On Monday, I mentioned that Kris and I are ready to replace our 15-year-old mattress. I don’t sleep well on it, though I sleep fine on other mattresses. I only mentioned this to illustrate a point, but I was surprised at how many readers commented on my situation.
Jason’s comment was typical:
I’ve found that sleep is the absolute root of everything. With decent sleep, I’m a better man, father, athlete, spouse, employee and all around person. With poor sleep, I’m just getting by at best, an irritable mess at worst.
I’d replace that mattress yesterday, as others have already said. Think of the other things you “just do” when they wear out and become unsafe or function poorly — car tires, toothbrushes, sponges, knives, ladders, etc. The mattress very easily fits into the same category.
Unfortunately, “an irritable mess” pretty much describes me lately, and I’m sure that a lot of this stems from poor sleep. I don’t need more convincing. I’m ready to purchase a new mattress. But how do I go about it without getting ripped off? For some reason, I think of mattress shopping in the same way I think about shopping for a used car.
In the same discussion, EBYT wrote that she sold mattresses while attending university. She offered the following tips for mattress shopping:
- Mattresses are hugely marked up (at least here in Canada). I bought one for staff price (brand new, not a display model) that cost 50% less than what we were selling it for. They still made money off of me. Either wait till they go on sale, or make sure you ask for a good deal. Good mattress/box sets start around $1,500 “regular” price.
- Make sure you buy a mattress pad so you get full warranty. The salespeople will try to sell you on the manufacturer’s 10-year warranty, but they don’t always tell you the warranty is void if you stain it.
- To go along with the warranty thing, always buy the matching mattress/boxspring set. Mismatching usually voids the warranty. The boxspring is usually only about 10-15% of the mattress set’s price so don’t try to cut costs there, or by using your old “perfectly good” boxspring.
- Don’t be afraid to test the beds on the showroom floor — that’s what they’re there for.
Another reader suggested buying a mattress from a warehouse club. Kris and I made a trip to Costco the other day to look at their mattresses. As always, the prices are great but the selection is poor. Plus, there’s no way to “sleep-test” the mattresses (which are just in a big stack in the middle of the store). Would it be bad form to sleep test at a mattress store and then buy from Costco? Could I even find the same models?
Finally, here are some articles about mattress shopping from other sites:
- Birds and Bills: Braving mattress sales, which says: “After a few glances at the mattress sales tags, which featured minimal text and explanation, I ended up giving up entirely on trying to “shop” by feature — latex? foam? coils? I had no idea which I wanted — and just road-tested a few. And … they mostly felt alike.”
- MSNBC: Don’t lose sleep buying the perfect mattress, which says: “Offer the retailer a couple of hundred dollars less than the one on the price tag. Be prepared to negotiate from there. If the mattress feels good to you, then that is the right mattress for you.”
- Slate: Going to the mattresses, which says: “If you can’t tell the difference between a $200 and a $900 mattress (I couldn’t, but maybe you can), get the cheaper one. They’re nearly the same, anyway. Anything over $1,500 and you’re just paying for prestige.”
- USA Today: How not to lose sleep over buying a mattress, which says: “The ‘best’ mattress comes down to personal preference — consumers are urged to test mattresses before buying. It also pays to know what’s inside each type — and why.”
In any event, it seems that Kris and I will soon be sleeping on a new mattress. I have my fingers crossed that this will give me better rest and, in turn, make me a less irritable mess!
Photo by The Truth About.
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Like you, we needed a new mattress. However, our current financial situation prevented us from spending that kind of money right now. We aren’t in debt, but my business is taking in about 40% less income than it was just a year ago, thanks to my clients who are cutting back on spending right now as well as a few who have gone out of business.
For about $120, we bought a memory foam cover from Costco. It’s fabulous. The only downside was the smell of the foam first out of the box — let it breathe in the garage or outdoors for a day or two first. We also have a mattress that is about 13 years old. This foam pad will enable us to get few more years out of our old mattress before we have to buy a new one. In a few years, hopefully, we’ll be in a better position to buy a new mattress with cash.
