No matter how little money you earn, you can enjoy a well-made bed. Slipping between cool, smooth, wrinkle-free sheets like you would in a hotel is a private pleasure. It’s well worth making your bed properly every morning, so that when you crash at the end of the day, you don’t have to think about it, and you can relax into sleep.
So, each morning, air the bed by pulling back the duvet or sheets and blankets if you prefer things the old-fashioned way, spray with linen spray, open the windows and leave the bed to air while you have breakfast.
As a linen spray, I use a dirt-cheap eau de cologne deodorant from my local supermarket, SuperU. As a deodorant it was useless, but as a linen spray it works really well. You can also buy purpose-made ones, though these tend to be expensive for what they are, or use cheap scent, such as Mont St Michel eau de cologne, decanted into a spray bottle. If you suffer from allergies, etc, you can skip this bit.
After breakfast, go and make the bed – properly. Take off the pillows, retuck the sheets, even if they’re fitted, and pull them tight and smooth, especially at the foot end. Plump the pillows and also turn the pillowcase if you have time. Give the duvet a good shake and put it back in place – turn it, if it’s reversible.
One tip from hotels is to double-line your pillowcases (ie: put two cases on, rather than one). This makes the pillow feel more ‘dressed’ and substantial. It also works for the mattress – all mattresses should have covers, and an extra sheet (summer) or wool blanket (winter) will pad the sheet and make it feel smoother under your body. You need wash the undersheet or cover only once a month or so.
When getting into bed at night, you might find aromatherapy helpful. Rather than sprinkling oil on the pillowcase, put a drop or two on a sheet of kitchen roll and tuck it under the pillowcase, to avoid staining. You can also buy pillow sprays such as Sommeil, from Puressentiel, that are meant to aid sleep.
Always buy the best bed, mattress and bedlinen you can afford – you spend a third of your life in this place and what happens here forms the ballast of your daily life.