The last time I bought myself a mattress, I was very pregnant with my daughter who is turning 11 this year. It was time for a new mattress. Funny side story, I was petrified that my new mattress would be ruined if my water broke while I was sleeping, so I put a plastic shower curtain under the fitted sheet. You have no idea how uncomfortable and hot and loud it is to sleep on a plastic sheet.
As we’ve discussed, I’ve made this the Year of the Bedroom. I started in this corner and the bed moved in to 2nd place because I could NOT take the old mattress anymore. I woke up everyday with aches and pains and I swear, I don’t think I had dreams anymore. How sad is that?
I learned a few things from mattress shopping.
1. Don’t drag your head with a lot of pre-shopping on the internet. You can’t pick out a mattress on-line. Don’t try. Check out prices, but don’t go crazy trying to figure out what you like. I think it’s best to go to the store with an open mind. You might *think* you like a plush bed, but when you lie on one, you might be surprised.
2. When you get to the store, ask to test one mattress at each level of firmness. We went to Sleepy’s and when we walked in the salesman asked what we were looking for. I said I had no idea and he pointed me to three beds in the corner and told me to try each one. One was super plush and soft, one was very firm and the third was in the middle (Goldilocks, anyone??). The most comfortable to me was the middle of the road guy. That immediately cut our options by about 1/3.
3. Spend some money on the mattress. After sleeping on a bad mattress for a long time, I knew I didn’t want to go cheap. Once I had picked out the firmness that I liked, I tried three different mattresses at different price points. The cheapest was not comfortable. AT ALL. The most expensive was negligibly more comfortable, but WAY more expensive. So, I went with the middle price point. We ended up spending $1,500 and that included taking the old mattress away.
4. Ask for freebies! We got free pillows and a free mattress cover.
5. When the guys deliver your mattress, remember to put the bed skirt on before they put the mattress on top of the box spring. I didn’t and I am dreading the task of putting that thing on! I so wish I had thought of it at the time. Speaking of the delivery day, clean under the bed before the guys get there. It would have been extremely embarrassing if I had forgotten to do that.
All in all, we were in the mattress store for about 20 minutes. I’m not exaggerating, I swear. And I can’t tell you how much I love my new mattress. It is so comfortable and I wake up feeling so good in the morning. Like, I actually rested for 8 hours straight. It’s definitely in an investment, but I’m glad we finally did it!