We also bought a couple of memory foam pillows from our chiropractor’s office — it really helped reduce my husband’s neck problems and subsequent migraines. Total cost was about $250 for everything, and we are both sleeping much better. Money well spent!
Good luck!!!
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My friend’s dad once told him – always have good shoes and a good mattress, you’re usually on one or the other! Great advice I’d say!
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Oddly, buying a mattress is even more opaque than buying a car. It’s very unlikely that you will be able to find the exact model of a mattress you test drive in a store at Costco because there is a ton of white-labeling and different models (even within the same brand) depending on the distributor. Consumer Reports doesn’t provide mattress ratings because of the millions of variations and lack of consistency, but they do have a guide:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/home-garden/bed-bath/mattresses/mattress-guide/
I always get nervous buying a new bed because of all these factors. My advice: spend as much time as you can spare test-driving. Lie on each bed for more than a few minutes, as the too-hard / too-soft revelations don’t come right away. And, if possible, buy from a place that has some sort of exchange offer within 30 days. We had to change up last time we bought a bed and I was so glad we were able to exchange.
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One thing about price comparison or testing a mattress at one store and then buying at a warehouse club is that mattress stores do not use the same name for the same mattresses in order to prevent you from price shopping. Mattress salesmen are very similar to used car salesman. The funniest information I found online about buying a mattress was walk into your local mattress store, ask the salesman what is on sale and then yell in unison with him, “EVERYTHING’S ON SALE”. I ended up buying a memory foam topped mattress with a cooling layer (important for foam) from Costco for about half what most mattress stores were offering. I just pulled it out of the racks and lay on it on the floor in the warehouse for awhile, so I got a good test of the mattress and entertained the local shoppers.
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Don’t buy a pillowtop. Get a featherbed. You will get more out of it by flirting and cleaning it. That is fluffing.
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Stacy at Birds and Bills wrote recently about mattress shopping.
For my part, I bought a pillowtop mattress and boxsprings set from Costco about ten years ago, and it’s holding up extraordinarily well.
As far as finding a model of the Costco mattress to test elsewhere: you can probably do it, if you’re clever. Goods sold at warehouse clubs nearly always have unique manufacturer model numbers assigned just to the version sold by that club, but by comparing features you can usually figure out which regular model number it corresponds to. I haven’t tried mattresses, but I do that with appliances all the time.
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We need a new mattress, too, but are waiting before we drop a bit of cash on it. I’ve been considering Barbara Flanagan’s advice, from Flanagan’s Smart Home. She recommends a 100% natural latex mattress for its long life – 20+ years, renewability and sustainability, and biodegradability. She cites a lot of other very good arguments I won’t go into detail about. You should check out the book; I think it’s up your alley.
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Also, if you’re planning on ever moving (houses or furniture) be sure and get mattress with handles. We’ve got a big floppy queen with no handles and it’s a huge pain to move.
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I just bought a new mattress about a month and a half ago. I am fortunate to live in a large metropolitan area (LA) and there are many (probably a couple dozen) mattress stores within just 5 miles of my house.
I went in five or six different stores, gave the salesman my budget ($1,000) and let him give his spiel and show me the mattresses. I laid on each one a couple minutes and after a couple quickly got an idea what I really wanted. If you tell the salesman the best deal you’ve gotten so far, he’ll suddenly be able to match or beat it. After shopping for a few hours, I narrowed it down pretty quickly to three mattresses that met all my criteria and were quite close in comfort. I ended up with a queen size memory-foam pillowtop with foam encasement with boxspring for just a bit under $1000 out the door – on a mattress with a tag price of $2000. Make sure to negotiate delivery and disposal of your old mattress with the price and don’t be afraid to walk out on a good deal if you’re not 100% sold. I was also able to get $30 off since I didn’t need a new frame. 10 years is a pretty standard warranty but be sure to get a protector (I bought mine from Overstock.com, not the mattress store) to ensure it doesn’t get stained as this does indeed void the warranty.
