Everyone has a stance on bed-making. Whether you’re the “crisp corners by 7:00 am” type or the “it’s just going to get messy again” type, your answer says something about you as a person. Right?
I am a bed maker. I make the bed at home and I make the bed on vacation. I even make the bed before we check out of a hotel.
In our house, the last person out of bed typically makes it — though that’s not a hard and fast rule. Sometimes we do it immediately, sometimes we circle back after the breakfast rush. But one thing’s certain: I never leave the bed unmade all day.
*Insert dramatic shudder.*
Your turn.
- Do you make your bed every morning?
- Have your bed-making habits changed over time? (University, post-kids, etc.)
- Were you raised in a “bed must be made” household? (I was, though if my mom was away, my dad NEVER made their bed.)
- Does it bother you if someone else’s bed is unmade — or do you not notice?
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We make our bed every day. Generally that’s my husband since I get up first, but sometimes it’s me. I’ll complain here in your safe space and say that it bugs me when I get home from my morning walk to start my work day and find that he’s stripped the bed and put the bedding in the washing machine, because that means I have to deal with it the rest of the way through. Why? It’s not a big deal, which is why I never mention it to him. But I feel like he’s assigned me a task without asking me.
Our daughter NEVER makes her bed, and rarely washes her sheets.
I have never worked in housekeeping at a hotel, but I feel like making the bed might make their job harder, so I never do that. Unless you mean during your stay, when they are freshening your room, in which case it might be easier since they don’t have to touch the bed. Still, I leave it for them, but I leave a tip.
I’m glad this is a safe space for marital complaints; I won’t tell on you to Ted!
I can see why that would be annoying. Putting the laundry in the machine is the easiest part by far.
I did mean during our stay. I always, always, always make my bed before leaving the room for the day. And before we leave (to check out) I do generally toss all the sheets/blankets up on the bed, checking to make sure we haven’t left anything in (or under) the beds.
I am like you, I even make the bed before I check out of a hotel. I honestly cannot remember if I always did this or if this came later in life. My parents make their bed every day and they do the “last man out” rule, and that is usually my Dad, but I think if my Dad was away, my Mom *might not* make the bed right away. However, my parents also owned a place with vacation rentals, and so I had to make A LOT of beds as a kid, and we are all about hospital corners, tight, and you could bounce a quarter off of my bed when its made.
I don’t do a crisp bed making when we leave a hotel (though I do a fairly thorough job all the other days), but I do toss the blankets up on the bed and it looks…quasi neat…when we check out, which may be making it harder for people?
My mom was an RN, so she taught me young how to do hospital corners! I could NOT bounce a quarter off my bed, but I try to keep it neat and tidy and it lifts the whole vibe of a room for me.
Ah, making the bed before checking out the hotel is next level! I flip back the bed and fluff up the cushions so it looks nice and tidy, but making it is a really nice gesture.
It’s always me that makes our bed – if *other* people do it, it’s never up to my standards… so it’s easier if I do it.
Yes, I think I’m closer to what you do in terms of making the bed before check out. But if we’re staying somewhere long term, every day before we leave our hotel/apartment, I will make the bed. I don’t love actually doing it, but it makes the rest of the day seem to run more smoothly.
If you want something done right, better to do it yourself, I suppose!
I never made my bed going up because I slept on a bunk bed 40cm under the ceiling. No one saw anything. In my home I started doing it sometimes but ever since living with the husband the bed gets made. Luckily he does it because I don’t make nearly as perfect as he does. When I am in bed when he needs to leave I have to do it. It’s not great. Often enough I get up in time so he can do the bed. I am spoiled like that.
I never make it inn hotel rooms. I learned that it is actually slowing them down when they have to unmake a bed it takes longer for them.
I make my side of the bed every day–we sleep Scandinavian style, I have my own comforter and DH has his. It makes for a MUCH better night of sleep, no fighting over covers! I often make his side, too, but I give him a chance to do it before he goes to work. 😉 I don’t make the bed when checking out at hotels, as they’re going to have to strip and wash the sheets in any case. It makes it easier for housekeeping if you strip the sheets for them, I think. Now, if we’re staying more than one night, or at an AirBnB for a week, then yes, I make the bed every day.
