Buying a mattress- Is it possible to do cheaply?
November 23, 2014 11:06 PM   Subscribe

Our 15 year old starter mattress is in a bad way. We have very little funds to spend on a mattress. We've found some in our price range, but also found there is a whole cottage industry of used, refurbished and slightly-bed bug infested mattresses. Is it possible to find something inexpensive but not one of the above?

The old mattress has outlived itself by a number of years. Sagging, springs sticking out, very difficult to sleep in. It's time to buy a new mattress, but both my husband and I are out of work, making it a horrible time to buy a mattress. If it was possible to sleep in this mattress still, we would. But It's Time. We need sleep.

What we were hoping for is a cheap mattress to get us through a year or two, and hopefully we'd be financially stable by then - and if we weren't, well a cheap mattress would be the least of our worries. I thought it would be an easy thing to do.

We ordered a mattress from one of the chain of stores. It seemed like it would be fine, but something didn't sit right with me; so I wanted to do some digging, and discovered this company has a lot of problems, selling used mattresses as new, not honoring their warrantee or making it very difficult to do so, and in some cases, selling mattresses with bed bugs. Ew! Since we haven't taken delivery of it yet, we canceled our order.

Some more googling, and unfortunately many of these problems are not unique to this chain. I've seen mattresses for sale at home-improvement type stores for $200-$400. My initial thought was it would be great if we could get a no frills mattress like ones in that $200 range, but made slightly better. I.e. forego the pillow top in favor of better materials. Now I'm not so sure. I'm terrified we're going to unwillingly get a second hand mattress or a mattress with a warehouse full of bed bugs.

What are the options? Where should we go? We're trying to keep the price under $350. I read a few of the threads here, and it sounds like costco is a popular option, but their prices are outside our budget and we're not a member. Sam's club was also mentioned, but I don't know I trust any Walmart subsidiary to not have the same problems. And I still don't have a membership there.
posted by [insert clever name here] to Shopping (44 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
A lot of people recommend Ikea mattresses, and they have several in your price range.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:14 PM on November 23, 2014 [9 favorites]


Yes, I was also going to ask if you'd looked into Ikea mattresses.
posted by ktkt at 11:15 PM on November 23, 2014


Best answer: In a similar spot, I bought a "Signature Sleep" full mattress from Amazon for just under $200. (It's the best seller in the mattress category.) It seemed way too good to be true, and arrived rolled up in a giant duffel bag. But, after unfurling for about a day, it's been a great mattress, and better than many more expensive ones I've slept on.
posted by beezer_twelve at 11:21 PM on November 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: Alas, I live quite far away from Ikea. It's a two hour drive to the nearest one, and we just don't have a vehicle that could transport one.

I'm concerned about the Signature Sleep bed being too soft? Lots of good reviews, but all the bad reviews say that's its failing point.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 11:43 PM on November 23, 2014


How about craigslist? Sounds like you need to go from terrible to good. Here's an IKEA foam mattress for $125 someplace that might be near you if I parsed your previous questions correctly: https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/fuo/4764895295.html

At least on craigslist sellers are upfront about selling a used mattress. And you get to decide if you trust the previous use left it in good enough condition for you.

I've heard from a lot of people who think buying a mattress from craigslist is gross. But those same people say that sleeping in a hotel bed is "different" for some reason. If you've ever slept great in a hotel, you can probably sleep great on a mattress that's only been used by one person.
posted by reeddavid at 12:06 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


Could you ask a friend or family member to drive you to Ikea? If not, then maybe get the signature sleep bed or another cheap mattress and put a piece of plywood underneath to make it feel firmer?

It isn't so much that used mattresses are gross (although I think they are), but bedbugs are often difficult to spot and their eggs are pretty much impossible to see. If you are having financial difficulties, dealing with bedbugs is really not something you want to risk; it will cost you hundreds of dollars to get rid of them. And buying a used mattress is pretty risky.
posted by girl flaneur at 12:37 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Ikea would be ideal, but I think between gas costs and distance, it's not feasible. But I'm leaning towards the Signature Sleep bed - most reviews seem to conclude it's firm "enough". And I am certain it's going to be better than what we have now. Reconsidering it, I suspect it's exactly the mattress we need now: good enough.

And yeah, I don't want used for the same reason I'm freaked out about the "new" mattress problem- that there are far too many people that have had trouble with bed bugs. I don't they are even common here but it only takes one.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 12:48 AM on November 24, 2014


I've had success at mattress stores, asking for 'floor models' or last year's inventory.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:50 AM on November 24, 2014


Have you checked Ikea's webshop to see whether you can order a mattress online from them and have it delivered?
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:57 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


You can get the Signature Sleep mattress shipped! Why are you worrying?

