environment. I know, I’m nuts, but that’s how my crazy brain works! lol
Sweaty or not, you’re doing the right thing! There ARE scientific studies to show that the bed environment is healthier when you let it air out instead of immediately covering it up. So, I leave the bed unmade and airing every morning…and never get back to it until I return home in the evening. I’m happy, healthy, and wealthy (and wise, in my own eyes). Maybe when I am older, I’ll be at home during the day to make the bed once it has aired out.
I read that a long time ago about not making your bed as soon as you get up, instead allowing it time to air out to dry, so that’s what we’ve always done. Whichever one of us gets up last, folds the covers back to expose the bed.
And I just assumed that making ones bed in the morning was as universal as brushing ones teeth until we looked at purchasing a rental home a number of years ago and most homes that our realtor showed us had unmade beds – and I was perplexed. Uh…maybe my assumption about teeth brushing is also wrong.
Anyway, we’re happy happy happy :)
I can’t imagine showing a home for sale or rental with an unmade bed or beds. Makes you wonder what else hasn’t been done to present your home in it’s best possible light. We live in a small home now that we are older, and the bedroom is in full view of the living room so the bed gets made by the two of us, after we’ve had our first cuppa joe. We leave all the doors open so the air can circulate and we don’t feel like we’re in a one room prison. Know some people that live with all their doors closed. Makes you wonder what they’re hiding. We never had kids, so it was never an issue. They had four kids, so closed doors were a necessity. After they all left home it became a habit. Maybe they don’t make their bed!
Nope, not nuts. If you’re a bed sweater it’s better to leave it uncovered to dry out. See? You’re just smart. Be happy about that. ;) ~ karen!
Yes, every day. I’ve never considered not making it. I also turn down the bed each evening. And, yes, I am happy.
Yes. Every. Day.
I do make the bed every day. My guy doesn’t like making the bed but he does like it made. I don’t care as much, but it makes me happy to make him happy. Win win.
People make their beds? Are you kidding me?!
I have not made a bed – other than for an impending guest – in probably 40 years (since I was 10 and my mother said I should).
And I never plan to start.
And I think I’m pretty happy.
In part because I don’t have to do a pointless chore RIGHT when I wake up!
Hear, hear!
Amen to that! Perfectly happy to have a perfectly unmade bed every day!
Yep, it’s super arbitrary! I think if I lived in a studio apartment where my bed was in the living room, I would, but that’s about the only time. That being said, I do make sure the comforter is pulled up because the cats, if they’re going to barf, seem to love to target the bed and it’s easier to clean the comforter than the mattress (gross!).
Nicole…I too am a defensive bed maker. It has naught to do with happiness and everything to do with a cat’s uncanny ability to eject a hairball directly onto your freshly laundered comforter. ;-)
That said, this is a very interesting topic, and I love the admiral’s words on motivation, Thanks Karen!
I love that speech! I do “make” my bed which consists of simply flipping the comforter up and giving a tug to smooth it out. I’m happy. One task completed, but the momentum to continue completing tasks fizzles out by the time I get downstairs.
I too face your conundrum. I’m a nightowl and don’t like to go to bed, but I also will lay awake in bed as long as I can in the morning because it’s too comfy to get out. I do my best plotting then. And because it’s so easy to make my bed, I don’t have a problem jumping back in on a cold morning after it’s ‘made’. The rack monster sucks you back in.
Rose, you have described me quite accurately: quickly pulling all the covers up to the head and straightening the wrinkles with spread up and over pillows. But first I have to get out of bed – hate to go to bed, I too am a night owl, then don’t want to get up in morning, but do lay thinking of many things, some of my best thinking times – this also happens at bedtime in bed because, unless very, very tired I get some of my best thinking done.
Now, if bed is very messy in morning I tend to just leave it because I am running late for something. It is depressing though to see an unmade bed, and I always feel good about accomplishing upon arising – room looks ever so much better.
Walk in, see messy bed, feel depressed that I couldn’t do such a simple thing after getting up. : (
Vow to do better next day. :))
I do make my bed every day, and I consider myself to be happy. Bear in mind this study will be skewed as the responses will be from, in the most part, intelligent, good looking people.
Funny!
Since leaving the parent’s nest several decades ago, I have NEVER, EVER made my bed! It’s just going to get messed up again the next time I use it.
Also, I’m generally a malcontent, prone to mid-day naps and proud of it!
So, maybe there is a correlation :)
Yes – made every day. Yes – happy too.
Yes, I make my bed and definitely consider myself to be happy. I do like to do my own turn down service in the early evening, so that when I actually go to bed it’s all ready and waiting for me.
I do that too, lol! ~ karen
My husband and I have a rule-last one out has to make the bed. He makes the bed 98% of the time (I make the rules:).
Yes, my husband makes the bed everyday. 😀
Nope I don’t make my bed every morning and I’m not as happy as I used to be. Hmm….this needs looking into.