I am so intrigued by the Scandinavian style bed situation; you must have two separate mattresses pushed together? That does sound brilliant!!!!
I mostly make the bed- my bed is in our family room, so if it’s not made, there’s no hiding it by closing the door. I always prefer having the bed made. It’s nice to slide into a xrisply made bed after a long day.
My kids don’t care too much, and we don’t force the issue. But as they get older, most make their beds. I grew up in a house where making the bed was definitely the way!
And please, do not make the bed when you are checking out of a hotel room! The housekeeper will have to strip the sheets anyway. If you feel you must help, please remove the sheets instead. -PSA from a former motel housekeeper. ( My first job!)
I agree that it feels much nicer to climb into a bed that has been made. But it must be 99% psycological, because I know lots fo people that don’t make their bed and they manage to function just fine in society 😉
I will admit I don’t strip the sheets when I leave (I’m very good about making sure all the towels are in the tub in one place). I tend to pile everything on top of the bed, pulling up one layer at a time to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything. It isn’t “made” per se, but I may have been creating more work for housekeeping. Oops! Thanks for the PSA!
I make the bed every day, usually first thing. That way I have accomplished SOMETHING, no matter what else happens. My husband is not quite so fussed about bed making — I think he does it, on the rare occasions he is the last one out of bed, only because I want him to. My kid sees no purpose in bed making and does it roughly once a month and only with lots of nagging.
I make the bed while in a hotel, too! Although I only do it during my stay, not on the day we leave.
It does feel like an accomplishment, doesn’t it.
I guess there ISN’T an obvious purpose to some people and perhaps that sense of accomplishment doesn’t register for particular personality types?
I was made to do as a kid and it’s just something I’ve taken with me through life. I do think that in general it seems to be associated with higher productivity but, again, I’m sure in many cases it would be moot. I just feel…icky and off if I haven’t made my bed.
Some of that might be because I’ve mostly worked from home since having kids. So I am actually in my bedroom multiple times in a day so I’d be confronted with the mess.
I grew up in a household where you absolutely had to make the bed. I am married to a person that doesn’t care of the bed is made. I have decided it’s not a hill I want to die on so most days our bed is not made. I get up before Phil and don’t want to go back upstairs to make the bed. Sometimes he will get into a habit of making the bed later in the day, though. We don’t make the kids make their bed either. I should probably teach them how to do it at some point. Their beds are both pushed up against the wall and those are the hardest beds to make! But it’s the best way to arrange the furniture in their small room!
We have a bed up against a wall in Indy’s room and it does make it harder to make the bed!
I’ll admit I am surprised Phil doesn’t care about having a made bed.
Our bedroom is on our main floor; while I suspect the ritual is so hardwired it wouldn’t matter, I do see our bedroom A LOT during the day since it’s at the end of our main hallway. So it’s not like I leave my room and never see it again. And the messy heap of blankets and sheets would drive me crazy!
I’m sort of an in between person. I prefer the bed to be made, definitely, but I can also be lazy about it sometimes, too. At our house it’s not usually something I even have to do- I get up well before Ivan, so he always makes the bed once he’s out of the shower and ready for work. (I have never imposed this on him- he just does it. I think he was raised in a “you make the bed” house, for sure.) If there’s a rare day where he is in a big rush and he hustles out the door without making the bed (this happens maybe a couple times/ month), I will say there is a 50/50 chance that I’ll make it. lol. If it’s a weekday and I’m just going to be down in my office all day anyway, then eh, maybe not…no one will see it anyway. But like yesterday (Saturday), he didn’t make it right away in the morning, and I wanted to go put some laundry away/ straighten up our room/ was going to be in and out all day, so I made the bed. I absolutely cannot do anything else in the room if the bed is not made. (i.e. I couldn’t pull out a suitcase and start packing for a trip on an unmade bed. Would drive me crazy!)
In hotels I tend to just loosely make the bed before we head out each day (pull blankets up), but I never make it before we check out! In those cases I am more likely to strip the top sheets off to make sure the boys didn’t leave anything in the bed! ha. I definitely always make the bed if I’m a guest at someone’s house.
