Unpopular Opinion

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.

Must feel great not to have homework for a few months! I remember that.

Spiders like all the little folds in a messy bed

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 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.

I have cats, if I don't pull up the covers then I get to sleep with tiny grains of cat litter.

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'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.

This take doesn't belong in Unpopular Opinions.

But have you considered not wanting to lose something you toss on 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.

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.

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. 😊

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...

1. It makes it more comfortable.

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.

2. it doesn't take much time so you may as well do it

any task not worth my time to be a waste

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.

3. It looks nice. And an unmade bed looks lazy

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.

4. It's a good example for our kids

There's no way our kids would keep a nice tidy bedroom if we didn't.

It looks nice. And an unmade bed looks lazy.

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. 🙂

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

1. I rotate when I sleep so if the sheets etc aren't tucked in I'll rotate them off the bed then wake up cold.
2. I have dogs and having the comforter covering the entire bed keeps the parts I touch clean and comfortable

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'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

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.

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.

You make the mistake of assuming that someone makes it look nice for someone else and not themselves.