Making Your Bed Can Change Your Life
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What if I were to tell you that making your bed can change your life? I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. Hear me out.
There are a few things that happen when you begin making your bed every morning. If you’ve never been a fan of making yours, I encourage you to spend the next 30 mornings making your bed without fail. Here are some of the changes you’ll see in your life.
Making Your Bed Can Change Your Life
You’ll Have more “Me Time”
Let’s face it: making your bed every morning requires getting out of bed a bit earlier. That’s actually one of the benefits: waking up before your kids, not waking up to them, is a great way to find time for yourself. Setting your alarm 5 minutes earlier gives you a chance to get that bed made and ease into your day rather than dealing with others the instant your feet hit the floor.
You’ll Think More Clearly
When tasks like making your bed become routine, there’s more brain energy available for clear and focused thinking. Have you ever noticed that your best ideas come when you’re in the shower? Or how you think up that perfect come-back to a snarky coworker when you’re in the middle of vacuuming on Saturday? There’s a reason for that.
As we perform a task repeatedly, it requires less direct concentration from our prefrontal cortex (the big thinking and self regulation center), and eventually it becomes entirely procedural memory to the point where we may not even be able to recall what we are doing. […]
And importantly, launching into this active state of procedural memory can actually stimulate and boost the higher levels of thinking and creative reasoning. Or more simply put, the rote processes that distract our hands focus our minds.
If you’ve been struggling to prioritize your day, making your bed first thing in the morning frees up your brain to make judgment calls and plans!
Your Bedroom Will Feel Cleaner
The bed is the largest piece of furniture in most bedrooms, and therefore the room’s focal point. When your bed is a mess, the whole bedroom is going to look messy, even when it’s not.
But the opposite is also true: a neatly-made bed makes your bedroom look cleaner — even when it’s not.
You’ll Be Motivated to Tidy Up Elsewhere
As making your bed becomes part of your morning routine, it provides a gentle wakeup for your brain. So, rather than shuffling to the coffee-maker in a fog, you’ll already be mentally alert before leaving your bedroom.
Once you realize that making your bed takes only a couple of minutes each morning, you’ll realize that many other chores you’ve been putting off also take just as little time.
It may not seem like a big change — because it’s not — but making your bed every day starts your mornings with a commitment to do the whole “adulting” thing. The next thing you know, you’re following a daily cleaning routine, and your whole house is looking better — all because you started making your bed.
The 30-Day Challenge
If you’re constantly feeling overwhelmed by your home or have been struggling to find motivation to clean it, commit to making your bed every morning for 30 days straight. You’ll be surprised at what a difference it makes. Try it, and discover how making your bed can change your life!
“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.
“Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”
– William H McCraven, Admiral, US Navy (Ret); Chancellor, University of Texas
Great quote, Boyd!
I love that video, made my kids watch it, who better to tell teenage boys why making your bed in the morning is important!
So true! As a (retired) military family, I told my son he could learn at home how to make a bed properly, or he could wait until Boot Camp when his Sgt would toss his bed in the middle of the barracks for him to re-make if it wasn’t done right the first time. Wow, did he learn fast after that. LOL
I’m looking for the word organized, and I don’t see it. Making your bed starts your day being organized. Your mind needs organization to optimately operate.
I always feel so much better when I make my bed…even if it’s messy and rumpled underneath, pulling up the comforter and arranging the throw pillows just makes me feel more centered. Have a great day!
Centered is VERY good.
I can’t stand making the bed. So, instead (because, frankly, your argument has a TON of merit), I started cleaning off the counter. Every morning, I do that first. It’s working!
You may have a point: just do something daily and it starts the ball rolling!
I’m stuck in the vicious cycle. Not in the habit of doing my bed in the mornings. I think this 30 day challenge is a great idea. I’m going to give it a go.
I hope you find it as helpful as I did, Jennifer!
It really does make a big difference, doesn’t it? Plus, it keeps cat hair off of my sheets!
I am horrible about making my bed first thing in the morning. I can tell you no days that I do though, I feel better and accomplish more around the house. I think I’m gunning to run upstairs and make it right now.
Isn’t it strange how such a little thing can make such a big difference in your day?
Thank you for sharing, and for the invite, Christia!
I wanted to dislike this article!
I have such strong feelings about people forcing others into their way of thinking–like your mom and the military–that I was mad at them FOR you.
But this article is GREAT–and fits in with my new routine for 2016.
Thanks so much–great stuff.
(I popped in from Inspire Me Monday)
Dea
I’m glad you enjoyed the article, Dea! Not surprisingly, I wasn’t a fan of my mom’s approach, either, but I have to admit she did teach me a lot about cleaning and organizing. Thanks for visiting!