I make the bed every day and so do my kids. It’s such a quick and easy way to make the room look nice. At most – with decorative pillows and pillow shams – it takes 90 seconds. I hate the feeling of getting into an unmade bed – I need that nice feeling of pulled-up blankets and sheets. It doesn’t have to be hospital corners, it just has to be smooth.
It is a quick job and it sets the stage for a productive day (not that it always works!).
The only time I don’t make my bed is when I’m bed-ridden, so I think the sensation of being in messy, bunched sheets also makes me think of illness. Ugh.
Team Made Bed! The only reason that I don’t make it first thing is that Hubs gets up later than I do. If Hubs takes a nap, then his side of the bed gets unmade. I’ve recently won a few victories in the house cleaning department, so maybe my next project can be to get him to leave the bed as he found it.
My parents were very strict about me keeping my room clean as a kid, and the tidiness was something that I didn’t appreciate until I had my own place. My policy with the boys is that what happens in their room is their business.
I know my kids know HOW to keep a tidy room…but it’s not high on their priority list.
I think it’s more of an annoyance to me because I’ve worked from home since having kids so I see the mess regularly throughout the day.
I tend to make them pick things up at least once a week so it never get “too far gone” but it is alarming how fast it can go from clean to looking like a tornado has ripped through their living space.
We have a first floor master bedroom, so I can’t imagine not making the bed. It takes like one minute, so I don’t get why people don’t do it. In hotels, I throw the bedspread on the floor because I assume they are not washed, but I do pull up the sheets and blanket.
We also have a first-floor master (we are in a bungalow and we’re all on the main level) so I walk by my room all the time.
Looks like I’m in the minority, here in Team Doesn’t Make the Bed Regularly. It’s a lonely life! No, but as I’m the only one in the bed, I can have it exactly the way I want it, which is just blankets, no top sheet (I hate a tightly tucked in sheet, my toes rebel). I was raised in a leave-it-to-air, then-make-the-bed household, but years of sharing the bed with cats trained me to leave it for them to cuddle into. I might make it if people are coming over, or I might just close my bedroom door!
In hotels, I’ll roughly make the bed so I don’t lose things in it, especially when packing. I do make the bed if I’m visiting friends or family, though.
We also hate top sheets!! Aside from the guest room, I don’t put top sheets on anyones bed. I grew up with them, but John hates them and he very quickly converted me!
Currently I make the bed almost every day.
I have one teen who makes their bed and one who doesn’t. But if we have Company, I do usually insist it gets made.
Yes, making the bed is one thing I always have the kids do before company comes! I can’t imagine NOT being bothered by an unmade bed, but my kids aren’t phased by it in the least.
It is funny to me that at camp they have to make their bed every day. I think camps learned early on that if you let beds stay unmade everything descends into chaos quickly! So my kids definitely know HOW to make a bed, and I suspect they’ll want to as they become adults, but I suppose a lot depends on who you marry (if that happens for them), since if you’re neutral, chances are you’ll lean toward the preference of someone who really does care either way?
99% of the time, I make the bed, but not always as the first thing of the day. Usually, it’s coffee first! That being said, this week, as I’m under the weather and sleeping in the guest room, I’ve not ‘made’ the bed once. And I don’t think Coach is making the bed either. I do at least ‘straighten the bed’ so it’s not such a mess when I walk back into the guest room.
I didn’t grow up with many rules, so bed making wasn’t a thing.
I also straighten up the motel room bed while we are there, so it’s not such a messy look for my brain to handle.
When we’re travelling I already feel a bit out of routine, so having a neat space helps me function. I find it gets messy fast since we’re all living out of suitcases and often coming and going at various times of day so making my bed is a quick, easy reset!
Hope you’re feeling better soon!
Our bed gets made daily – but it’s usually my husband doing the chore. Unless the sheets need to be washed, then it’s my job.
I’m team making the bed. I’ve been on the time for a while… But also because we have a cat and I prefer to keep my sheets (or the sides I sleep under and on at least) cat-hair free.
