Looking for a good value bed mattress

[frito833]

I hadn't thought about the "temperature" thing with memory foam. . .does it feel hot when you lay on it? I'm sure I couldn't stand that.

Anyway, I agree with your approach -

1. Band-aid it with a "foam top" for now, buying yourself 6 to 12 months.
2. Save up for a "value" mattress

In fact, you may want to pick your dealer(s) now. . .go in and explain your situation, that you aren't "buying today", that you are saving up and shopping for one in the next 6 months.

Or, if you want, I know I am about to commit "blasphemy" here at SavingAdvice.com. . .if you are going to spend $100 to band-aid it, you may want to finance a value mattress for 30-90 days for the extra $500 on your credit card.

I know, I know. . .blasphemy. But if it really was for just 3-4 months, the finance charge may not be what you are spending on band-aiding it.

It's like the one time when we financed a washer/dryer when we lived in an apt.. . .well, what we were spending in quarters at the laudromat, it made sense to just finance at 14% and own it (which we have the same set for years).

Financing a long term product like a mattress doesn't upset me as much as putting dinners out on your c/c. See? There's even a place for consumer debt in American society.

Good luck.

I did try the memory foam at Ahsley's Furniture for 15min and the temperature thing did bother me quite a bit. Then I went to try the latex mattresses and just fell in love. They are cheaper and comes with all the pros of a memory foam mattress without the cons, heat, smell, and life span.

This is the cheapest latex mattress I've found online and includes free delivery and a bamboo cover.

Queen All Natural Talalay w/Free Bamboo Cover Upgrade

If anybody can find a cheaper mattress, please let me know.

Scanner, I do see your point and believe me, I am so tempted to make the swipe. As much I want to put this on CC, I'm just so paranoid of debt. If I can't pay off the balance, I just don't buy it. Call me old fashioned, but I can really wait. I've waited for 25yrs LOL. Plus side, I might be able to use the topper on my new mattress or just give it to my parents to use on their guest bed when I visit them.

[frito833]

After some years of dissatisfaction with a Simmons, we shopped around looking at Serta, Sealy, and other house and specialty brands. Ultimately, we ended up spending around $800 for a Sealy.

Note: It won't do any good to tell you the name of the mattress, nor will it do you any good when shopping different stores to know the names, as you will find that each store (sometimes even within the same chain) will have all different names. You have to go by manufacturer, coil count, and features to identify which are comparable. It is the way mattresses are sold, preventing people from easy price comparison shopping. LINK

Ultimately, after having this mattress for about a year, I am not really satisfied with it. When we recently bought a new mattress for another bed in the house, we went to The Original Mattress Factory. We had looked here before but opted to buy the Sealy instead. This time, tired of the pricing games and interested in certain features like better edge support, we bought from them. So far, I am very satisfied with it and only wish I would have bought my own mattress from them last year. They are regional, so may not be an option for you, but I'd suggest you give them a look.

Regardless of what you end up doing, do some searching online about buying a mattress so you can learn more about the mattress name/pricing game and what to look for to find a suitable one for you.

Best wishes.

Thanks poundwise. I tried Sealy and wasn't impressed. They seem to sag in the middle but this was a $500 mattress. I've actually done a lot of research, youtube, consumer reports, and blogs past couple of days. Seems they all have one thing in common, buy a latex mattress if you can afford it. But I will always continue my research as this is a purchase that is non returnable. Any latex mattress owners that can vouch for the quality?

[PetMom]

Mattresses that cost well over a thousand? Was not aware of that.

We got a low priced under $400.00 new mattress and that has worked out fine.

These commercials that convince people that they might end insomnia problems or at least sleep a lot better if they get a certain adjustable mattress are amazing. Sure they might be good, but if a person is tired enough they could fall alseep in/on anything.

I would never buy used. Bed bugs seem to be one of many issues with that route. Steam cleaning would do ok for any dust mites, but those bed bugs are supposedly a little tougher.

And hotels and the other user concept - yes that is true, but also a supposed reason why bed bugs are more contagious and prevalent now.

When was it that futons went out of fashion - those seemed to be very popular and affordable.

[myrdale]

If your not in a hurry to get a bed, and dont mind waiting around, I would just keep an eye on your local matress stores. I purchased a $1500 matress and box spring set for $700 at a local store during their Labor Day sale.

[zetta]

Sometimes you can get a discount by buying a mismatched box spring and matress -- ask the salesperson about this.

[irmanator]

ok someone mentioned shopping by looking at features.... so what features do you look for? I have before just gone in an laid down on it and bought because it was comfy at that time then a year or so later i cant stand it. I am not looking to spend a lot of money on a risk that i may not like it by next year. I went to metro matteress in upstate ny window shopping and there matteress seem lovely but they are expensive. The salesman said they are garanteed for 15 yrs.. if so might be a good deal. I always use mattress pads protectors to help make it last.

