Making your bed is, at best, a performative waste of time...
... And at worst, actively making your bedroom less functional and more cumbersome to use. The arguments I hear in favor of it are completely asinine and I will address them one by one.
- It makes it more comfortable to sleep in.
I have absolutely no idea where that comes from. Do you all sleep like Dracula? My bedding is usually tussled about within minutes of me laying in bed. Blankets balled up for knee support, one leg sticking out for temperature venting. I couldn't imagine sliding under the covers and laying perfectly supine like Vladimir Lenin.
- It doesn't take much time, so you might as well do it.
I find any task not worth my time to be a waste, so unless it has a purpose, it is actively infuriating to do.
- It looks nice. And an unmade bed looks lazy
Given that this is an entirely subjective reason, I can't exactly "disagree" with it. But if there was someone I trust enough to be in my bedroom, I'm not going to waste my time convincing you that I do not, in fact, sleep in my bed.
Not to mention that if you want to nap or even sit on the end of the bed, you have to make it again. It is an incredibly unstable artwork, making me avoid using my bed unless I really need to.
If you make your bed, I have no judgment for you. Just like people who fold designs into the ends of their toilet paper. I couldn't imagine caring about something like that, but it literally doesn't affect me at all, so go nuts.
But I think we should be honest and call it what it is: some kind of shameful cleaning ritual that is probably some vestigial military chore, and I want nothing to do with it.
I have 2 dogs, and I’d prefer their shed hair ON the bed, rather than IN the bed.
This is something that's recently been changing my tune towards making my bed. And it's not just hair, but dirt and schmutz they drag in from outside.
That too, for sure.
THANK you. My cat was adorable, but inhaling her fur while trying to get to sleep was difficult...
......I don't understand. How do you not inhale her fur when she places her butthole right on your lips as you fall asleep?
....what? Is my cat the ONLY one who does this???
I honestly feel like this is some sort of genetic thing. Even kittens, who have never had a chance to be taught this, somehow know exactly when the most inopportune time is and seem to focus on getting it just right.
Every pet thread there is at least one comment that reminds me how happy I am to not be a pet owner
You make the mistake of assuming that someone makes it look nice for someone else and not themselves.
Depression is a motherfucker. It really can rob that from you.
It is kinda stupid. The less i do stuff for myself, the more i get depressed.
So i sometimes groom myself back into action, before getting too depressed to give a fuck
Exactly.
Fatal counter point to all your arguments:
It feels better when you do.
Literally none of your logical arguments matter one iota because the human brain does not care how much you logic an argument. It feels nicer and more comforting climbing into a made bed then an unmade one.
Also, lying on wrinkly sheets is inherently uncomfortable.
Counter-counterpoint: It "feeling better" is a subjective opinion. To me, it just sucks, and then it's done, and then it sucks to get back into the bed when you're ready to sleep.
Your “fatal counter point” is that you like it, and surely every single human brain feels the exact same way?
Not everyone must make their bed. Making their bed is positive for some. "There are no rules"
And can cause bedsores.
Like sure, but that feels beyond the scope of a bed making discussion.
Not really, the discomfort felt on wrinkly sheets directly precede them. Even healthy skin can break overnight, during humidity, pressure, friction, etc.
No, healthy skin cannot do that from a wrinkle. I have never made my bed since early childhood, and i have never woken up with a new break in my skin
"never happened to me, so it's never happened!"
No, each individual night of my life asleep is each a separate data point that refutes your claim. If this happens to a person then they don't have healthy skin.
You shift your body subconsciously all of the time, especially while sitting/lying down; this naturally prevents bed sores
If you're at risk of developing bed sores from wrinkly sheets, then you probably won't have the strength to make your bed every day. Bed sores are more frequent with neuropathy, weakness, altered mental status etc; but for the average healthy folk... no, wrinkly sheets won't (significantly) increase your risk for bed sores
Underlying conditions (acute or chronic) are the reasons for bed sores. You can have a perfectly smooth bed, but if you're not making subtle weight shifts, you'll get a bed sore
I have cats, if I don't pull up the covers then I get to sleep with tiny grains of cat litter.
I love my cats, but this is one of many reasons I don't allow them in my bedroom.
Been using tofu litter, way less tracking to places that are far from the litterbox and the tracking that does happen are cute little sprinkles that are easily picked up.
huh. interesting.
Highly recommend switching to pine litter and a sifting litter box for this reason. You can get a 40lb bag of pine litter at Tractor Supply and other similar stores for less than $10.
This video is a great breakdown
I think y'all have a fundamental misunderstanding of why beds were 'made' in the first place. Tight sheets prevent vermin from slipping between the sheets and waiting until you climb in to experience nightmare fuel. It's a great thing that this doesn't happen often in our first world experience.. but let things slip a little and this becomes a necessity, not a weird habit.
