Friday, January 18, 2013

Mattress Shopping For Dummies

These past couple weeks in our new apartment have kept us busy with minor improvements, mattress shopping for our guest room, grapefruit eating, and other random things (aka moving one pile of unpacked things to another room so it looks like things are getting done). Let me tell you, there have been plenty of lessons learned these past few days.

under that cozy bedding is a mattress that's about to get returned

My husband thinks grapefruits are the devil, and I have to admit that mattresses should most definitely be part of that evil list. He hates grapefruits. I hate mattress shopping.

You will never find the 'best' deal on a mattress. There are about 9 different names for the same mattress, so you will have a hard time comparing prices across stores. Shopping for mattresses is about as fun, and complicated, as shopping around for the best deal on insurance. Comparing mattress prices is like trying to complete a Rubik's cube with your eyes closed. Let's just say it's impossible.

the trusty affordable and simple air mattress

Our air mattresses started to sound like fluffy white cloud beds after days of comparison shopping for a real mattress. Maybe we'll just sleep on those forever. When looking for a good air mattress, I don't need to know the difference between extra firm, super firm, plush, pillow-top, euro-top, memory foam, spring count, etc.

We learned that hard way that $250 mattresses don't really seem all that different from $600 mattresses with brand names on them. (The fact that we recently returned a mattress and box spring due to manufacturer defects is a post all in itself). You don't always get what you pay for, and you sometimes find out that paying less gets you more. Nothing seems to make sense any more. You might even begin getting your butt and head mixed up after a day of mattress shopping. It's that confusing.

soothing blue and white bedding might mask a cheap-o mattress... right?

Need a decent and affordable bed? Just save yourself some time and buy the cheapest one you can find, and then slap a pillow-top mattress pad on that thing and call it good. Either that, or save up and splurge on whatever bed you like first. One saves money, and the other gets you a comfortable bed in less time.

Whatever you do, try not to get mad at any mattress sales people. They know not what they do. :)

Happy Friday!

7 comments:

  1. Aww, that sounds awful. Sorry, friend. Air mattresses are great...until they start losing air and you find yourself sleeping on the floor in the middle of the night. I've found it's best to buy the double stacked air mattress. :)

    B and I actually went mattress shopping right after Christmas and he fell in love with the iComfort bed. I just wanted a fluffy pillow top mattress. Thank goodness we both like sleeping on a cloud. We splurged and bought the iComfort. Now it just needs to hurry up and get delivered!

    Happy Friday, pretty girl! xo
    Alisha

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  2. We just upgraded to a king about a year ago, and love love love it. The brand is white swan, I think, and even though we are now on #3 (due to exhanges due to popped springs) we are so happy. We have a furniture store that we trust, and that makes a hell of a difference. They did the exchanges with embarrassment, as a matter of fact. They felt so badly about it all.

    And you are right about the brand names...apparently this white swan brand is what is in the Ritz hotels, just under another name. Oh, and I think they did the mattress pads and all that. A brand name bumps up the price considerable. No doubt.



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  3. Haha!!! I love this post!!! xoxoxox

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  4. Awww. So frustrating. Two years ago we decided it was time to skip out on our full sized bed and finally get a queen. Around the same time a friend of mine was moving to Abu Dabi for work. We lucked out because she had sold everything but her mattress (they are HARD to sell used) but she'd bought it brand new only 2 months prior (before she knew she'd be moving around the world). So sight unseen we were like, "Ok. Pillowtop? Ok. Macy's warranty. Ok. We'll give you $400 cash and pick it up on Saturday." Done. It's wonderful. And we were lucky.

    In the long run, spending your $ on a really great mattress cover is probably the best way to go. I mean, isn't that how we survived without back pains in college?

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  5. Thanks for sharing this post and your tips. I like reading posts that offer advice. I make a lot of orders online for products to ship to my house. About a year ago I ordered a new mattress and was scared that the company might mess up the order or it would arrive late, or damaged. But, when my mattress arrived, I was extremely happy with Home Direct shipping. My piece of advice for anyone ordering a product online is to read reviews online and also check out the shipping company they use to make sure it's a reputable company. While I made out OK, I don't want to have to go through the waiting process and finding out what to expect of the company.

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