[woodie96]

The Original Mattress Factory as poundwise mentioned earlier.
About 4 or 5 years ago, we bought one of those name brand mattresses, can't remember if it was Sealy or what, but the thing was shot after a couple of years. Neither my DW or myself could sleep on our side, the mattress sagged in the middle and you would roll into each other when we slept, not to mention the back aches when we woke up.
We finally went to the Original Mattress Factory and checked out a bunch of types, pillow tops, memory foam, etc...and settled on a reversible, regular type mattress. If I remember right it was around 7-800 bucks, but man that thing is nice.
Washable padded mattress pad adds to the comfort, and no sagging....YIPPEE

[graceful]

Mattresses are such a subjective thing. Be sure to try out a lot to see what you like.

We lucked out 13+ years ago when we bought our first queen mattress for about $1K which we thought was outrageously expensive. It is still comfortable now.

When we were buying our new bedroom furniture for our new home, we opted for a king bed and thus, needed to buy a new king mattress. We went to Macys, Sleepys, and Raymour & Flanigan to try out all the mattresses.

DH did NOT like the Tempurpedic foam at all. He said it was like getting sucked into the bed. We do like the mattress a bit on the firmer side, especially around the edges of the bed.

The one we kept going back to was the Simmons Beautyrest Black Perla. The base cost at R&F was a bit higher at $3K. There were a few other mattresses that were ok that we comfortable on for a few hundred less, but when we slept on the Perla, we could "feel" a slight difference.

AFTER shopping around, we went home to check out the brand of mattress we currently had. As I suspected, it was a Simmons Beautyrest Worldclass. The Perla had the same "feel" of the mattress we were already sleeping great on - both are firmer mattresses with a pillowtop.

We were already purchasing our bedroom furniture from R&F during a 20% F&F sale so the $3K mattress set was now about $2,400. I was still cringing at the cost but DH said that he was willing to spend more for a good mattress that we both liked over any other furniture. It made sense since we already liked that particular product and "feel."

We could have maybe saved $100 during the Macys sale but it was easier to have EVERYTHING delivered at once by R&F then have to deal with 2 separate deliveries by 2 different companies.

I still sleep great on our queen, but when we go up to the house on the weekends, we really sleep GREAT on the king! Was it expensive? Oh yeah. Did I wish we could have spent less? Yep. Do I regret spending the mega bucks? Not for a second of wonderful sleep.

Of course, if we didn't have the money for such an expensive purchase, we would have had to re-think our priorities. Maybe lived with the airbed we were sleeping on for the first month for a lot longer or scraped the furniture and only got the mattress set? I'm glad we could afford getting everything at once.

Point is - A lot of people RAVE about the Tempurpedic mattresses. If we loved it, we could have lived with the cost. We found out DH hated it only by trying it out in the stores. It would have been an expensive mistake to have made...

It is NOT an easy purchase decision to make. I'm glad we are happy with our decision and very sad for the people that THOUGHT they liked their mattress after trying it out in the store and hating it later on at home. It is a very stressful decision to be sure.

GOOD LUCK!!

[guppy]

I bought the Slumber 1 8" memory foam mattress a few weeks ago from Walmart. I believe it was $260 for the queen size. My MIL had previously bought us a 3" memory foam topper which we put on top of the mattress which makes it a more normal height and keeps us from damaging it. So far it's worked great!

[wincrasher]

I bought my sister the mattress from Amazon you listed. It's wonderful and her and her husband love it. I have a King Size memory foam mattress I bought at Costco for the same money. Love it.

I've bought $1000 mattresses that were OK in the store, but later didn't like them. You never know for sure until you've had it awhile.

I tried the foam toppers first, but they really can't make up for a poor mattress underneath.

A friend has a $3000 Tempurpedic that she raves about. The lesser cost memory foams also get rave reviews on Amazon.

I've found that before I would toss and turn most of the night. I end up being a back sleeper for the first time in my life - normally side or stomach - and no tossing.

[Hot dog]

What state are you located in? I know of one place I think you can buy online. I will look and see if I can find out the site. They get matresses from stores that were open or the last years models. All expensive brands and they sell them cheap but not sure of the shipping costs.

[Mjenn]

I don't know if it helps, but when my folks recently bought a new mattress my Mom ended up accidently haggling down the price by a good 40%. She had been comparing 2 beds and when she said no to one she mentioned she was going with another.

The salesman asked what she was paying and for what, she told him, and she got a better price. Then she called the other guy and said 'sorry, yadda yadda yadda' and pow same thing.

It wasn't her intention, and she had been ready to pay the full price, she actually ended up going with the first salesman who lowered the price a second time.

[huntfishandtruck]

If you know anyone that works at Sears, that is a great place to get a good deal on a mattress. I had a friend who worked in the warehouse there (where they keep all the big items for pickup) and said they often have people order mattresses and not pick them up. They usually put them on clearance but rarely put them out on the floor. I was able to get a Queen Serta Posterpedic and a non-matching box spring for $300, the original price was over $1000. Both were still sealed in the plastic wrap.

I know its a long shot if you know someone who can do this for you, but you could try slipping a warehouse guy a few bucks to help you out.