XP TRACKERHow to make your bed every day
Making your bed takes about a minute. It still gets skipped, mostly because the bed is complicated or the moment to do it slips by. Make it simpler, tie it to getting up, and let a rough version count.
Why it's harder than it sounds
You can make a bed in a minute. The habit breaks before the minute starts, in the few seconds between getting up and walking out of the room.
Three things usually get in the way:
- You leave the room first. Once you're in the kitchen or the shower, going back to the bedroom feels like a detour, and the bed stays as it is until night.
- The bed has too many parts. A flat sheet, a duvet, a throw and six cushions turn a quick tidy into a project you put off.
- You aim for a hotel bed. If a made bed has to look perfect, a rushed morning means you don't do it at all.
Start smaller than you think
Your starter habit is pulling the covers up to the pillow before you leave the bedroom. No smoothing, no corners. Covers up, pillow on top, done.
The cue is standing up. Turn around, pull the covers up, and only then walk out. Doing it before you leave is the whole trick, because you never have to remember to come back.
Make it easier the night before, too. Take the extra cushions off the bed and put them somewhere they can stay. Fewer layers means fewer reasons to skip.
An example starter plan
Move up a step only when the current one happens without thinking. If a week was hard, repeat it.
- Days 1 to 7: covers up before you leaveStand up, turn around, pull the covers to the pillow. Rough is fine. Tick it off.
- Days 8 to 14: straighten and smoothShake the duvet out so it lies flat, square it on the bed, and plump the pillows. About a minute.
- Days 15 to 21: add one more small thingPut the clothes from the floor or chair away, or open the curtains and a window. Keep it to one extra step.
- Days 22 to 30: make it work anywhereDo it at weekends, on late mornings and when you sleep somewhere else. A hotel bed or a sofa bed counts too.
Make the bed easier to make
- Choose a duvet over layers. One duvet that you pull up and shake out is quicker than tucking in a sheet and blankets.
- Cut the cushions. If you keep decorative cushions, keep two. You'll stop dreading the step where you put them back.
- Move the bed if you can. A bed jammed against a wall is awkward to reach around. Even a small gap on that side helps.
- Leave the phone across the room. If your alarm is out of reach, you're already standing when you turn it off, a step closer to the bed being made.
Common mistakes
- Waiting until after breakfast. Unless that second moment is fixed, the bed waits until night.
- Redoing it until it's perfect. Done each morning matters more than neat. Save the careful version for days you have time.
- Treating a miss as a fail. A messy bed on a hard morning is a skipped minute, nothing more.
What to do after a missed day
Pull the covers up tomorrow before you leave the room and carry on. One unmade bed doesn't undo the habit.
If a week or more has gone by, go back to the first step: covers up, nothing else. It usually comes back within a few days because the cue, getting out of bed, never went away. Our guide to getting back on track covers restarts in more detail.
Notice when you miss. If it's the mornings you rush, the bed may still have too many parts. If it's weekends, your cue may have been the alarm. Use getting up itself as the cue instead, whatever time that is.
Making your bed as a quest in XP Tracker
In XP Tracker, making your bed is part of Clean Start, a core quest every player has, in every class. Clean Start asks you to make your bed, brush your teeth and splash cold water on your face, and you "complete all three actions" to finish it. So the bed comes with two other small steps that already happen in most mornings. The art on this page shows the Warrior and Druid versions.
Finishing Clean Start earns XP for your hero and damage on the current boss. Plan Your Day is another core quest: set three intentions for the day. Change the bed sheets is an optional weekly quest you can add from the library. For more ideas, see our list of real-life daily quests and our page on building a morning routine, or meet the Warrior, the class about courage, discipline and doing small things right.
Questions people ask
Is making your bed worth it?
For many people it's a small, finished task at the start of the day and a tidier room to come back to at night. If it doesn't matter to you, skip it. If you've tried and keep forgetting, the plan on this page will help.
Should I air the bed before I make it?
Some people like to fold the duvet back for a while so the sheets can air out, then make the bed later in the morning. That works if you have a fixed second moment for it, like after breakfast. Otherwise make it straight away.
What if my partner is still asleep?
Make your side. Pull your half of the covers up and straighten your pillow. The last one up finishes the job, or you agree that whoever gets up second makes it.
How do I make my bed faster?
Use fewer layers. A fitted sheet, a duvet and your pillows are enough. Skip the flat sheet and the decorative cushions, and the whole job takes under a minute.
How often should I change the sheets?
Many people change them about once a week, more often in hot weather or if you sweat at night. It's a separate weekly job from making the bed each morning.
Start your journey
Pick a class, do the day's quests, and watch your hero level up with you.
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