Your parents probably told you to make your bed every day and then nagged you when you didn’t. I know mine did, but after a certain point I didn’t complain too much: I actually started to like the look of a neatly made bed. Even more, I liked (and still do appreciate) crawling into smooth sheets every night.
It turns out that my bed-making habit is less healthy than not making the bed thanks to dust mites that love living in made beds The dry conditions of an unmade bed are hellish for dust mites, killing them and leaving you with fewer mites.
This is great, but how can I adapt my bed-making habit to accommodate murdering these mites? I enjoy the neat appearance of a made bed, and I especially like having the covers aligned just right. Making my bed lets me adjust this as I wish so the bed is ready when I go to bed. Should I make my bed, then unmake it by folding the sheets back? This seems like a logical solution, but it’s also far more inviting for me to take a nap in the middle of the day. It also discourages me from setting stuff on my bed, which I do on a regular basis. Looking at my bed right now, I see a bento set that I received in the mail from Wise Bread’s #wbchat on Twitter and the package it came in. I’d be much more hesitant to place stuff on the bed if it were unmade. This may actually be a good thing, but it would also force me to clean so I’d have somewhere to set stuff (again, not entirely a bad thing, but I’d have to do it).
So, any ideas? Any fake bed-making tips to share?
2 replies on “Why I should stop making my bed”
I keep my bed ‘unmade’ as much as possible, actually. When we found out I was allergic to dust mites, my mother nearly fought the doctor for saying I should leave my bed unmade. The happy medium was leaving the comforter folded at the end of my bed and just making my bed with the flat sheet.
Washing the sheets once a week helps as well, and for people with allergies it’s easiest to kill dust mites through extreme heat or extreme cold. You can put your pillows, stuffed animals, etc. into plastic bags and put them in the freezer, provided you have the space. I’ve never tried ‘extreme heat’, so I have no idea how you could safely manage that.
I used to leave my bed unmade after hearing this (a couple of years ago), but that was when I had a loft bed with a curtain around it, so I didn’t see the bed during the day.
Now, in a smaller room, with my bed constantly visible, I just can’t stand leaving it unmade. But what do I care, really – I am, alledgedly, mildly allergic to dust mites, but I’ve never noticed it, so I’m not going to worry.