I'm with ya, but if you have critters roaming around inside, you have bigger issues to address, like the critters roaming around inside.
Some of those critters are domesticated (as you mentioned before)
I make my bed for the discipline. I force myself to do something I don't want to do. It helps with overall being less lazy and having more willpower in a sense.
Another reason: it helps keep the the bed warmer on cold days. When it's a really cold night and you get into a made bed, it's so much easier to warm yourself up.
for those not living in a place with electricity, sure
My grandparents had this wonderful antique sleigh-style bed frame in their guest room. It had a couple horizontal rods on the foot side that was perfect for hanging the comforter and a quilt on to air out. Had totally forgotten about that until your comment, now I kinda want to get one lol
I pull mine down for the same reason
Yup folded back over in half so only covering the bottom part of the bed with the top half of the bed and sheet exposed is my go to. Still looks tidy but nice and airy.
Making your bed, is not the same chore for everyone. Some people have many layers and pillows on a fully accessorized sleeping platform. Yes it would be a chore to do that daily (personal opinion). And some people have a duvet, in a duvet cover on a mattress with a fitted sheet on it. Very easy to just shake that duvet over the bed and move on. 30 seconds and done. For some people, making the bed means folding up the duvet and leaving it across the foot of the bed so the mattress can air out all day. And then there is this interesting setup from Germany
However, I think the real subject here is... it's no one else's business what happens in your bedroom. Paint it plaid, sleep on a pile of plushies, have orgies, do your taxes in a corner chair, hang all your underwear on pants hangers from a rod suspended from the ceiling. Whatever. Your bedroom, your privacy.
If you're having orgies it's at least a few other people's business.
I feel this. Depending on the season, my wife and i have sheets, blanket(s) (sometimes weighted blanket for her restless legs), duvet cover, 6-10 pillows, an extra blanket across the foot of the bed. She yells at me for not making the bed. Ive come to doing the sheets, and duvet cover, and the 2 pillows we rest our heads on. I dont even want to do that much, but its the most ill do on this battle front.
Because science.
Why Mess Causes Stress
Science says unmade is healthier
You know that’s a satirical article, right?
A steady-state model for predicting hygrothermal conditions in beds in relation to house dust mite requirements - SEC Pretlove, T Oreszczyn, I Ridley, T Wilkinson, D Crowther, 2005
Something about unmade is a worse environment for dust mites.
I don't make my bed too, but I swear there is some psychological/ritual shit going on in there. Another example would be why go to the church. Can't we just pray and confess on our own balcony?
Why hang up Christmas lights only to take them down a week later?
Why read when (if) we can inject knowledge into our brain?
Why workout when we can just inject steroids?
Some of there stuff are more of a waste of time than others, and I suspect it is the reason OP has this (un)popular opinion.
I make the bed to prevent bugs and spiders from crawling into the sheets
Counterpoint: I had a grandmother who made the beds tighter than the mythical sailor's with their bouncy quarters, and was fastidious with her ritual of bed making as soon as you left the bed... and we still found scorpions on the regular.
Then she died, care of the house passed to the next generation (which was really my generation, since somehow that middle generation got the idea that kids were solely around at a vacation house to upkeep the house while said middle generation got to relax) and suddenly beds were rarely made. The amount of critters found in the beds went down. Maybe we were just better at cleaning the kitchen and making sure doors were closed, but I doubt it, considering dear grandma was like a beagle on a scent when it came to cleaning and making sure we didn't air condition the outside.
If you dial the resolution back beyond the bed, you have the whole human experience.
Finding meaning within a finite existence framed against the infinite is not easy but, if you pick up your fucking room a little, maybe it can be done with a bit more class and comfort?
Lmao, matey. If you're defining class and comfort by the making of a bed, you might need to dial the resolution back even further.
I'm on the fence about the popularity of this opinion, so I'll upvote after I respond.
But you missed out in your data gathering. There are other reasons to make a bed, if not daily, at least regularly.
First, my bonafides. Twenty years as a nurse's assistant. That meant making beds and taking care of the people in them was my responsibility.
As such, I not only had to wonder if it was more than just an optics thing, but make sure that if it wasn't, I was following best practices. See, if there were reasons to do it beyond those you listed, it would shift priorities, as well as maybe changing when and how I did the job.
Comfort is only part of it, though it isz a factor when a person can't shift their own linens.
See, those folds of fabric can, and do, apply pressure to skin differently than flat sections. So remaking a patient's bed becomes a necessity. Matter of fact, it becomes necessary to check their linens while performing care, though that's tangential.