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My sister’s boyfriend (who is an AWESOME negotiator), recently bought a mattress, and he used similar tactics one would use for a car. He shopped around. He talked to a salesperson, mentioned that he had a few options. He negotiated, struck a deal, and then WALKED AWAY WITHOUT BUYING. Then he came back a few hours later and negotiated them down a few more dollars. When they finally settled on a price (and this just had me in awe), they rang it up and started to add on tax, he said “No, I’m paying X amount, and not a penny more.” He had them refigure the price, to include the tax. He walked out with the mattress he wanted.
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When my husband and I bought a new bed a couple of years ago we went to an outlet store for a name brand mattress manufacturer. Many of what we saw were “last year” models and they took a larger percentage off the price of the mattress the longer it had been in the store. We decided that we liked a very firm mattress — apparantly we are in the minority because there were several and we were able to buy a set that had been there for several months. We paid about $450 the warranty and delivery included. Look around for an outlet store!
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The biggest racket the mattress industry has pulled to date is the “no-flip” mattress. I think Simmons started it, and other companies followed suit, and now it’s virtually impossible to find a two-sided mattress.
“No-flip” mattresses are touted as being convenient and easy for the consumer, but in reality they are huge money savers for mattress giants – basically, half the manufacturing cost and mattress life at the same sale price. This is like advertising a “no oil-change car”, where the car still requires oil but the cap is glued on.
I bought the mid-range latex mattress from Ikea (queen size, $699) and I LOVE it. I’ve never slept better, I can flip the thing if I so desire, and it doesn’t get all “shweddy” like memory foam. I cannot endorse it enough. Latex seems to be the perfect happy medium for couples with different firmness needs, it lasts forever (my aunt has had hers for over 30 years) and it’s reasonably priced if you get it somewhere like Ikea.
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My wife and I just bought a new mattress. Its a Keetsa, http://www.keetsa.com/
We were just down in California and went to their store in San Francisco and tried them out. We went with a coil spring with foam top mattress, Keetsa Pillow Soft. Its the middle one, not too firm, not too soft.
Last night was the first night sleeping on it, but it was good, much better than our Sealy. I’ll post back in a few nights about how it is.
As for the Sealy we bought it 5 years ago at the Costco Home store, which is now closed. But they used to have all the beds in stock all the time and setup to try out. Our course it felt good, but over time the mattress just started to sage in the middle.
We also found out they but a stiffer area around the edges of the Sealy since alot of people just sit on the edge to test beds out. So it holds up better for showing in a store.
Last night we took back the bed to Costco, no questions asked and got a full refund. So at least if you buy a bed from Costco and don’t like it, you can take it back.
Ken
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I love it and it was a good price.
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Wow, I’m fascinated! When I moved to Portland I went to PJ’s Sleep Shop on Hawthorne and bought myself a mattress and boxspring for $250, which included frame and delivery. I have no qualms over my bed and it’s still in fine shape four years later. I had no idea most people spent so much, or haggled so much, or found it so difficult. I count my blessings — I guess I’m just an easy sleeper?
Good luck with the purchase!
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In my experience, it’s virtually impossible to find the exact mattress at two different stores. Sometimes you may find similar features at two locations, but not to the extent where I would definitively say that it’s the exact same thing with a different name.
I had very good luck finding a queen size mattress at Sam’s Club maybe 4 years ago, and paid maybe $400 (mattress & boxspring) for what I believe is comparable to a $750-$1,000 furniture/mattress store. (I normally avoid Sam’s & Wal-Mart, but I did make an exception in that case, given the vast price difference. I’m willing to pay a little extra to a locally owed store, but not 3 or 4 times as much.)
When I went looking for a king size mattress after getting married, I found that the discounts at Sam’s were far greater for the queen than it was for the kind, enough that I wasn’t willing to take the risk of the lack of a better chance of trying it out. We saved a bundle by NOT getting the matching boxspring, (which would have been maybe $400 extra) and got one elsewhere for $100. I do not believe it affects our warranty, nor would I believe it would for many others, given that many beds are not designed to accommodate a boxspring at all, or are only designed to go with one of the “low profile” boxsprings.
