You need to make your bed.

I know, I know, I’m not your mom and I can’t make you. (There are only three people in this world I can actually force to make their beds and I’m pretty sure they’re not reading this blog post, as it does not contain pictures of unicorns or Star Wars characters.)

Oh snap, guess I was wrong about that.

In any case, I urge you to add bedmaking to your daily routine. Why? Because science says so.

I recently came across an article in Psychology Today that revealed a surprising statistic: 71% of bedmakers consider themselves happy while 62% of non-bedmakers claim to feel unhappy. Put simply: the bedmakers among us are a smilier bunch, inside and out.

I’ll readily admit that this statistic is marred with chicken-or-egg causality issues. Are happier people just more likely to make their beds and unhappy people less so? Does the happiness cause the bedmaking or does the bedmaking cause the happiness? (Similarly, does growing the unkempt beard cause one to become a hipster or does becoming a hipster cause one to grow the unkempt beard?) I don’t think the guv’ment is dishing out federal funds for a scientific inquiry into either of these questions any time soon (after all, they’ve got a wall to build), but it can’t hurt any of us to mimic what the happy folk do.

Truth be told, I haven’t always been a bedmaker. Even now, I’ll sometimes leave my sheets rumply on a lazy Saturday. But beds are typically made in my house on most weekdays. I have a firm “last one out makes the bed” rule with my husband. (This fair-sounding rule is entirely slanted in my favor by my early-morning boot camp class. Score!)

I even started my kids on a bed-making routine when they were in preschool, mostly because I read somewhere on the Internet (aka the source of all my knowledge) that kids with daily chores are less likely to become convicts… or maybe it was that they’re more likely to become neat convicts. In either case, bedmaking’s important, so we’ve stuck to it.

Here are some pics to prove that, yes, children can be taught to make their beds:

Even if you don’t buy into bedmaking from a purely mood-boosting (or slammer-avoiding) standpoint, here are three other reasons you should make your bed:

1. Visuals: The bed is the focal piece of the bedroom and your room will never look truly neat and tidy with an unmade bed. It’s like wearing an outfit with really nice accessories but a T-shirt with a mustard stain. It kind of ruins the whole effect.
2. Productivity: Making your bed will start your day off on a productive note. Even if you spend the rest of the day surreptitiously watching Netflix while pretending to work, at least you can tell your boss confidently, “Hey, I made my bed today and that counts for something!” And damn it, you’d be right! (Who needs that Employee of the Month parking spot, anyway?)
3. One Thing Leads to Another: This is the case with Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies and with making your bed. Nobody’s gonna stop after just one crisp wafer of mint chocolately goodness, and you won’t stop the good deeds after one made bed, either. After making your bed in the morning, who knows what you’ll go on to do the rest of the day? You might even shave that unkempt beard!

I hope today’s blog has given you some inspiration to make your bed… or look up “Stars Wars unicorns” on Google images… or watch Netflix at work… or shave that unwanted body hair. No matter what you choose to do, I hope you’ll be happier for doing it. Cheers!

Rose Lounsbury is one of Dayton, Ohio’s top professional organizers and a sought-after public speaker. After blogging about her own journey toward a minimalist lifestyle, Rose was inspired to start Less LLC, a minimalist-minded professional organizing company. Rose is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and has been featured on Good Day Columbus. If you’d like Rose’s help with an organizing project at your home or office, you can contact her at [email protected] or visit her online at OrganizeWithLess.com.

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