Yup, I’m reasonably happy and I make my bed every day, with allowances on occasion when one of the cats is curled up in a particularly adorable way, in which case I make the bed around him. There’s some law about disturbing sleeping cats, right?
Bed-making allows me to have at least one accomplishment for the day (sometimes the only one). Selfishly motivated, I love crawling into a warm and cozy bed at night, so fluffy duvet and pillows are arranged, bed is first preheated by my mattress pad, and then when I get into bed, I turn it to the frigid cold setting to keep my wacky post-menopausal body from overheating during the night. Perf!
And this leads nicely to a future post Karen…..
Get into a cold bed or a warm one?
I love our electric blanket and sliding into a lovely warm bed delights me…
p.s. I just thought, this might just be because we are nudies though…
We’d have to have a mattress pad that goes from hot to ice-cube on one side and from ice-cube to hot on the other. I suppose they sell those, don’t they? Oh, and some kind of thermal barrier in between would be nice. Perhaps I’m describing twin beds.
I LOVE my heated mattress pad (way better than an electric blanket, in my opinion) and it definitely has 2 separate zones for each sleeper. I’ve got the hot tub side, but I can stretch into the pool side if I get a bit warm. :) the heated mattress pad is what actually gets me into bed at night in winter.
I am so glad to know I am not the only one who makes the bed around a cat or two! They are way to cute to disturb, especially when they open one sleepy eye to look at you from their comfiness.
I make my bed every day. I’m incapable of going to sleep in an unmade bed. I agree that it starts your day on the right foot
Yup! I make the bed and the dogs wait until I’m done to sprawl on it! I’m pretty happy. I definitely climb back in if it’s unmade….
Occasionally, I have my shit together and I try to maintain a neatly made bed for myself. I want to be this person more. Often I have so many things I want to run and go do -and I’m a spaz- so I run and do them, basically forgetting entirely that I have a bed at all.
However, true to the broken windows theory of tough urban buildings, the rest of my room starts to deteriorate if I allow this too long. Socks start accumulating on the floor, then a pair of jeans might get tossed at the end of the bed… until I get sick of the chaos and loop back to a state of freshly laundered, neatly made bedding and vow to not do that to myself again.
I’m not 100% sure how to break the cycle, alas. I currently have an unmade bed but a no-laundry-on-the-floor policy I’ve managed to keep rolling. Maybe I’ll try to start again with a made bed tomorrow, see how long I can hold it!
Meg, you and I are on the same page. I want to be that person tho makes the bed every day but like you consider it a victory if I don’t have a weeks worth of clothes piled on a chair. I’m working on it!
Waking up to this question from Karen I quickly put my phone down, put all the random clothes away and made my bed!
same page too!
Me three! I am not sure anyone else counts how I make my bed “A made bed” but I do. I throw/straighten the sheets and quilts, and call it made. I am not a,”make it look like a magazine ad bed” type person. But I do wish I could.
haha! all you folks in my same boat.
and the other part- am I happy? I consider myself pretty happy generally and I am fairly successful in life. I feel I could be happier if the house were tidier. *goes to make bed that she once again accidentally fled from, this morning*
I took the chair out to see if it helps me keep out the clutter and replaced it with a plant on a stand. The plants wouldn’t like my clothes thrown on top of it very much and so I try to respect its feelings. Two weeks in, so far so good.
Hiya Karen,
I make my bed every.single.day. I consider myself happy, make a nice income and I’m extremely superstitious. Therefore I believe if I don’t make my bed, a calamity will befall me or my loved ones. Preventing a calamity is the best reason to make the bed, thereby ensuring happiness and wealth. Weird, but works for me! P.s. I never miss your posts and share them generously!
Well, I mean preventing calamity is the obvious reason to make your bed, but I figured that was so obvious I didn’t need to mention it. ;) ~ karen!
Forgot to say…l am a very happy person…. when it’s not frigging negative eleventy million degrees celsius out…. LOL
eleventy million LOL LOL :D funny you mentioned the number of dollars I need
Yes.
Happy out west.
I make my bed every morning. I just love the look of it when it’s made with all the pillows in place and the duvet shaken out and folded just so.
Then the dog hops up and makes himself at home ….LOL
LOL. In my case it is the cat, but she just puts a small divot in the fluffy duvet. Still …
But yeah, I make my bed because I love the way it looks and because of that it gives me added incentive to keep the rest of the room tidy.
Ditto🥴
Yes, I do make my bed, AND my husband and I sleep in the nude…we’re very happy people.
Whew. Thought we were the only ones (to both criteria).
1. Make the bed? Check
2. Sleep in the nude? Check
3. Make the bed while nude? Check
4. Happy? You bet!
Another happy naked sleeping bed maker reporting!
Here here! (Or is it Hear Hear!?)
I too make the bed, sleep in the nude and consider myself lucky and happy!!
I’m with Sigi!
I do make my bed. Every day. I also change my bedroom decor with the seasons and, yes, I’m happy! 😊
Yes, I make my bed. It was my mother’s number one rule…so my bed is made even before I have my first cup of coffee.