That said, I have no experience with returning a mattress under warranty, but my assumption is that it’s impossible, given all the other conditions. Everything I looked at had some sort of “inches of sag” requirement that I cannot fathom ever being met, short of parking my car on it for a couple days. Even horribly-broken in mattresses don’t sag multiple inches when no one is on them, and it’s the increased give when weight is applied that is the actual defect.
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If you have an Ikea near you, they have excellent mattresses (no assembly required!). They are also very economical, but make sure you test one out first!
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Thanks, Karawynn! I added a link to Birds and Bills in the body of the post.
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We also bought our mattress from IKEA. (In fact, we have an IKEA mattress on our bed and on our guest bed too.) I can’t for the life of me remember which styles we purchased, but I was very pleased with the range of prices and styles offered. Plus by shopping at IKEA we were able to lay on the sample beds as long as we wanted and we didn’t have to deal with any bed salesmen either. (Avoiding bed salesmen isn’t as important as trying out the beds, of course, but it sure was nice to be able to make a decision without someone hovering near us!)
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I’m not sure how this didn’t make the final cut of my article, but here’s a story I meant to include but apparently edited out:
In April, Kris and I spent a weekend on vacation in Bend, Oregon. We rented a house with some good friends. We do this every year, and we actually rent from one of our friend’s family members.
Anyhow, Kris and I had the “second-best” bedroom this year, and the bed was amazing. It’s been years since I slept well at home, but sleeping on this mattress was no problem. It was awesome. I felt rested all day long.
“We should write down the make and model,” I said as we were packing to leave.
“I’ll remember,” Kris said. (I could never remember something like that.) She claims she still knows the info, but I’m going to try to check with our friends first to see if they can have somebody check on it for me.
My thought is: I’ve tested this mattress for three nights and know I love it. I might as well get the same model. I have no idea what it will cost, but I do know it’s a pillow-top…
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I recently did some shopping around for mattresses, and I found that I really hate the “used car”-type sales people at stores dedicated to only mattresses. I really hate haggling and readily admit that I am no good at it. I ended up buying from Sears, they had a nice area with sample models that you could lie on, non-invasive salespeople, clearly posted prices that are lower than most other places (lower if there is a sale on), and they deliver (mine was free, part of the special), and cart away your old bed. They didn’t have a huge selection, but I am not a really fussy person when it comes to beds. I think I will buy any future beds there too. I don’t work for Sears, and don’t usually even shop there.
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Also: Kris and have questions about the boxspring. Is it necessary? We’ve removed ours from our bed and have been going without it for the past couple of weeks. Neither of us has really noticed a difference. What’s the boxspring for?
Actually, I’m going to go google this…
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I pretty much disagree with all the advice listed. My biggest concern was with getting a mattress that had toxic fire retardents (like bromide). Do some research on the fire retardents, they’re nasty stuff, linked to breast cancer and a bunch of other fun things. They are in any common mattress, you have to go out of your way to find natural materials like wool, latex, memory foam, etc, that won’t have it.
We went with Savvy Rest, a natural latex bed. It was $1800 for a full sized, but it is supposed to last about 30 years. No toxic fire retardents required.
In most cases you can’t test the Savvy Rests (we are lucky to have a local distributor) but you won’t find any complaints about them. I absolutely love ours.
For toxic free lower cost, I agree with the IKEA latex. Latex feels a little funny at first (like not firm enough), but again, you won’t ever hear complaints.
Do some research on the fire retardents before buying.
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Although you can often return a mattress if you don’t like it, it’s a hassle. I was considering a Tempur-Pedic a few years ago and discovered that some friends had one. A few weeks later, they were away for a weekend, and invited me to spend the night at their place and try out the mattress. I’m glad I did because I didn’t like it much! So, try “sleeping around” and see if you can find the perfect mattress that way.