Came in to recommend a proper futon (not crappy ones) from a futon manufacturer near you, if that is possible. Not synthetic stuffing, but cotton and wool.

From a manufacturer direct, should cost about $400. So. Much. Comfort.

I was also looking at a Signature Sleep, but after 8 years, will probs get another proper futon mattress for our platform bed frame. I'll update with our local manufacturer, so you know what you are looking for.
posted by jbenben at 1:00 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


These guys.
posted by jbenben at 1:01 AM on November 24, 2014


I was also about to recommend the floor models as the man of twists suggested. That's what I did when I was a grad student and unable to easily go to Ikea. It worked out well with a higher quality S-brand mattress for within my budget.

Re the bed bugs, I've never used one, but it looks like you can buy a cover to guard against them.
posted by comradechu at 1:05 AM on November 24, 2014


7 years ago we bought a mattress topper; searching amazon for the "firm" topper we ordered doesn't show the one. However that saved us for a couple of years.
4 years ago we ordered a highly rated Amazon 'firm' mattress [for in the range of $400-$500 for a queen.] It's like what beezer_twelve, above, refers to but thicker (quite heavy but free shipping.) The downratings on Amazon iirc referred to the slight chemical smell--we got it out of the duffel and wrestled it onto our bedframe. The rest is history. It's posturepedic-like; there's little-to-no movement when one of us gets out of bed and no 'extra warmth' in Louisiana's hot and humid summers. Best of All: we've never thought of wanting or needing to replace it.

Now the rather expensive mattress topper's in our extra bedroom. Guests like to sleep here.
Unless money is super tight I'd recommend going with a mattress (not just the topper) and STAYING with the size to match your current sheet size. Our mattress was super thick so, at first, we used top-sheets from our old sheet sets. [Sheets can be amended with crude sewing skills and flat elastic sold in fabric stores.]
posted by Twist at 1:18 AM on November 24, 2014 [3 favorites]


As two notes on the ikea mattresses, they don't come all expanded(can you really imagine ikea selling anything not packed up in a tiny box if they could avoid it?) and you don't need a huge car to transport them. Also, delivery for just that will not be super painful. Think another $50, maybe.

I slept on what seems to now be this for 3+ years and had zero complaints. It was great, and wasn't even new when i got it. I added a topper at one point but it didn't really need it.

i've said it in other posts on here, but if i ever had to start from scratch and lost everything in my house, one of my first buys would be a lower-middle range ikea mattress like that.

It's nice and firm too, since you seemed to want that.

Really though, if you're just buying something cheap and basic, i think ikea undercuts a lot of other stuff while basically being the same thing or slightly better. It's sort of the trader joes of beds.

I almost don't want to engage with the whole used debate, but it is absolutely possible to buy a mattress from, for example, the guest room of an elderly ladies house in the part of town where even capsule sized houses are >1.5mil that's probably cleaner than new. I've done it. Used doesn't automatically = gross or full of bed bugs. I think i paid $75 for my nice ikea mattress that way, and said 80~ year old lady was very upfront about having bought it for her grandson to sleep on over one summer and then it just... sitting. I believed her too, the house was cleaner than an operating room. Kinda wish i could have kept the sheets, too.
posted by emptythought at 2:04 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


Yeah, re: Ikea mattresses, they are mostly* vacuum packed and rolled. It's quite weird unpacking them, they slowly spring open (with a series of *sproinnggg* noises) and then when you cut the vacuumed-sealed wrap there's an almightly hiss as it "reinflates". Rolled, they are as long as the width of the mattress and the diameter was about 50cm (this was for a king-size).

Something to think about is that if you plan on this mattress lasting another 15 years, 4 hours in the car and some extra gas money is worth it in the end.

(*I think the exceptions are the ones with built-in memory foam layers which are sold "full size", whereas the spring-only mattresses are rolled)
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:22 AM on November 24, 2014


Have you looked into Tuft and Needle?
posted by salvia at 2:29 AM on November 24, 2014 [3 favorites]


I bought an awesome queen size memory foam mattress on Amazon (as well as a gorgeous queen sized frame with tufted headboard). It was all delivered to my door and is great. Didn't need a box spring because the bed I ordered is a platform bed.
posted by discopolo at 3:07 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


Two years ago we bought this from Walmart for our guest room in the 6" version. It's incredibly comfortable and no box spring. The 8" version is probably even more comfortable. Ours doesn't get much use since it is on a guest bed, but I'm passing it on anyway.
posted by Elsie at 3:13 AM on November 24, 2014


What about Sears?
posted by melissasaurus at 4:07 AM on November 24, 2014


I don't have personal experience with this, but I do keep seeing recommendations for Tuft and Needle mattresses so I just want to second that as something you might check out. These are also sold on amazon.com.
posted by belau at 4:31 AM on November 24, 2014


Try going to a non-chain, non-specialty mattress store. These are the places you find in the slightly sketchy outskirts of town or in student neighborhoods. I bought a mattress for $200 from one of these places in Seattle the day I moved there, thinking I'd get a real mattress once I settled in. But it's been 6 years and I still have it and it's still comfortable.
posted by lunasol at 4:32 AM on November 24, 2014


Here are two previous questions with similar parameters (and links to other similar questions).