Secondary to that is dislodging anything on the sheets. This includes, but is not limited to, particles of dirt, dead skin, lint, items dropped previous to the bed check, and more. That's the factor that matters most for people that can make their own beds. You don't really realize how much stuff is on the sheets just from one night of use unless you make beds regularly.
There's a sub-reason to that as well. Evaluation. While a lot of people do change sheets on a schedule, often timed with laundry day or days, there may be need to change sheets in between times. No way to be aware of that necessity if it's from an unknown cause unless you check the sheets. And there's no better way to check them than the process of making a bed. Smoothing things out allows to to both visually and tactilely examine the condition of the sheets.
Now, I can almost guarantee someone reading this is thinking "but I don't do anything nasty in my sheets". Yes, you do. Promise. Everyone does, they just don't know it. Even climbing in fresh out of the shower and not moving after, you're leaving stuff behind when you climb out again. May take longer to build up, but it's there.
All those little bits you leave behind are food. Food for something. Mites, bacteria, fungi, whatever. So no matter how clean you are, making your bed at least decreases what's left behind.
Making a bed properly does take time. Not a whole lot, and practice makes it faster, but it's more than just throwing the top sheets back in place.
So, I would encourage folks to take the time to at least smooth their sheets out a little before they climb in, if nothing else.
You raise some valuable points. However, some comments seem to be conflating "making your bed" with "washing your linens", which I want to make clear is not what I'm saying. I am a sheet-washing proponent.
I was going to argue against you but honestly if you had to pick one of these things, washing your sheets regularly is the one you should choose. I make my bed and change sheets once a week but you do you.
No, the usual cycle most people run is changing their sheets weekly, assuming nothing makes it necessary sooner. It does vary some, I've seen households that change sheets monthly or less often, but damn.
Making the bed is a daily task, and that's the assumption I was working on in the comment
tl;dr
make your bed
Those are the only reasons you've ever heard?
I can't speak for others, but my sleep is not clean. I can wake up with half the pillows I started with, and the duvet sometimes spun a 180, so the buttons are up by my head. Ive woken up with my arm inside the duvet cover.
My making the bed resets all that. Gets the pillows off the floor or out from behind the headboard, and it turns the duvet round again so I can just flick one corner open and climb in of an evening.
Also when Ive lived with dogs and cats. It kept their hair from getting between the duvet and bedsheet, coz I really enjoy the idea of pets using my bed when I'm not.
Also it stops sex sweat from being in the sleep zone
It looks nicer and a nice home that looks cared for is worth it on its own. I find it much easier to relax when things around me are tidy. Not making your bed is no different than leaving everything lying around after you're done using it. If you want to live like that, you do you, no judgement, but I don't.
If this is really how you feel, then I suppose I can't dispute you. But this is like saying, "why would I comb my hair? Anyone I want to talk to is okay talking to me as I am."
Sure..... But most people care about things like this. Maybe not explicitly - most people don't explicitly think to themselves "ugh, an unmade bed. What a loser." But on a subconscious emotional level, this is essentially what is happening. As a society, we've decided a made bed looks better than an unmade bed. That you have failed to make your bed prior to someone entering your bedroom indicates a lack of willingness or ability to confirm to social norms. This, then, typically corresponds to individuals with low social status, and lowers others' opinions of you. Again, this happens on an entirely emotional, subconscious level for almost everyone most of the time. But the fact is, it happens.
Hence, when I'm going to have guests in my bedroom, I make my bed. I don't make my bed every day - I just don't care that much. But I will 100% make my bed if I'm expecting someone else to see it, just like I would sweep the floors and comb my hair.
I kinda agree but for me and I think almost all of my friends it's the opposite. It feels like they're making the house "fake clean" like we're not just hanging out and this is some big event for me to be over. It's like how it would be weird to make your bed before your brother walks into the room, you're not trying to impress anyone that's just your room.
Same argument could be made for sweeping/vacuuming the floor or combing your hair. It will just get messy again.
For me making the bed makes things a little nicer and gets me rolling on doing other tasks. First accomplishment of the day and it takes 10 seconds.
Also and maybe more importantly, it will keep dust and spiders and other insects off the sheets I lay on/in. If you've ever got dressed or folded laundry in a sunny room yoh will see how much dust everyday moving around generates. Those dust particles are skin cells (human and animal), bits of fabric, hair, and plastic microparticles since so many clothes are made from plastic.
This is not true, all of those things have drawbacks that not making the bed do not. Maybe never washing your bed clothes, sure, but just not making it is not the same as never cleaning your floors, or grooming your hair/body. If you don't clean the floors, they get sticky, attract pests, build up bacteria, etc. If you don't comb your hair it will begin to knot up, and cause scalp problems, if you don't do the dishes they will get covered in bacteria, and mold, and attract pests. Not making your bed doesn't have these types of consequences.
