Back to Bedmaking to Organize Your Life

By Bill Primavera

There is currently a bestseller on the market called “Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World.” I am reminded that I wrote a piece some time ago on the same subject. I’m revisiting this because of my belief in its efficacy.

Research some years ago had shown that making your bed in the morning helps you get things organized, improves the quality of life and generally makes you a happier person. You may already be doing it without knowing its importance and benefits, and if you’re not doing it, you might be alarmed by what the consequences may be, according to that research.

Having always believed that the main keys to effective use of time were to make lists and set priorities, little did I suspect that all of this could be aided and abetted by simply making my bed in the morning.

The research, done by online survey, demonstrated significant differences between people who make their beds and people who don’t. Not finding the time to look up the research for the piece at the time, I let it linger on my mind, smug in the knowledge that I was indeed a bedmaker and consequently a virtuous person.

Certainly, it wasn’t always that way with me. I must have been a little prince when I was a youngster because my mother always made my bed for me. But when I packed myself off to a military academy in middle school, that life of luxury came to an abrupt end. I was required to make a bed with hospital corners that you could bounce a dime off.

By the time I returned home for high school, my mother’s largess had expired and I was required to make my own bed, However, Mom had to remind me each and every morning.

Then came the independence of college life when my bed was mostly a lump of tangled sheets and blankets. After graduation, as a bachelor in New York City, what can I say?

Once I abandoned that lifestyle and found the lady of my dreams, who has been my resident “neatnik,” making the bed became required practice. Now I can’t imagine leaving the house with a bed unmade.

The aforementioned survey was conducted among 68,000 respondents and revealed some interesting information. We learned that only 27 percent of people make their own beds, while 60 percent don’t. The remainder are the lucky stiffs who get someone else to make it for them.

The differences between the “make it” and “don’t make it” populations are intriguing.

Those who make their beds tend to be in relationships, while those who don’t tend to be single. Bedmakers most likely own their own homes, while their counterparts rent. Makers are more likely to have a graduate degree and like their jobs, while non-makers don’t.

Bedmakers plan things in advance, are most productive in the morning, have photos of friends or family at work and are more advanced in their careers while non-makers are more likely to not like their jobs, procrastinate, don’t have photos of friends or family at work and are closer to an entry level job.

Those who make their beds use grocery lists and have a neat closet, while non-makers have library books that are overdue and a messy closet. Further, they eat meals in front of a computer and eat more fast food. Those who make their beds exercise more, feel well rested in the morning, prepare their own coffee at home, are better organized at work and at home and are optimistic. Non-bedmakers exercise less, wake up tired, buy coffee at a deli, are less organized and are pessimistic.

Whatever the status of my bedmaking, I do feel fairly well-organized at work but my home life would definitely leave much to be desired were it not for having a life partner who somehow manages to do all the things I find challenging to do.

Don’t hate me because I’ve rarely washed a load of clothes, shopped for groceries or operated the dishwasher. But, if this research is valid, you can bet that I do take great solace in knowing that I can and do make a mean bed in the morning.

Primavera is a Realtor® associated with William Raveis Real Estate and Founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc. (www.PrimaveraPR.com). His real estate site is www.PrimaveraRealEstate.com, and his blog is www.TheHomeGuru.com. To engage the services of The Home Guru to market your home for sale, call 914-522-2076.