I'm not personally a huge fan of ikea mattresses, but I have been very pleased with the memory foam mattress I bought off of Amazon which I recommended in both of those threads.
posted by litera scripta manet at 4:47 AM on November 24, 2014


Here in Ga, we have Habitat for Humanity stores, kind of like a thrift shop for people to bring old furniture and housewares to sell and raise money for HFH. Mattress stores bring their brand new, overstocks to them as well. Both to get the write off and to make room for new models. I helped outfit an 8 bedroom lake house with beds for crazy low prices a few years ago... And they delivered. I remember the king sets we bought were 550 a set..... And those beds are wonderful. See if your community has something like like. They had amazing furniture deals too!!
posted by pearlybob at 5:01 AM on November 24, 2014 [3 favorites]


We've always had luck with the mid-range mattresses from Sam's Club. I think we paid $300 for the full in my daughters room and that was about 12 years ago.
posted by dawkins_7 at 5:15 AM on November 24, 2014


Sears Outlet might be what you need. You can go there, check out each mattress and buy the one that suits you. You can arrange for delivery (or ask a friend with a truck to help)

I bought a treadmill there and had a great experience. My sister bought a stove and it was a nightmare. But mattresses don't have moving parts.

They guarantee their stuff for 12 months.

Check it out, might be exactly what you need.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:20 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


Look for sales. I once found a display sale that scored me a high end mattress for a low end price. Those are rare. What is less rare is going to the back room of furniture stores where they keep the items that were injured during delivery. I bought a fantastic mattress for my brother about a year ago like that. It had one stretched out place that didn't look the best but did not effect the mattress.
posted by myselfasme at 5:53 AM on November 24, 2014


To echo pearlybob, I'm also in Georgia, and the Value Village stores have amazingly good new traditional mattresses, from ultra cheap to just cheap. I have two queen sets in my home (guest room and daughter's room) and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. They are very nice. I think I paid about $225 for each set.
posted by FergieBelle at 5:57 AM on November 24, 2014


I have an Ikea mattress now and like it; as described above it came rolled up into a size that would easily fit in the backseat of a passenger car.

As noted by a couple of other comments, the Tuft and Needle mattresses seem to be getting recommended a lot and if I was shopping now I'd be looking closely at them. And as mentioned, used is fine when it is coming from a guest bedroom in a house where there aren't pets peeing on everything, etc, but risky otherwise.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:51 AM on November 24, 2014


We're trying to keep the price under $350.

I got a mattress for that price from a Sleepy's a few months ago. The trick seemed to be

- keep walking waaaay towards the back
- ignore the salesperson (or be nice to them and tell them you have very little money to spend)
- wait for sales, like big sales

Mine was marked down a whole ton and lacks all the fancy mattress stuff but it's really comfortable and, more importantly, it's the one I wanted. It's not memory foam and has no pillow top but it's some name brand (can't remember which) and I'm pleased with it.
posted by jessamyn at 6:56 AM on November 24, 2014


Seconding Tuft and Needle, which is really comfy, ships directly to you, and has a 30-day trial period if you don't like it for some reason.
posted by three_red_balloons at 7:02 AM on November 24, 2014


I got mine at HOBO on Hwy 100 for ~$300 (double bed). They had a variety of options; mine is pretty firm because I like sleeping on concrete. It's probably not the Best Mattress Ever but I've found their stuff to be decent quality.
posted by desjardins at 7:21 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


... however, HOBO is not going to deliver so I hope you have a truck.
posted by desjardins at 7:22 AM on November 24, 2014


Response by poster: I had no idea the IKEA mattress would be rolled up, and was envisioning driving from Chicago to Milwaukee with a mattress strapped to the roof of my car. Shows how long since I've had to buy a new mattress. Shipping is $100, but it is much more feasible to drive down there now that I know I don't have to make arrangements for a large truck and the gas it would cost to use. Plus, my husband has never been to an Ikea, so it may be well worth the journey for that. I'm probably going to wait for Black Friday sales in case something amazing pops, but otherwise this sounds great. Thank you once again for being awesome, metafilter!
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:35 AM on November 24, 2014 [5 favorites]


You can double check the Ikea mattress will be rolled by looking in the Product Information tab on the website, it will say "Easy to bring home since the mattress is roll packed." under Key Features. e.g.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:53 AM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]


the man of twists and turns: I've had success at mattress stores, asking for 'floor models' or last year's inventory.