I don't think that it's useless because it will just get "messed up" again. I just feel the "messed up" state is equivalent or even better than the "clean" state.
Folded clothes, which I've heard some people mention in the comments, are better than unfolded clothes for two simple reasons: They take up less space, and they can be retrieved easily. Ive lived out of laundry baskets for a time and it is inarguably less efficient and consumes more space.
I like sleeping with spiders tyvm
It is actually generally better to not make your bed, particularly if you have asthma or allergies. Making the bed creates a warm, humid environment in which dust mites and bacteria better thrive.
I had one of those sleep number mattresses once, they have inflatable air bags inside so they zip open and you can get at all the layers of foam too. If you saw how much moisture gets trapped in there you'd do like I do and turn your covers down for the day so everything can dry and air out.
Making your bed all nice and tight just traps a whole lot of moisture.
It took you longer to write this post then it does for me to fix my bed in the morning.
Back in the days, mattresses were made of straw or other natural materials. Blankets and pillows were stuffed with feathers until recently. And people were not able to heat their bedrooms sufficiently during winter. Back in those days, you had to make your bed in order to air it and dry it from sweat. Otherwise it would start to get moldy really quickly.
Today, synthetic materials and central heating / air conditioning have eliminated the need for a strict humidity management in the bedroom. But it's still stuck in people's heads that making your bed is absolutely vital. I guess it'll take another one or two generations for it to become irrelevant.
Generally speaking, I agree with you, for many people... yeah there isn't really any real compelling reason to habitually do this.
However, there are fairly common circumstances where this does actually make sense:
Maybe you just have a tad of OCD, and well... this'll make you feel a bit more steady and comfortable, and it doesn't really hurt anyone, assuming you're not full blown OCD doing it over and over and over because its never perfect.
Maybe you are mildy to moderately depressed... and... just being able to have any kind of regular structure, regular task that you can accomplish... maybe that means you're not a completely useless piece of shit, and if you can keep up this good habit, and give yourself a pat on the back each time... maybe that means you can start to step up toward more, or bigger tasks.
Maybe you're a bit ADHD, and its... anchoring, helpful, to have that same just bit of predictable structure or routine, to help you get your day started.
Maybe you have a cPTSD / Trauma response to a messy bed from associating it with very shitty situations in your past, and... having a made bed just removes a trigger for you.
...
Or maybe you have pets, or toddlers, and don't want to 'lose' them, lol, or have their uh, debris of whatever sort, just get everywhere in the bed.
Maybe you live in a studio and eat food on your bed, clip your nails on it, and you adopt a regular 'crumb removal from your bed' routine as basically just a hygeine pattern, like brushing your teeth or hair or what not.
Maybe your heat went out or its just fucking freezing, and having a properly made bed makes it just a bit warmer to get into for sleep.
Maybe you have very fancy, high maintenance bedding, that will wrinkle and deform if not regularly ... re normalized?
(Yeah I dunno, this is apparently a thing, I am apparently either too simple or broke a man to have ever entertained the idea of a high maintenance bed, but apparently people do?)
I had no idea people past my grandmother's generation still felt compelled to make their bed... I thought we had collectively grown past the compulsion to do pointless tasks like this, along with other wastes of time like manually wiping the dishes or ironing everything including the dish cloth. Maybe that's just me, though.
(I'm not talking about doing it if you want to because you like it, only about the expectation that you should be doing it no matter what.)
Right now, I'm lying down on top of my made bed. There are time where lying down is nice, but Id rather not get under the sheets. Maybe I'm old, but resting is different from sleeping.
This is just a bad faith argument. No one is trying to convince anyone of that they don't sleep in their bed. A fair amount of grooming is performative as is quite a bit of tidying. I, for one, get a sense of calm when I'm tidying things. I don't believe I'm not going to untidy things and I don't live in stress that things need to be tidied. But I'm mindful of it and attend to it when I have a chance.
When I get up from the bed, I may tug on the corner to remove the me sized indentation, but that's it.
I, for one, don't care if you make your bed or not. But I'd have a tough time sharing a bed with someone who doesn't.
I'll take this a step further - I sit or lie on my bed all the time just to rest for a bit or chill for a bit. For me, a made bed with a blanket on top is just enough to separate the sanctuary of under the covers from the outside world.
Like I don't want to come home after a day of riding around the metro, sitting on a park bench, and then go straight onto my sheets. It'd be akin to rubbing a thousand asses on the place I lay my head at night.
Minor distinction and largely mental, but enough to motivate me to make the bed.
I feel the same way about folding laundry. The clothes are still clean after going through the wash regardless of if theyre folded up in a specific way afterwards.
Folding (or hanging) laundry is about preventing/managing creases. It's also easier to find clothing items (or anything really) when there is order in it.
A (made) bed is a great large flat surface to do this on.