My kids don’t seem to care, but maybe they’ll care more when they’re older? I have pointed out the cat hair to them. My oldest now likes to get back in bed to read a book or play on his phone, but he also loves it if I put the comforter on his bed just right before he goes to sleep.
Yes, my kids don’t care about making the bed…but they DO like to be tucked in just so 😉
Yes, every day without fail since I was a child. My mother insisted when I was growing up and eventually it just felt better to me to get into a made bed at night. My favorite night each week is getting into bed with clean sheets!
Maybe I should absolutely insist on it???? Though I think life feels too short for that kind of a daily fight.
They both know how to make a bed, that much I can say.
I LOVE a perfectly made bed but normally make it midafternoon when I’m WFH and am tired of sitting at my desk. The cat normally curls up and sleeps for a few hours when we get up, so I feel bad moving him.
A happily sleeping cat is a good excuse not to make your bed, Coree.
I had to scan through the comments to make sure I’m not the ONLY one, but I rarely make my bed. My husband and I sleep with separate covers WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, and he often will make his side, which is funny because in every other area, he’s messier than I am. Every once in a while if I’m cleaning the bedroom or people are coming over, I’ll make the bed and then I do admit, it looks nice!
You’re the second one to mention Scandinavian-style blankets. It DOES sound very practical.
Both my husband and I make the bed. We don’t have a system, it just gets done every morning by one of us. I like how it tidies up the room. I also tidy up before leaving a hotel. I don’t tuck in the sheets, just straighten and fold down the sheets and blankets half way.
I don’t think a room can ever look neat WITHOUT a made bed. But it is something that has to be done daily, which is the rub.
When I was a teen, I went through a period of always sleeping in a sleeping bag and I would stuff it into a basket each morning. That was the fasted way to make a bed!
I am not someone who makes my bed regularly, although I always feel so much better on the days I do. You’d think this would prompt me to make my bed more often, BUT IT DOES NOT. It’s one of my morning routine tasks, but sometimes I just feel lazy and other days, I’m like, “Well, I want to take a nap in my bed today, so what’s the point?”
I honestly cannot remember if we were supposed to make our beds growing up. I would assume it was one of our chores, but if it was, it wasn’t one my parents were super strict about.
Even if I know I’m going to nap I always make my bed because I like the sensation of turning down the covers to nap. I also make the bed again AFTER I nap.
I make the bed daily, as I find it hard to sleep if the sheets and blankets aren’t ‘squared’. DH seems to care less, but then again, he’s the covers messer-upper in the night so apparently his brain doesn’t detect squeejawed things and keep him awake like mine does, lol.
Ha! Sometimes there are things in marriage where one spouse cares a lot more than the other. In that case the spouse that cares should get to make the final say! So I approve of you setting things back to rights 😉
Started making my bed in college and have never stopped. I have to be pretty sick to not make my bed.
Yes, the only time I DON’T make my bed is if I’m so sick I can’t leave it. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen very often.
That was part of my kid’s routine in the morning—get up, get dressed, make your bed, and brush your teeth. (I can’t remember its number but it was one of my “lectures” my boys numbered because they heard it so often. LOL).
I wouldn’t worry about it. They’ll do it if it’s important to them when they grow up.
I think my kids all have the necessary foundation for adulthood with these sorts of things (they know HOW to make their beds), and I don’t care two hoots if they do it or not. I just sometimes get ornery about them not doing it now because I have to look at it – haha.
It’ll make you shudder, but I am not a bedmaker… unless you count “folding over half of the duvet towards the bottom” so it can air out, as “bed = made”. LOL
It doesn’t make me shudder…but it does REALLY surprise me. I am shocked as I definitely took you for a bed maker!
Though folding down the duvet does sound like it’s mostly made…so maybe you’re a bedmaker and you just didn’t realize it.
I didn’t used to make the bed every day, but I started to this past year. I think I just wanted to challenge myself to have just one thing that I could do every day. (It’s actually two now- yoga and make my bed.)
I was intrigued by the two duvet system we encountered in Amsterdam because my Husband and I sleep at very different temperatures. I sort of did a cheap/lazy hack and just folded our duvet in half onto my side of the bed so he just sleeps under the flat sheet and blanket.