I totally subscribe to this. When I think about just leaving a dish instead of putting it in the dishwasher or just washing it I always think “I should just do it now so I don’t have to do it later.” I love walking into my room and having the bed made and everything looking neat. It makes it so much easier to keep the whole house neat! I’m glad you’ve found some peace as well. #InspireMeWednesday
This is amazing, I had no idea that making a bed had that much of a difference on your life — aside from the organized look 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
– Alexa
It definitely made a difference in mine! 🙂
My grandmother taught me hospital corners when I stayed at her place (which was often) and did the same thing as your Mother if I didn’t make it properly. My Mom carried that tradition and to this day, even while in the final stages of Alzheimers, she can’t dress herself anymore, she doesn’t remember anyone’s name, but she still makes her bed EVERY morning!
I can attest to the power something as simple as making our bed, can change the tone of the day. Enjoyed reading this post and couldn’t agree more with everything you said. Happy Organized 2016!
Isn’t it amazing how things like that stay with us our whole life? God bless your Mom.
I can’t stand making the bed, I really don’t see the point, although if what you say is true, it make be worth it.
I like the idea of cleaning of the kitchen counters every morning. This would actually put me in a great mood all day.
I accept your 30 day bed making challenge, I’m going to add kitchen counters to the challenge too. I’m off to make my bed.
I hear you. Making the bed is tedious, especially if you use a top sheet, comforter/bedspread, regular pillows plus shams AND decorative pillows. That’s why I ditched the sheet and comforter in favor of a duvet — it really takes just a minute or two to make my bed now.
And cleaning the kitchen counters every morning is a very powerful way to change the way your kitchen and the rest of your home feels. That’s why it’s one of the steps in my daily cleaning routine. 🙂
I ‘ve always been a fan of making my bed. I can’t think straight when it is a mess. I need reasonable order to function, s imple as that!
I’m so glad to know I’m not the only one who can’t think when surrounded by a mess. If I let things slide for a few days I can literally feel my mood growing worse until I take the time to sort the clutter and restore order again.
I straighten and pull the covers up…..does that count?! I already multi-task by putting dishes away while waiting for the coffee to brew, wiping the sink and bathroom after brushing my teeth and straightening the room the computer is in before sitting in front of it to work. Great idea !
Pulling up the covers and straightening them definitely counts, AnnMarie. The important thing is that your bed isn’t a tangled mess of sheets, since it makes the rest of the room look messy, and that you’re in a daily habit of doing something that gets the cleaning-ball rolling.
I totally agree! Great post! I feel so much better when I make my bed and at night it makes you feel better to get into a made bed!
Thanks for sharing on Treasure Box Tuesday.
Wanda Ann @ Memories by the Mile
I sleep better in a bed that’s been made, too, which is odd because the first thing I do when I get in bed is yank the covers around me until I’m in a blanket burrito.
Thanks for hosting!
Mine wasn’t the only one? To be honest, that’s actually a bit of a relief. Did yours do the same thing with your toys when she decided your room was looking messy?
I’ve always made my bed, but not right away. I throw back the covers and let the bed air out while I shower and dress, then make it. It’s never been so the room looks nice, it’s because at the end of the day, it’s a real pleasure to get into a well-made bed.
My entire house can be a disaster, but my bed is always made with the linens smoothed out. Sometimes I feel its a little weird to be so disorganized and messy, but that bed is perfect!
You’ve got the timing AND the priorities down!
I’ve never wanted to make this a habit, or even do it at all really- I never have seen the point since I use it every night, and the messy look has never bothered me. But as a new housewife I have felt very overwhelmed, despite making my own schedule and having no kids. Also I am stumped as to why, since I loved homemaking before and considered this living situation a dream come true. I came across this article of yours after reading a couple others of yours about organizing. I don’t need the help really, but have hoped that reading about it will get me more inspired to create a routine. I like to be spontaneous, and have resisted routine, but it’s quickly becoming the only option I haven’t tried. And reading your simple idea alone: “It will change your life,” and hearing out your explanation, I accept your challenge. I’ll do it for 30 days and then let you know whatever impact it makes. Thank you for the motivation!
I’m looking forward to hearing back from you in 30 days, Alison! Meanwhile, don’t come down on yourself too hard for feeling a little disillusioned now that you’re a new housewife. You’d described it as a “dream come true,” but sometimes we think things will be one way yet they turn out another. Be sure to balance your life with fun activities and things that feed your soul, not just cleaning (or making your bed)!