I think for that it's just so they don't get wrinkly especially dress shirts
In my view, any fabric stiff enough to hold noticeable wrinkles and creases is also too stiff to be comfortable, so this one might not be so relevant for the sorts of clothes I own I guess.
That's one where it's optional, but doing it or not has different benefits/drawbacks.
Benefits of doing it are the inspection factor; making sure they're both clean and dry, as well as undamaged. Then there's the storage factor where folded clothes take up less space. They'll also be less wrinkled, but that's a matter of style rather than a true benefit to the clothing
However, not folding them gives you the option to save time, and there's a lower chance any difficulties will arise from stagnant air because the looser the clothes are, the better air flow they have. So there's less funk from any missed soil, less environmental impact from things like smoking or cooking, and more time for any laundry product smells to dissipate.
Pretty minor stuff overall, and nothing that really matters
Unpopular maybe, but I agree with you.
I leave my bedroom in the morning and don't really come back until I am ready to go to bed. So the appearance doesn't matter to me.
I prefer my bedding to be how I left it, not all flat and tucked in.
My partner disagrees, so the bed is usually made by them because even if I do it it's not up to standards and I get up and leave for work earlier anyways.
But I get it. The only reason I do it is to be nice to my partner, I could give two shits personally.
If I had an efficiency apartment or something I might do things differently because it's like, cluttered in the whole living space, but otherwise I think it's a waste of time unless you're trying to impress someone.
This opinion is actuaöly very popular with me.
Some people function better when things are organized and orderly, some function better when things are disorganized and in disarray, some function the same either way.
It is what it is. An orderly, organized bedroom feels great to sleep in to me, and might not matter at all to someone else.
Whatever the case, anyone judging me because my bed is either made or not made can fuck right off.
Edit: upvoted for unpopularity, as one does.
This take doesn't belong in Unpopular Opinions.
And here I came specifically to comment "now this is an actual unpopular opinion!"
Judging by the number of opposing comments and their upvote count, you're wrong
We really need a 'highly polarizing opinions' community, but I'm sure it would end up in flames too often to want to be a moderator there.
My room is really small, and I don't have space for a couch for example, so if I would want to lay down and I'm in outdoor clothes, I would rather kill myself than to lay down in unmade bed while wearing jeans that saw every sort of dirt and dust
In that case, are you fully doing your bed every time, or just putting the duvet or whatever flat on the mattress so that it's protecting it ?
I sleep in a hammock and so "making my bed" is just "shove all the blankets into hammock so they're off the floor. I'll have to rearrange them over myself when I go to bed, anyway.
Back when I slept in a bed I never made it, either, unless I was expecting company. If they were sleeping over I'd pull out fresh sheets. If we were just hanging out in my room, I'd pull the comforter flat.
Oh, and I never got the hang of flat sheets. I kick them off in the night, unless they're my only blanket.
What made you prefer a hammock over a mattress?
It's more comfortable and easier to clean. Comfort-wise, it cradles my joints so my hips aren't sore in the morning. Clean-wise, if, say, my dog wakes me up by vomiting on my chest (to pick a random example), I can toss the whole hammock into the wash and pull out my spare.
A decent hammock setup also cost me maybe $200, including the stand.
Can you share a photo of the hammock or link to the product? I'm imagining a hammock that's like a pea pod and that would be uncomfortable. But I'm intrigued by the idea.
Here's a photo of the messiest corner of my bedroom/craft room :) Tiny terrier to for scale.
I'm intensely curious now, because my joints don't seem to agree with any mattress, whether pillow-topped, air foam, springs, or whatever other fancy gimmicks they claim. Was it a one-and-done with the hammock, or did you test a couple of different ones?
I started out with a hammock in living room as an experiment, then just kept sleeping in it. Same stand, the hammock itself has changed over the years.
The mesh/Mayan ones are comfy but will leave a grid on your skin. I'm currently in a Wise Owl hammock. The cotton ones are comfy but they will break down after a few years of use, usually suddenly while you're laying down.
Don't hang your hammock higher than you're comfortable falling. I've only torn a hammock twice in maybe 10 years, but both times were within the same week.
I'm a side sleeper and hyper-mobile. I keep a pillow behind my knees so they don't flex wonky. I have a travel/neck pillow. I use an under-hammock blanket in the winter because otherwise your butt gets cold.
Oh! And even the hammocks that claim you can fit multiple people... they lie. This is not a bed for partners or sleepovers. (My partner has his own room and traditional bed. We have very different bedtimes.)
I sleep by myself (well, with my dog, but she doesn’t ruffle the sheets). For me, making my bed is as much as flipping the bed sheets back once I get out of bed. It takes all of one second when I get out of bed; and yes, it looks nicer.
But, no judgement, so you do you.