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Wow – didn’t expect my comment to be mentioned in your latest post – blinked a couple of times lol. I’m a “she” by the way, but no worries – no way to tell
I am a big fan of COSTCO, but don’t know a lot about their mattresses. I would go for it if you know that it’s returnable for a 100% refund. They have some great discounts. Usually 2 weeks is a good enough time frame to judge whether a bed is working for you or not. Sometimes it takes a while for your back to adjust to a new bed. Look for stores with a good return or exchange policy (look for terms like “sleep satisfaction guarantee”).
Yes, the big manufacturers have a lot of mattresses that are similar in different stores, but under different names (the Serta “Panda” at one store was the same as the “Gold 4000″ I bought a few years back, for example). This is where going to a lot of different stores comes in handy.
You’ll notice a lot of beds with memory foam and latex foam, and some beds that are advertised as such (the top few inches are memory or latex foam vs. being built into a pillowtop). If you’re a hot sleeper, I would NOT recommend buying a bed that is labeled as latex or memory foam. They REALLY absorb & radiate heat. If these materials are built into the pillowtop then that is a different story, and they do tend to help with comfort (my bed has a half inch of memory foam built into the pillowtop).
Oh, and don’t be afraid to get a soft bed. They’re all built with back support in mind. My bed is one of the softer ones that was on the market at the time and I still love, love, love it.
As far as the beds being no flip, that’s because a lot of them have pillowtops that are 10″ thick and it would not make sense to have a mattress that is even thicker with that on both sides (you’ll need to buy deep pocket sheets for most mattresses on the market today as it is). Rotate the mattress head to toe every 6 months and you will be fine. Some settling of “comfort” layers is normal.
I don’t know if you can see my email (comments requires it), but if you can, feel free to send me a message if you have any more Qs.
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When shopping for a bed, spend at least 15 minutes laying on it before deciding. If it stays comfortable for that long it should fit your needs. Falling asleep, as Mark did, would cinch the sale for me.
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I highly recommend looking into a “hotel bed.” These beds are designed specifically for individual hotel chains. You buy a new bed, it is not a used bed. My wife and I purchased the W Hotel bed. We love it!
Check out the dealnews.com link for a 40% off coupon. We used it to purchase our bed and all of our bedding.
http://dealnews.com/The-W-Store-coupon-40-off-no-minimum/302777.html
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I love my matteress from the Denver Mattress Company. The think what sold us was their price and construction. The had actual leading brand mattress cut aways on the wall and you got to compare the construction to the ones made by the Denver Mattress. For the price, they had more springs, and material than the other name brands. They are at the furniture rows in WA and OR too.
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@ebyt (#25)
D’oh! I apologize for the mistaken gender. Totally my bad. (Especially since I can see that your e-mail address contains a female name.)
I appreciate the tips, and Kris and/or I may very well e-mail you with questions. Thanks for the offer!
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Haha ok thanks J.D.
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My wife and I LOVED The Original Mattress Factory. Much like #28, they had cut outs of the competition and of their own beds and they took the time to explain why their beds were better. And there was no pressure at all.
We shopped at a few “normal” mattress stores and it felt a lot like buying a used car from the shadiest people in town. They make it hard to comparison shop because “Everything is on sale” (but, only through the weekend and the one you’re interested in is the last one they have in stock.)
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Try a ComforPedic mattress. We bought one a few years ago after laying on all kinds of mattresses including memory foam and latex. This bed uses a combination of the two to provide good comfortable support that’s not too hot and is available in several firmness levels. We absolutely love the mattress. We bought from Mattress World since we like the idea of supporting their local ownership. They also seem to be pretty active in various charity activities, which I think is nice. We did haggle a bunch, but the sales people were kind about it.
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A couple of years ago it was time for a new mattress. My better ½ and I had some out of town trips and stayed in a few hotels. At one point we stayed at a Marriott in Nashville. The bed was UNBELIEVABLE. So much so we took off the sheets to find out who made it. Jamison from North Carolina…very pricey…. I saved up and now have this incredible bed. It just sucks you in and puts you to sleep…just what a bed should do!
