Mattresses?
 

Alright I had a post then lost it somehow...We are considering buying a new mattress but we are experiencing a little sticker shock to the prices to say the least since we don't have that much money and this would have to go on a credit card. I have had lower back pain since I got married 4 years ago and since we bought the bed we are sleeping on currently. Our bed was a decent price I thought less than $800 for a queen set that just HAD to be bought at the local Sears where my husband worked to show his loyalty to his managers there and to get the slight employee discount. The mattress section of the store only had 5 mattresses total to try out and lay down on so there just wasn't much choices to lay on. My back pain has gotten worse and worse mainly in my lower back and now our bed is actually slightly sagging after not even 4 years. I am so tired and more prone to being emotional and CRANKY especially this week since I have not gotten one good night's sleep. I slept on my couch one night last week for pete's sake. I have tried everything to alleviate my back pain, got a new expensive pillow made especially for side sleepers which is what I am, threw out all my shoes and bought totally new ones-my feet feel so much better now too but not my lower back. I even went and got x-rays done and other tests done to make sure I had not somehow injured my back and the doctor says there is a possibility that I just need to lose weight which I need to anyways for health/diabetes risks. Then 6 weeks ago I went and stayed with my mom and ended up sleeping on a tempurpedic bed and oh MY GAWD.. when I woke up the next morning I felt so refreshed and only got up once to go pee in the night since I had drank several BIG glasses of water right before bed.. So does that saying " you get what you pay for" really apply to this type of thing? Most people spend at least a 1k on refrigerators and washer and dryers and should I look at this like an appliance that will last at least 10 years? Hubby is kind of reluctant to spend money when it comes to this kind of thing-always looking for a cheap deal which I don't think those exist if you want quality. So how bout some opinions on that and can anyone recommend any brands? And can anyone recommend any reputable FREE websites where I can check out like consumer reports and ratings?

thanks for any help,
Sleepless in Texas

mattresses
 

I bought my memory foam mattress from a very popular website that sells overstock items from various companies. I paid less than you did for your last mattreess set, and used the old box spring for height. (But you dont need it for support with the memory foam.) Hope this helps.

Do you flip and rotate you mattress? We flip ours every 6 months and rotate it once a year.

That really helps.

Sorry to hear about your back :(

We were looking for a mattress a couple of months ago (decided not to spend the money after all), and were surprised to see that it's hard to purchase ones that you flip/rotate now. Almost all of the ones we saw were pillowtops and had specific zones for head/feet.

Tamaralynn-Yes we have followed that faithfully since at first that did seem to help. But now it doesn't.

Jtammy-yes, the one I ended up liking at Sleep Experts is a pillow top and I will not have to rotate it they told me and did have specific head and feet zones as well. I was a little surprised too but hey less work for me and my back!:)

I read Consumer Reports' report on mattresses last year and they did not really recommend one in particular. But, they did suggest when you go to try one out to lie on it for 15 minutes in the position that you normally sleep in to get a feel for it. Our mattress is about 20 years old and the price is what keeps us from getting a new one--and worrying that I'll get a bad one :(

Thanks ddc! That's what we plan on doing tomorrow night is laying on them for like 15 minutes each. We are planning on going back since we have both come to an agreement especially once hubby got home after visiting the mattress store and took a good look at our current mattress and saw that our bed really WAS starting to sag and is all worn in the middle and that we need to get a new one before it becomes worse especially if I'm already suffering more so than usual.

We spent a lot of money on our mattress set and it was worth it! I have major back problems too. I'm not going to say that it made all my troubles go away, it didn't - but it helped considerably.

I find that amazon usually has the best reviews of products & they do sometimes have items you wouldn't expect them to. Also usually just a google search of whatever item you want and the word review will yield some good results.

We wound up with a pillow top (on both sides) King sized Sterns and Foster bed - the only complaint I've ever had about it is it's difficult to find deep pocket sheets in a price range I am comfortable with.

My suggestion would be to do a review search....but i would also recommend looking on craig's list. When we moved to Atlanta...we found out that the king size matress couldn't fit up the stairs, so we had to sell it. It was practically brand new and in great shape. We sold it for dirt cheep, compared to how much we initially spent on it.

Also...as for you're back...i had back problems and went to a chiropracter. I swear by my chiropracter. It has made a huge difference in my life.

I bought a cheapo serta mattress last year at Big Lots. Its horrible, but it was in my price range. I am looking to get a new mattress too.

Sam's Club/Warehouse actually has the temperpedic mattress tops there. Like the kind that you just put on top of your old mattress. Perhaps check that out? I am not sure how much they cost though, I just remember seeing them there.