Ps. It’s only a big deal if you make it a big deal. 😊
I used to think like this but then at one point I looked at my bed and I can't stand it. It eventually reflects on how you treat the rest of your home and outside as well . If you find a 10 second task infuriating and pointless that's not too far off from thinking mopping , cleaning toilet , ironing clothes are a waste of time as well.
I prefer to air the bed during the day so I pull the covers down to the end and fold over once. Pillows are reset so they're fresh and comfy to start the night. Maybe later in the day I'll pull the covers up but doesn't later since it's all neat anyway.
None of that is performative, it's about freshness and comfort.
fediverse moment
Generally I agree, and am so deep in the habit of not making my bed that it's never a thought in my mind. That said, if you or someone you might be sharing the room with is experiencing any kind of hard emotional state and feeling overstimulated, then making the bed as well as other general cleanup can make the space less noisy. In that context it can be therapeutic.
I like it to look nice and neat. Mess and disorder puts me on edge. I like the bed made with the pillows fluffed and throw pillows placed in a certain way. And I do feel like it's more comfortable to sleep in a bed that has been made, because the pillows are fluffed and all the sheets are smoothed out and evenly distributed between my husband and me. I do just get in bed and turn over, I don't rearrange anything, and instead of a blanket I have my hubby for knee support :)
Where it is nice is when you want to lie down you don't have to untangle the sheets.
You just lie down and the sheets are perfect.
Also its nice to tuck them in at least partially to make it easier to make.
Nice to climb into! I cannot believe OP would rather not take 30-seconds to pull everything straight than crawl into a clusterfuck.
The ritual of unmaking the bed can help some people, who experience difficulties sleeping, mentally prepare for sleep.
It is also actually not healthy to make it right after you slept in it.
Yes, ideally you air it out first before letting the moisture get trapped. But between waking up and getting out of the bathroom is all the time I am willing to delay making the bed. I wanna move on and not be stuck in "morning mode" forever (unless it's the weekend).
Keeps the dust off your bed
Keeps the moisture in
Better to just leave it in a pile
Exactly, you don't want the bedbugs to feel unwelcome!
Yeah, but how often is your wife in OP's bedroom?
You'd be surprised. Actually, on second thought, maybe you wouldn't.
About as often as I am in OPs bedroom..
Most of our daily routines are.
No matter how shitty my day is, at least the bed is made.
Also, the texture of the sheets on your body feels smoother if the bed was made hours before going to bed, than that feeling of untidy sheets. My sleeping position is sideways, the blanket below me, back is cold, feet over the edge, only one leg covered.
I air my bedsheets outside 3 days after changing them, I change them once a week. Also, my bed is for sleeping and the nasty only.
And from personal experience, partners who didn’t make their bed tended to not have their shit together, so I’m kind of biased.
More comfortable for the cat. She doesn't like it when it's a mess
I make my bed because my cats will absolutely shed all their hairs on my side of the bed that one time I forgot to do it. Slightly allergic, so I learned fast lol.
Firstly, I respect your opinion as I probably shared it in the past.
Secondly, we're obviously talking about making the bed as in after you wake up. Making the bed as in fresh linen is an amazing feeling and absolutely worth while once every few weeks.
Now, to rebut your comments...
This is a silly reason, and I don't see how it's true.
It does however make bed time feel calmer and more soothing somehow. In my 20s I didn't care about quality sleep because you just bounce back from anything. In my 40s I do think about things like what might contribute to the perfect night's sleep. Having a shower, putting on clean pyjamas, and climbing into a nice bed in a tidy room just kinda sets the scene for a good sleep.
this is subjective. Your whole argument may as well be "I don't value having a made up bed", which would be fine, but that's not an unpopular opinion so much as a personal preference.
Regardless, you don't "make" the bed the same way you make it when putting on fresh linen. You just flick the covers straight. It takes less time than scratching your ass.
It's kinda weird how often people do see our bedroom TBH. Usually it's someone using the toilet in the en-suite when the other toilet is in use.
There's no way our kids would keep a nice tidy bedroom if we didn't.
Laying down in a bed without wrinkles is more comfortable than laying down in a bed with wrinkles.
???
Is... a personal preference... that is not universally or widely shared...
How is that not an opinion, a potentially unpopular opinion?
Like uh, in my opinion, Hawaiian pizza is great.
Many people do not agree with this opinion, do not share my personal preference.
Like, yes, generally speaking, an 'opinion' is often more broad, more wide ranging, has prescriptive solutions or suggestions for more people than just a 'personal preference'...
But OP pretty explicitly says that they have no problem with people who do regularly make their beds... they just wish people would realize its largely a cultural artefact derived from disciplinarians and military regimentation.
That last part, that's the broader opinion.