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I worked for a furniture liquidator in high school and one item we always sold out of as soon as we got them in were mattresses. We would pick up slightly used mattresses from hotels (a lot of better chains replace their mattresses every three years), clean them and resell them for under $150 per set.
There are some pretty strict laws about how these mattresses must be cleaned, making them a perfectly safe option. I slept on a used mattress for several years. It was great — high quality, comfortable and cost me almost nothing.
If you do shop from a furniture liquidator, it’s a bit luck of the draw on exactly what they’ll have in stock — but if you’re looking for something specific, you can usually convince them to call you if they get it in.
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The boxspring supports the mattress. If you don’t use it, the coil alignment in the mattress will be screwed up eventually. VERY IMPORTANT to use unless you have a platform bed (pretty much a slab of wood vs. the 5 or so slats beds usually come with).
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I would say look for a place that builds their own mattresses. In a couple of states, there is a place called Original Mattress Factory that made a bed that I still use occasionally and have used for longer than 10 or 15 years. When I switched to a bigger bed, I bought one from there, and the salesmen were not pushy in the least, and the prices were reasonable. I would highly suggest it.
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A while ago I found the following website very helpful in explaining what’s going on when you buy a mattress:
http://www.mattressscam.com/
There are lots of ads at this site, but I found the information useful.
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I just recently (2 days ago) pricematched an online distributor cymax.com at Sleep Country USA, and saved 50% off of their advertised retail on a Simmon’s World Class Plush Pillowtop “Madrid”. I was shocked at how willing they were to pricematch. The online store had free delivery, no tax, and Sleep Country also hauled away the old bed. The “retail” price is a joke! I only now wonder if I could have gotten even 60-75% off the retail price. I do love my new mattress, and feel like I got a great deal.
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With Costco’s liberal return policy, I think you can test out beds and then return them if they don’t give you a good night’s sleep. They’ll also have a larger selection online. We got our memory foam mattress online and love it.
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Just got a 1 inch latex topper for our 2 year old Cal King. The springs in a bed will hold up pretty good, but the foam and padding will eventually compress. Our bed was getting lumpy (initially mistaken for spring sagging) in our spots and the topper has made a world of difference.
So I’d say get a nice firm bed without a ton of padding and then add your own comfort layers. I like the feel of latex (little bit of spring) compared to memory foam.
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Hi J.D.,
Definitely NOT bad form to test one out in a store and then buy at Costco! We tested a bunch out at a mattress store and we both really liked the Tempurpedic Celebrity. But 5 grand + tax for a mattress?! NO THANKS!
We ended up purchasing online from Healthy Foundations. We ordered their 13″ mattress and it was delivered in the mail. We LOVE it! And best of all, it was only $2079 shipped (no tax) instead of over $5000. They have a 1-year return policy in case you don’t like it, but if you like Tempurpedic, it’s a safe bet you’ll like this one as well.
I was really glad to get rid of our 8-year-old mattress. I’ve heard Costco has good memory foam mattresses, too. Just buy from someplace that has a good return policy and don’t be afraid to return it if it doesn’t work out.
And whatever you do, don’t buy a Tempurpedic!
-Erica
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do you still like your healthy foundations mattress? Any problems?
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@ebyt wrote: “If you’re a hot sleeper, I would NOT recommend buying a bed that is labeled as latex or memory foam. They REALLY absorb & radiate heat.”
I think this used to be true, and it was a concern for us since we live in a warm climate. The Healthy Foundations 13″ mattress has something called a “CoolMax” layer on top that’s supposed to prevent this. It sounded like marketing BS to me, but with a 1-year guarantee I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it out.
I have no complaints…you can sleep directly on it and not feel warm like some of the older memory foam mattresses and pads! Pretty cool stuff (no pun intended
I think times have changed, especially for the pricier memory foam.
-Erica
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Holy cats! GRS reader Garrison just sent me a l-o-n-g e-mail from his friend, a mattress salesman. The e-mail contains all sorts of fantastic tips for mattress shopping. I know it may seem strange to have two mattress-related posts in a short period of time, but I’m going to ask permission to re-post the e-mail here at Get Rich Slowly. Maybe I’ll post it once Kris and I are done with our shopping. Some great stuff here.
