I want to see if my views on this are in the minority. Do you make your bed? If so, how often? And if so, why do you do it? If you have more than one bed being regularly used in your home, do you have a house rule about making the bed? What are the benefits of making it?
I make my bed every day. It is one thing that I can put in order to start the day. We taught our kids, too.
No I usually buy them pre-made
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My wife makes our bed each morning. I used to think it wasn’t necessary, but I’ve come around on the idea that it’s nicer to get into a made bed than an unmade one.
We don’t make our kids do it, but one daughter is nuts about it. She makes her bed as soon as she wakes up. Like doesn’t even leave the room until it’s made.
The pain about the made bed is that we have to take off the decorative pillows and bed spread and take out the useful pillows. But it only takes about half a minute.
I make the bed in the guest bedroom if we are having someone spend the night. And I make the bed when I change the sheets. Otherwise, no, I don’t make the bed. I might smooth it out if the quilt is all hanging off one side or something.
But at some point I realized that I prefer not to have to untuck everything to get comfortable, and I get no value from making the bed every day.
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We properly make it when changing the sheets. Otherwise we just pull up the covers and call it good.
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Similar to Lucy.
My making the bed is basically relegated to, are company over that will use or see it, or maybe if my partner is sick and I want to baby them with a “fresh” bed. (even though it’s likely been 6 weeks since the sheets saw a washer).
When I change the sheets, usually the first few days after when it doesn’t get too messy to begin with, when company is coming, when the cleaning lady comes (although in that case she’s making it, not me).
Probably about 1/3 - 1/2 the time it gets made.
No, I sweat so much that it needs to air out.
My wife generally makes the bed because I get up first.
When we first got married, I was someone who rarely ever made my bed but she insisted on doing it daily. A few years into our marriage she started getting up before me so I started making the bed. That lasted for a few years until we switched again. It is now a habit for me when she is gone or I am traveling. This is not hospital corners, but we generally have decorative pillows and possibly an extra blanket or two so "making the bed means everything gets straightened up (sheets quilt/comforter, etc) and/or placed back on the bed, so it looks put together/clean/tidy.
The primary reason is so it looks put together/clean/tidy. I notice a negative psychological impact when the rooms are excessively messy and making the bed is an easy way to help “tidy up.” We still have some random piles, but we generally keep most of the house picked up and clutter free. The house was definitely messier when we had young kids, but our bedroom was generally kept tidy and neat.
This is not We do it because
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This is pretty much what we do.
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Pish-posh. I made our new bed, took apart our old bed and made it in another room, then made another bed for our guest room (formerly the junk room). Also, took apart two bunk beds (already separated), then made it in my garage to take a picture, then donated it to a fostering family.
As for making a bed appear as if it had not been slept in, every day: I wouldn’t do it, but my wife insists – part of her upbringing. So it gets done. And since I’m home all day and she is not, it gets done before about 2PM. I prefer the sheets to be aired out as long as possible.
Others in the house are old enough to make their own decisions, and they make the right one: not making it appear as if it had not been slept in.
I thought we had a thread on this. But I can repeat.
Never made my bed until 2 years ago.
Reasons I make my bed: It looks good. It looks good when I walk by my room, and it looks good when I go to bed at night. My place pretty much always looks like a hotel. It lifts my spirit up.
This also started in a time when I was in a fairly low state. Breakup, selling the house, moving, chronic substance usage, unstable mood. A messy place was pretty detrimental to my already not so perfect mental state. Then I heard someone say that a good reason to make your bed in the morning is so that you can feel like you already accomplished something for the day. I’d say that’s pretty true. When you feel accomplished, it is a catalyst for completing something more. It feasts on itself.
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I have never been inclined to make the bed until recently. I make it when we have our quarterly home inspection for fostering, or when we have guests and they’ll see the bedroom (not often, I’ll frequently just close the bedroom door, but when people are babysitting our kids, the kids will often go into our room and leave the door open, little punks).
I recently decided that I needed something in my life that didn’t contribute to my general anxiety around chaos, and also we now have two of my quilts on my bed, and what is the point of making quilts if they never get placed on a bed to be seen in full? So we’ve been making it for the last month. It doesn’t make me feel accomplished or anything, but it is nice to look at, at the end of the day, and think that I made something beautiful.
I’m considering having our kids start making their own bed. Not because I think it’s important, but I think it’s a skill they should learn - along with washing their own sheets every week, and tidying up their bedroom at least once a week. But I haven’t implemented that yet.
I’m surprised to see more actuaries aren’t in the “must have a freshly made bed every day” camp. I feel like most of the people I work with would be the personality type that would adopt such an attitude, but you are all much cooler people, clearly.
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There are anal actuaries, who must make the bed, and there are analytic actuaries, who know that to make something daily that will be unmade daily is a waste of time.
Probably some in-betweeners, too.
wife makes the bed every day. is particular about it and I am not up to her standard bc I dngaf.
if home alone (when she is out of town or i am at a hotel) i fold back the covers/smooth the top. That’s it. I don’t usually wreck it all when solo and can get away with a 2 second placement.
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like for the day when changing sheets? Sure, that’s a skill everyone will eventually need.
Making the bed everyday when not doing laundry? I don’t think that’s something that they’ll appreciate as kids. It’s something most adults don’t do and find annoying, let alone kids.
Probably something in between? Knowing how to do it and recognizing there are times it should be made, like when they have friends over and are playing in their rooms.
Back when I slept in a bed, I only made it when visitors were likely, as part of the whole routine of going “the extra mile” cleaning, organizing, etc.
I like the look of a made-up room, but I’ve got better things to do with my time. My mother did require I make my bed when I lived with them, and I kept up the habit through college, but once I was in the real world…
These days, I actually sleep in a reclining chair in my office, so “making my bed” would be folding and sticking a blanket in a closet.
(My wife doesn’t have a predictable sleep schedule, thanks to a TBI from a car accident 20 years ago, so we have separate sleeping quarters to avoid disturbing each other’s rest. After I developed some health issues, I discovered that I preferred sleeping sitting up…)
Unfortunately the poll died with the old AO but I was surprised at some of the underwear hygiene responses. If people aren’t going to bother with changing their underwear every day, I don’t see making the bed being a priority.
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