The part of your response here that I've highlighted... that is, in my understanding, a 'small' opinion, which is functionally totally equivalent to a literal 'personal preference', that does not extend beyond them, does not instruct or suggest others behave or think in a different way.
This phrase means that "personal preference" is a more apt description, not necessarily that "unpopular opinion" is incorrect.
Regardless, you're free to discuss your preferences for pizza toppings if you wish, it's just not a very engaging subject.
You entirely did not understand what I said.
Pretty sure I did.
I like to be able to sit or lie on my bed after a long day without it being lumpy.
I thought the one thing to worry about with the bedsheets is not to grow a large population of mites in them. So you mainly want to keep it ventilated.
I'm with you here. It does look nicer when it's all "setup" but for its purpose, I agree... makes no sense if I'm going to be under the covers anyway. Society plays stupid games and well... you know the rest.
For me, I like to make it for t o reasons. First, in opposition to your first point, it does make the bed more comfortable. I can skip a day, but any more and the covers are too messed up for me to be comfortable. I don’t sleep like Lenin or Dracula. I’m a side sleeper and I roll around multiple times in the night, but I like the room cold at night, so I like the covers in place.
Second, I learned this from a grand parent I think, and I passed it on to my kids. If it’s the first thing you do in the day you’ve started the day on a good note. You completed something. Admittedly, when I was younger, this didn’t matter to me at all. As I’ve gotten older, it makes a little bit more difference.
I do it because when my house is neat and tidy, I'm motivated to do other things.
having a dirty room is a pile of work that goes on my backlog. if the backlog is too big, I can't get anything done.
making my bed is an easy way to knock things off my list and stay motivated.
But if you just decided to never do it instead, your backlog would be smaller...
you're right but my brain doesn't "feel" that way.. it sees an undone task
For me, it's a huge headache saver. We have a 60 lb dog who likes to get into bed with us, along with one of our cats. If I don't make my side of the bed prior to my wife and the dog getting in, I'm probably not going to have usable sheets and blankets for the night. Wherever the sheets are when he decides to hop in, that's where they're staying.
So, I definitely make at least my side of the bed every day, at some point. Not usually right away in the morning, but it definitely gets done. I don't go all out on it, just get the sheet and blanket (and comforter, in winter) in essentially the right position for me. It's critical for a good night of sleep.
And, yes, we probably shouldn't have let him in the bed in the first place. Lesson learned. That's a whole other story. But the damage is done.
To me, "making my bed" is only done when the bedding needs to be removed from the bed to be washed and then put back on the bed again.
Does anyone really give a shit seeing a bed with the covers just left where they were after waking up and getting out of bed?
Like if you were gonna sleep with someone, would you be turned off if when you got to their bedroom, the blanket was crumpled off to one side?
It's also a pain in the ass if you don't have a lot of space around your bed. My parent's "camp" has a queen bed in basically a cubby and the only way to completely change the sheets to to hunch down on what's basically a side sill for the bed and contort yourself over it to stretch the sheets from corner to corner without having to kneel on the bed for support. I just stopped using a fitted sheet and throw a new top sheet on it once a week or so. works fine. plus its in a cubby so nobody sees the mess.
shameful cleaning ritual is a bit of a harsh descriptor, but hard agree with everything you said.
These are two separate reasons and I only subscribe to the former one.
And I do it because I think it looks nice. It makes me happy when things look clean and tidy. Messy, while less work and sometimes more functional, perhaps, still makes me feel worse in my own home. I don't make my side of the bed to impress my wife. In fact, I get kind of annoyed when she doesn't make her side. But she has mostly wonderful qualities besides that, so I'm okay with it.
Either way, you're not exactly complaining that we like to make our beds, but I'm trying to let you understand that it's not always about some kind of principle or to impress, or otherwise useless reason. Sometimes it's just what makes you feel good. 🙂
But have you considered not wanting to lose something you toss on the bed?
My SO hates sheet wrinkles so for them it’s not performative.
I’d be fine with an assortment or flat sheets and blankets loosely rolled into a ball that I could both lay inside or on top of.
HEAR HEAR
Only if you get nothing from it.
Don't make your bed then? I hope you're being facetious, cuz all I'm getting from this is two things:
You are obsessively preoccupied with other people
You are irrationally critical of people's behavior that has literally nothing to do with you.
Truthfully; no one gives a fuck about you or your bed. Go outside
I agree people are not allowed to talk about things other people say are important, and if they do they are obsessed or irrational.
Might just be a kid being Rebellious
Probably just hating on Jordan Peterson and venting. I get it - I don't like making the bed, but it's not like there just aren't benefits of doing so lol
Having a tidy living space helps to provide some, and myself, with mental clarity. Honestly not sure how much of this is backed by science, and I'm lazy and don't want to look it up, but it seems to be true from personal experience.
