Once Upon A Mattress

We've had our mattress for 10 or 12 years. My side had just become comfortable like a worn pair of blue jeans. Soft. The just right feel fit. Himself was complaining his side of the mattress was lumpy and the springs were giving out. Time to get a new one. So we would look for a new mattress as an early silver anniversary gift.

We wanted a Sealy so I went online to research stores and prices. It was like comparing apples and oranges. No two stores had the same model mattress. So you wouldn't know if Meadow Brook Ultra was comparable to Song Bird Plush. When I whined to Himself, he said this was the ultimate shell game. Each store could say we have the lowest price on Meadow Brook Ultra because you would never find another store that carried that exact same model.

And the prices! I'm glad we only have a full size mattress because the cost of the larger sizes approached the price I paid for my first Ford Mustang! We're going through a couple of stores and wondering which was more important. A good night's sleep on a supportive mattress for us or a college education for our girls.

I found a model on line that was more than we really wanted to pay (shouldn't a top of the line mattress set run around $300 or less?), but was within our budget.

Then there was factoring in the cost of the box spring? WT? Shouldn't the box spring come with the mattress? Nope, extra. Then there were charges for delivery or you could have the mattress shipped to the store for a fee and you could have the pleasure of picking the mattress up yourself. They would gladly get rid of the old mattress for a fee. One company would remove the mattress to your curb! Helpful. Not!

Now when it comes to size, Himself is is like the Papa Bear and I'm the Mama Bear. He wants a firm mattress, and I want soft. We thought a pillow top would be a good compromise. He could get the firm mattress, and the pillow top wouldn't make me feel as if I were sleeping on the dining room table.

One store had the Sleep to Live mattress which was actually pretty cool. The salesman had us individually lie on a computerized bed and the computer would analyze body size, weight and determine your comfort level. The levels were color coded Tan for extra soft, Green for soft, Blue for firm, and Red for extra firm. Then based on your color the company would make a mattress with one side with your level and the other with your partner's level. We were a red-green combo. This would have been perfect except the price was over three times our mortgage.

We found a furniture store that carried Sealy. They even had a few "on sale" (the mark ups on mattresses are incredible) that wouldn't cost two arms and two legs and were about the same price as the one I found online. We tried a couple of more expensive pillow top models and found they weren't supportive enough for Himself though they were quite comfy for me. We ended up with a mattress that had a diamond rating for comfort. 4 diamonds in our price range was perfect for Himself, but as he was getting up, he said I would hate it. And I did. He tried the 3 diamond and said, I would like it and it was comfortable enough for him. The salesman offered us a choice of free delivery or a free bedstand. That question was a no brainer and free removal of the old bedding. Sold. The mattress will be delivered on Tuesday. Which will give me time to do a quick tidy of the room.

Have you recently made a large purchase and had sticker shock?