Saturday my husband and I went shopping for a mattress.  The first store (a furniture store) we stopped at had a major brand queen mattress for $299.  When we entered the store, the different size mattresses were stacked up next to the entrance.  The queen size mattress was may 8 inches thick and didn't look like it would hold up well at all.  From there we went to a mattress store and got sticker shock!  A really good queen size mattess was abour $4,000!!!  The salesman said a "decent" mattess would cost over $1,000.  It didn't take us long to leave that store.  We then went to the Sears Outlet store and bought a Serta king size pillow top mattress for $435!!!  The mattresses at the Sears Outlet Store were discounted 70-80%.  We bought the frame and so our total bill was just a little over $500.  We slept on it 2 nights now and it is great.  A friend who works at a furniture rental store said the mark-up on mattresses is extremely high.  Shopping around really paid off for us this time.

 Thanks for the report! I'm going to have to buy a new mattress sooner or later and I've been dreading it. I need an extra firm mattress without a box spring (I use a plywood box) and I don't want a salesman to try to push something on me I can't use. We don't have a Sears Outlet store here, but that gives me an idea of the price to look for. 

Ooohh! Thanks for the post. DH and I are in need of a new mattress and are starting to save money for this. We see the prices and know they can be anywhere from $300 to $3000. We want to keep it under $500, including a new box spring. We need a queen size as we don't want to replace our bedframe. I haven't spent much time comparing b/c we don't have much money saved yet. Hopefully we will get some cash for Christmas to put toward this.

You did get a great deal. We're in desperate need of a mattress right now. We're keeping an eye on Craigslist and Freecycle for a good used mattress until we can do better. The way I see it, when we go on vacation, we sleep on a used mattress. So, if we can get a decent one in good shape at a good price, I'll not be too choosy.

We bought a new mattress a couple of years ago in a rush. We got a "pillow top" mattress which isn't bad unless you like to flip your mattress for more even wear. You can't or shouldn't flip a pillow top but we discovered that after the fact. I would also be careful with those tempurpedic ones. We tried the mattress covers and could not adjust to it. People either love them or hate them.

loves2cook:

You did get a great deal. We're in desperate need of a mattress right now. We're keeping an eye on Craigslist and Freecycle for a good used mattress until we can do better. The way I see it, when we go on vacation, we sleep on a used mattress. So, if we can get a decent one in good shape at a good price, I'll not be too choosy.

 

 

I bought a used mattress for my daughter at a yard sale over 10 years ago and we still use it.  I did put a plastic cover over it for hygiene.  I saw a news story about a year ago on Dateline about the resurgence of bed bugs especially in NYC.  I would be extra cautious about getting a used mattress although I wouldn't rule it out.  There are plastic/vinyl mattress bags to cover the mattress that contain an insectide and will kill the bugs.  The important thing is to not take an unprotected mattress or box springs into your house without taking precaution.  I also investigated air mattresses on the internet.  There was one from Wal-Mart and Target that got good reviews.  This might be a temporary option until you could buy a traditional mattress.  I hope you find a good mattress at a great price.  A good night's sleep is so important.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Pat:

 Thanks for the report! I'm going to have to buy a new mattress sooner or later and I've been dreading it. I need an extra firm mattress without a box spring (I use a plywood box) and I don't want a salesman to try to push something on me I can't use. We don't have a Sears Outlet store here, but that gives me an idea of the price to look for. 

 

 

Our mattess also came with the box spring and was sold as a set.  

yeah, we got sticker shock too 2 yrs ago when we wanted to replace our mattress...the one we wanted was $2000. So we decided our old one wasn't so bad after all.

We bought our queen size bed, box spring and frame from Sleep Country for $1000 about 5 yrs ago.   It was a nice durable set.  It was a good price.  Dh needs a good mattress for his back. 

It's ironic that you post this... we're going this weekend to get a new mattress set. We were waiting until the paychecks for his new job started rolling in. We been needing one forever but put it off until we could afford to get what we wanted and to get something nice.

My husband use to travel for work and stay in lots of hotels. Every time he would get a good, comfy matress, he'd pull back the sheets and look at the name. Every time it was Simmons Classic Beauty Rest. So, that's definitely what we are in the market for.

We already did some shopping around. For a queen size Simmons Classic Beauty Rest we are looking at about $700-800. And then i want to invest in a nice mattress cover to go with it and some new pillows (also with covers). So, all in all, we are looking at about $1,000. But, IMHO, it'll be money well spent. Hubby has a bad back and between him and my big pregnant self (LOL) we've been sleeping on the couches in the living room for at least 6 months now. Hubby has gone to a back specialist for his problems and xrays don't show any obvious problems. Therefore, we hope that a new mattress may be the key.

Have a blessed day,

Julie