If you have a thin sheet and a duvet, that stupid thin sheet can get all fucked up over time and you have to take the whole duvet off to fix the thin sheet and then making the bed becomes a much more annoying process. Doing at least a quick tidy up each night helps prevent having to do all of that.
Like you said, they should just leave others to living life the way they want to if it helps them and isn't hurting anyone else. That's like if someone said they hate it if someone eats broccoli from the stem first instead of the top. Like, who cares they're eating healthy, leave them alone lol
I'll go you a step further on point number 1. When i get out of bed, my bedding is still mostly in the position that i slept in. So when i don't make the bed i can go into again with everything mostly how i like it arranged for sleep. If i "make" the bed then later when I'm getting ready for sleep i have to do a bunch of rearranging the bedding to get stuff how i like it positioned. It's massively better to just be able to get right back into my perfect sleep position when it's time for bed
On point three, many find it soothing to tear into something neat and clean. Some get comfort from the act of making something pristine, then get comfort again by surrounding themselves with it right at bedtime. It even helps some sleep.
That said, this is unpopular opinion and it doesn't help you so we understand your based take.
Personally, I like my bed about 80-90% pristine. I don't want to waste a ton of time neatening it up in the morning, and I don't want to have to fight with a fully tucked sheet to get into bed, but I do get a little comfort out of having it be relatively presentable and not having to struggle at 2am to unoragami my bedspread when my feet are cold.
Shaking your pillow and blanket has the effect of disturbing microorganisms that are nesting in there. Yes, there are many of them. Just because you can't see them with the naked eye does not mean that they wouldn't be there. There's so many of them, in fact, they can make people's skin rash and itch. It has happened to me. Shaking the blanket does indeed help. It helps remove moisture from the blanket, which is what microorganisms need to breed. Moisture is transported away through the fresh air. That's why it helps.
You do you but making your bed will get you laid
If you tuck in your bed every morning you have a nice tucked bed with fewer wrinkles at night. Yes I am a princess, yes that is a pea, and so I am making my bed and tucking the edges. Grandma would be proud.
I make my bed because my dog likes to lie in my bed during the day and this keeps the majority of his hair/dirt/dander off my sheets and on top of an easily washable blanket. Also, it prevents lots of wrinkles and lumps in the sheets/blankets when sleeping. Both bother me and my sensory issues, especially because I sleep in the buff and my skin is sensitive to whatever is directly touching it. I can't even leave my room in the morning without making my bed because it feels wrong in my head, I don't make it for anyone but myself
I don't do it because I'm lazy, and I'm just going to pull it apart again in a few hours.
Lol, it's not about "laying perfectly supine", it's about what you are laying on. Yes, you will probably get a couple of small wrinkles by just getting in bed and getting comfortable, but if you never make your bed you will be laying on hundreds of very big wrinkles. To me the comfort level of laying in a made bed and a super messy one is night and day. If you can't tell a difference, consider yourself lucky.
Pro tip: instead of balling up your blankets for knee support, keep an extra pillow on your bed specifically for that purpose. I have an old "king size" pillow I use that supports me from balls to ankles. It has helped my back tremendously.
One way to solve that would be get linen bed sheets. Expensive, yes, but linen is basically pre-wrinkled and gets softer with age. Instead of hundreds of very big wrinkles you'll have thousands of basically permanent small wrinkles. If it really gets bad you can just throw em in the dryer on cool and let that de-wrinkle them but I find it easier to just lean into the wrinkled "cottage" look.
unpopular opinion: beds are overrated, just get a bunch of blankets as a mattress and cover and sleep on the floor.
but also there's a difference between "putting the pillow and cover back into place" and "spending half an hour removing every wrinkle and imperfection". The former is so quick that one might as well do it, the latter feels neurotic
How about when you have crumbs all over the bed after snaccing and you need a less itchy place to lie down.
… said someone who isn’t interested in having a relationship?
Must feel great not to have homework for a few months! I remember that.
OP has never heard of dogs.
@srasmus Live a lazy life, get lazy rewards.
You fold your clothes after you clean them? Why, your clothes are just going to get wrinkled anyway.
You eat your food without blending it all up in a blender first? Why, your stomach mixes it all up anyway.
You take a shower? Why, you're just going to get dirty again anyway.
You wash your hands after you shit? Why, you're just going to shit again the next day.
You make slippery slope arguments? Why, you can just frame them as unpopular opinions.
Agreed. Same reason I dont clean my dishes, or wipe.
Not wiping means you'll damage your rear-end, or maybe get ill, and smell bad. Not doing your dishes will make you ill in the end.
I don't see how not making my bed will make me ill, do enlighten me !
Woke progoagnda
Spiders like all the little folds in a messy bed