How to Make a Bed

You know how every once in awhile you figure out how to do something that once seemed like a pain in the booty, but then a simple technique makes the task a no-biggie? That's a big deal! That's the kind of thing that makes me feel like I've earned a badge on my Mom-Scout vest. This post isn't about arranging the pillows a certain way or smoothing the comforter, it's about how I make the bed so that the bed linens get changed every week.

I never used to pay much attention to changing bed linens and only did so every few months or so, but it always felt like a BIG chore. But since my husband now exercises every single day, I noticed that even with showering directly after exercise, his side of the bed would smell very HIM after a week. And I don't mean yucky smell, but definitely his specific manly scent would be super strong. Basically, exercise releases the pores and the sheets become like pajamas. I realized that if I wouldn't wear the same pair of pajamas for over a week (and I don't) then really those sheets and pillowcases do need to be changed to keep the bed fresh.

So Monday is my day to change the sheets and here's how I do it!

Start off by making the bed with 2 fitted sheets and 3 top sheets. (Or really however many you have.)

Here you can see three top sheets and one fitted sheet. Underneath the white fitted sheet is another blue one. 

We don't crawl under the top sheets, we have a heavier blanket and comforter that we're under. So the top sheet we just sleep on top of.

Each Monday, peel off a layer and remake the bed. 

Once you get down to that bottom fitted sheet, that's the week to take your comforter to the laundromat to use the big machine and launder it!

The following week, that fitted sheet will come off and it's time to remake your layers with whatever clean sheets you have in your linen closet. Use them all!! All the fitted sheets! All the top sheets! Throw down as many layers as you have available. (And if you don't have many layers, go to Ikea and buy some cheap sheets!) There really isn't any point for super nice sheets.

Then your bed will be super easy to change each week for the next several weeks.

And of course, change the top pillowcases every week too. And if you don't have many, yet another reason to go to Ikea to get some more.

We each have two pillows, and I just rotate the top pillow to the back and change the new top pillow. Then the following week I rotate. Basically, I'm changing one set of pillowcases each week. Does that make sense? But it is just as important (if not more) to change pillowcases than sheets. If I had to pick one, I'd pick pillowcases.

But changing pillowcases has never been hard. The hardest thing about changing pillowcases is when you don't have enough pillowcases and your pillows have to sit there naked for 2 hours while their clothes are washing. That's the type of thing that makes an easy chore an annoying/hard one. So solve that problem by having enough.

By having your sheets in many layers and having enough pillowcases, your bed is never sitting there naked! And getting fresh linens is just a once a week exercise in Peel and Change.