Funny story- my husband used to just make *his* side of the bed. Sometimes even while I was still sleeping. Drove me nuts.
I do make my hotel bed. When I check out it’s because I can take one last look and make sure I’m not leaving anything behind.
On the subject of stripping sheets- I was always taught to strip sheets before I left when I am a houseguest. The first time I did it when visiting my Husband’s family (before we were married) my mother in law was APPALLED. I never did it again at her house.
I think it would drive me nuts if my husband made the bed when I was still sleeping, too!
I don’t like when people strip the sheets before they leave because it means I feel like I have to do the laundry right away. If people ask, I always tell them to just leave them on the bed and I’ll get to it later. Sometimes it’s that same day, but sometimes it’s just not convenient and I wait for a few days. But I’d say 50% of the people who come to visit me strip the sheets!
I make my bed once a week when I change my sheets. I once read an article about how it is more hygienic to NOT make your bed. Apparently, it is better to let it air out (for a few hours at the very least). That’s my excuse anyway 😉
That’s the reason I let my dishes air dry (which my mother finds looks messy – she always dries all her dishes which just pushes bacteria around clean plates ;))
If it works for you, it’s a great system. And, you’re saving time every time you don’t make it!
This is a great question. I would say that I half ass make the bed. Sorta depends on the day but more often than not- I toss the quilt up to sort of cover the bed and if the extra pillows are within reach I put them on the bed. Coach makes the bed when he is the last one sleeping which is rare. Life happens at a nonstop
Pace most mornings with me trying to get a workout in before babies get dropped off so I bolt and might straighten the quilt later in the day, but mostly I do not give a shit about the state of my bed although a made bed looks lovely. My kids do not make their beds. We had so many bunkbeds in the day that no one really liked up there. Our upstairs is mostly off limits to visiting friends. For obvious reasons. I did just try to take back my bedroom yesterday and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. My room is a dumping ground. Kids toss clothes to be donated in a corner of my room and I sort it to go to cousins or Amvets or a single mom who once worked for Coach. I really would love for my room to be a sanctuary where I can retreat but as a foster mom the band of the game is engaging and connecting so I do not retreat often. Someday my room will be organized and my bed will be made and I will enjoy that phase of life.
Such a wise comment, Ernie. There are different seasons in life and different priorities along the way. It is not morally superior to have a neat room and you are prioritizing the right things in this busy time of life when so many people depend on you.
I really struggle to function if my environment is in chaos so I almost HAVE to prioritize that or else everything else falls to pieces (regrettably).
I make our bed most days (my rule for habits is 80% of days is good). The last person out makes the bed, which almost always means me. I don’t make it straight away, though, because I read that it’s better to let it air for a bit to reduce the humidity, which dust mites love. I usually go after breakfast and make it. If we are in a hotel, I don’t always make the bed, and I certainly don’t make the bed before I leave because the cleaners will just be pulling the sheets anyway.
Elisabeth, I just saw your comment. No, we have a large king size mattress, and a king size fitted sheet on the bottom, but then we each have our own top covers, if that makes sense. When we make the bed, I just lay our covers neatly on each half; some people get matching comforters for this set-up, but we just used what we had on hand (well, I treated myself to a new duvet with a cover!). Apparently this is common in quite a few European countries, and American travelers are confounded when they find two comforters on a bed! But trust me, it spares us the age-old “stealing the covers” issue. The only issue is on whose comforter Clark might deposit the rare hairball.
We aren’t too bad about cover stealing, but neither of us do well in confined spaces. It is SUCH a headache now when we’re sleeping anywhere other than a King!
This skipped a generation in my family. My mom and my 9 year old daughter are avid daily bed makers: tight corners, arrange pillows/stuffies, etc. I’ve never made a bed in my life without being forced to (unless I’ve changed the sheets, of course.)
Interesting that one of your kids is a bed-maker! My kids have not inherited it from me (yet). But I will be curious to see what they do later in life.
All of my siblings are daily bedmakers, but it was more enforced in my household growing up than it is now for my kids.