My brother is fond of this wisdom - floor models are gently worn by people trying them out in the store, but no one actually sleeps on them, and there's little change of bedbugs or things of that sort (a bed store wouldn't want their demo beds to get people infested with something, or their reputation would be terrible, especially in this day of instant online reviews).

As for Black Friday sales, you can start looking for online coupons now, because sharing coupons (even print-only or in-store only coupons) is a big thing online. Hurray for the internet!

Also, you can check to see if those stores do price checks for a week or a month out. In other words, if you buy a mattress today but there's a sale in 5 days, they'll give you a refund on the difference. I know this is the case for some office supply/computer stores, but it may be more common than that.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:11 AM on November 24, 2014


What jbeben said about (good) futons: "Came in to recommend a proper futon (not crappy ones) from a futon manufacturer near you, if that is possible. Not synthetic stuffing, but cotton and wool. ".

We bought a hand-made, queen-size five-inch-thick cotton futon last year, and we love it. I think we paid about $200 for it. We put it right on the floor, and it's super comfy, (we have an upstairs bedroom and live in a dry climate, so the sleeping-on-the-floor comfort factor may vary for you).

One of the selling points of the futon we bought was that it included both long cotton fibers and short, tufted fibers. This combo method supposedly gives it structure and softness.

If you go for a futon, you want a Japanese-style one, not an American one a la Wal-Mart.
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 10:54 AM on November 24, 2014


Best answer: I've had really good luck with Overstock.com. They have a variety of things in your price range. Definitely read the reviews!

For really, really cheap, I recently ordered a mattress from Amazon for the guest room, and it's surprisingly nice! With that many stellar reviews, I was willing to chance it, and I'm glad I did.
posted by houseofdanie at 12:34 PM on November 24, 2014


My ex and I had a really good futon mattress from Verlo. IIRC, they delivered it.
posted by desjardins at 12:52 PM on November 24, 2014


Are Sleepy's and 800 Mattress (and leave off the last S for savings) still a thing? I got my last one through them when I moved in 2008 and it has been fine through three moves. It's a pillow top and cost me < $700 for the box spring, mattress and frame, all in with delivery. While slightly above your price point they had/have a financing deal with no interest if you paid it off in 24 months.
posted by TravellingCari at 12:53 PM on November 24, 2014


look on linenspa.com you could get a new memory foam mattress there for $400.
posted by zdravo at 1:08 PM on November 24, 2014


My dad gave us a $400 king-size mattress and frame from Sam's Club two years ago. I love it. It came rolled up and vacuum-sealed in a box, so I was skeptical, but it is really comfy.
posted by tacodave at 4:44 PM on November 24, 2014


Tuft and Needle is awesome- free shipping and if you don't like it after 30 days you can donate it to charity and they will give you your money back. I have also slept comfortably on a memory foam mattress my sister bought from Amazon.
posted by loveyhowell at 7:15 PM on November 24, 2014


I have the 13 inch Signature Sleep, and I have to say, I LOVE my crazy duffle bag mattress! Mine has springs but has memory foam in the pillowtop--it's been great, firm but still comfortable. I don't like all-memory-foam mattresses because I get too hot and sweaty, but this is perfect. Plus, free shipping.

I had to wrestle the duffle into my bedroom, but then I just cut it away carefully with scissors--not like it was ever going to go back in the bag anyway--and let it fluff itself up. The instructions said to leave it for 24 hours, but I opened it up in the morning and slept on it that same night. The plastic bag smell dissipates quickly if you leave a window open and don't close the bedroom door for a bit.

this is the model I bought
posted by assenav at 9:12 PM on November 24, 2014


Response by poster: So we ended up ordering a Signature Sleep 8" spring coil mattress last week and it arrived Monday. We wanted to go to Ikea, but couldn't seem to find a day to do it, and thus gave up, ordering the mattress. Holy cow, it was fun watching it expand. It went from existing in two dimensions to "WHOOSH!" 3 dimensional object.

It is a fine bed. Better than the old mattress by a long shot. Honestly, I wouldn't know it came flattened and rolled up had I not seen it pop into existence.

To alieve my bed bug concern, we also purchased an encasement. I didn't see any reason why their could possibly be bedbugs BUT two reviewers on Amazon said their beds came with bed bugs. Considering how they're packed, I find it unlikely. But for an extra $40 bucks, it's encased, which has the side benefit of keeping the mattress free of allergens and dirt and can be swapped out down the road.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 4:04 PM on December 24, 2014 [2 favorites]


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