Costco has a tempurpedic type bed for under $600.

We paid a lot for our mattress but honestly a good mattress should last nearly 10 years if not more.

I bought the Tempur-pedic Celebrity bed (13" mattress plus 3" extra pillowtop) about 2 years ago....I never regretted spending the $$$, because it helps considerable with back pain, pressure points. (although I got it at dealer cost from a friend that sold them).....it was amazing the difference i felt in the morning, no backache.

That mattress and base are both in the foam and they are more than heavy....i don't think one person could move it.

I have a Stearns & Foster that cost us a small fortune, but we have had it for 9 years and I still love it. I tease that I am going to be buried with my bed. We bought it when I was pregnant with #3 and working nights and I needed a comfortable bed. Did I mention I love my bed? Worth every penny.

In my call room at the hospital we have a tempurpedic bed and I hate it. I guess I am very picky.

There is a mattress place here that seems to use the old "bait and switch" mentality. They advertise that they carry a certain brand (like Serta) and you go in to buy one and they talk you into their own brand which costs less BUT doesn't last as long. How I managed to fall for it twice is beyond me. Anyway, our latest mattress purchase was from a different store and boy was I impressed! We quickly narrowed our choice down to two, one of which is the Heavenly Bed, but decided on the other one (and now I can't remember the name). What I like is that there isn't any movement--DH can roll over and I don't feel it at all. I think what we got is the one that shows all the champagne glasses stacked on one side and the bowling ball dropped on the other side and the glasses don't move. It is really true! We've had the mattress for 5 1/2 years and have had no problems (including NO body ruts like the cheap mattresses would do to us regardless of the number of times we'd rotate them).

that's the Tempur-pedic that I have and it's true for me too....my BF gets up and i don't even know it, there is no transfer of movement....my bed gets a lot of use....all of the cats sleep on it all day, they love comfort too.

my only complaint is that the tempur-pedic mattress will hold bodyheat more than a regular mattress, so i have the AC set at 65 every night.

Alinnell-Yes that is also my problem too. Every time hubby moves when he's asleep it wakes me up a lot of the times and we have body impressions on our mattress and it's not even 4 years old yet. When we go back tonight to try out some more beds and in some more comfortable clothes so I can imitate the position I sleep in lol, I am going to mention it to the sales guy and hopefully I'll get the same one I had last night. I really liked him and I didn't feel pressured by him at all since I told him we were going to have to think about this. And see what he says and hopefully he can give me some more guidance and show me some beds that are reported to be good for not feeling movement as well. And I am going to have my hubby move around on the bed when trying it out lol tonight.

Marbleflys-Yes I noticed that myself and when I asked my mom about it she said yes that it was nice for her since she is very cold natured and that it was nice in the winter time. I guess I could just lower the house temperature and save on the bill a little during the winter.

Where in Texas do you live? I live in near the Houston area, and there is an awesome local-owned mattress placed here. When you buy it, it's got a 15 year warranty--ANYTHING happens to it and it gets replaced. I also have a really bad back, and I have to have a super hard mattress. If your mattress sags, even a year or two later, they'll come pick it up, rebuild it that same day to make it firm again, and deliver back to your house before dark--for free! We spent under $500 for it.
When it eventually wears out, I'm getting one of those sleep number beds, where you can decide how hard/soft you want the bed.

I never did try balancing a glass of wine on the bed...(its got a pretty gold cashmere blend mattress) and jumping up and down...but my BF and I have varied schedules we get up at all different times. I never feel it and I am the lightest sleeper I know of....also there are 3 cats jumping on and off all night.

this is the most expensive item of home furnishing I ever splurged on, but it makes all the difference to me if can get some extra sleep time instead of tossing and turning for hours....or taking Ambien every night to try to get some sleep in.

I didn't know how much i hated my previous bed until I wound up spending almost 7 weeks on it when I was recovering from an accident, my back was killing me and i thougth my hipbones would be poking a spring or something...after that I got both the new bed and livingroom couch, i couldn't stand it....

If you can't make up your mind about a bed, you could try a 3" memoryfoam mattress topper as a quick fix....that's what i did for my mom who did not want to buy a new mattress.

Chickybird- I live in the Dallas area of Texas so I'm not anywhere near close. I think I like a firm bed but with a little give so it feels soft. That's part of the problem lol, that there are so many beds out there to try. My dad was super cheap too about mattresses so I really don't feel like I've ever had an "oh my god this is heaven bed".

Marblefly- I am having to take a sleeping pill to knock me out so that I can actually get some sleep and then the next day I feel medicated until about noon or 1ish. I do not take Ambien anymore due to that.