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I have a platform bed. I think boxsprings are the hugest ripoff going – AND they’re a pain to move (I’ve moved 9 times in the last 16 years, though the pace is slowing). My parents never had a box spring either, and I met a woman from England who says no one has them over there (I forgot to look for that when I was in the UK this spring).
Let us know what you find out!
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The Costco out in Hillsboro has tester mattresses and a much wider selection that most. It’s a bit of a drive from SE, but we got ours there and LOVE it. You could look online and if you see any interesting call the store and ask if they have display models. I’m pretty sure they had one example of every model.
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We bought our last mattress from Ikea — a midrange inner-spring, and I find it quite comfortable. Since we got a bedframe with lots of slats, no boxspring. Featherbed on top is lovely, too.
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We purchased our last bed from the factory showroom in a city about 100 miles away. It was located in a lower-rent district but had an enormous range of beds of all price ranges set up to try out. Sales people were helpful in providing information but not pushy. Even adding the cost of shipping we ended up with a good price. Disposal of the old one was no trouble. The local Habitat for Humanity resale store was happy to pick it up for resale, since it had been well protected and was unstained, even after 30 years of use.
The bed which felt best when lying on it in the store was a low-medium price. We had both slept on a twin size of the same model at a friend’s house, and she had a king of that model which she liked.
CAVEAT: We didn’t BOTH lie down on the bed in the store at the same time. It was wonderful with one person on it; but with the weight of two bodies, both of us immediately rolled toward the middle–on a brand new bed! We later learned from another buyer that this was also a problem on the queen size with this model, whereas the extra support provided by the center rail of a king frame avoids this issue.
Had we lived in the same town as the manufacturer, we would have traded for a different model. Because of long distance shipping, however, we took a different approach: simply put the 3/4″ plywood board which we’d used on the old bed between mattress and box springs on the new bed. No more rolling to the center. The new mattress is less firm than the 30 year old one we’d been using, and the cushioning on top is an improvement. Also, we find that as we get older it’s easier to get up from a higher bed.
Would we purchase from this distance again? Yes, we would certainly consider it if the price difference warranted.
A side benefit is that we were able to replace the mattress on an electric hospital bed at the same time for a very reasonable price, and shipping cost didn’t change. This manufacturer supplies mattresses to most of the nursing homes in the state, and the sales rep. was able to guide us in the most appropriate direction for our needs. Since our current use of this bed is more for guests and for occasional use when someone in the family is ill, he recommended that we consider purchasing a standard mattress instead of a hospital bed mattress. He warned that it would not hold up as well under heavy use of the head and foot adjustments, but suggested it would probably be more comfortable as long as it did last. That has certainly been our experience, and we greatly appreciated the guidance in that direction.
And, if you can’t afford a new bed for awhile, a 4′ x 8′ 3/4″ plywood sheet between mattress and box springs can revive some pretty bad mattress/box spring sets very inexpensively. Measure your mattress and have the excess cut off when you purchase it. Cut the plywood about 2″ narrower than the mattress.
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We bought a memory foam mattress on Overstock and we absolutely love it. No springs required, we don’t notice any excess heat (we live in Florida and run the AC very conservatively). We got a king pillow-top firm for about $700. It came UPS in a duffle bag and grew to full size in about an hour after opening.
No more aching shoulders for me and not stiff back for my husband, we’d buy it again in a heartbeat and our only regret is not buying it sooner.
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We got a floor model Tempur-Pedic type mattress from Macy’s Home a few months ago. It was orginially about $2500 and we paid $700 for it. Because it was a floor model, half of it is firm and half is soft, which is perfect since my husband prefers a firm mattress and I like a soft one. Maybe some people wouldn’t like to buy a floor model mattress, but it didn’t bother us!
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JD – please do post the e-mail if the writer is fine with it. I’m curious about the great tips! I’m not in the mattress market now (being a petite person helps keep the weight load down and less wear on the coils) but I know I’ll have to get a new one at some point.
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