Mattress Shopping on a Serious Budget

Hi all, I’m a recent college graduate student about to enter a graduate program on the West Coast. I currently live in western Maryland and therefore am unable to bring any large items with me, including my aging and sagging spring mattress or its accompanying mattress topper. I’m therefore in the market for a new mattress, preferably one that could be delivered before I arrive on June 30th in California.

My conundrum is that while I am being paid for being in graduate school, and my tuition is being waived, money will be very tight for the first few months while I’m getting established. That accompanied with all of the initial moving expenses involved (buying a bike, security deposits and extra rent, etc.), I’m very limited in my budget for furniture. Every other little thing I can probably do without for a while (bookshelves, desk, even bedframe) but I really do need a mattress and even on my limited budget I’d like to get something that is nice and will last the 5-6 years I’ll be in California. With all that backstory I’d like to ask the good people of the Mattress Underground (especially Phoenix) to help me make some decisions.

A little profile of me

  • height: 5’9"
  • 250 lbs (diet is lowering this slowly and steadily, target weight is 190)
  • side sleeper, often with the bottom arm behind me and a little rolled over onto my stomach
  • I have a neck injury that bothers me sometimes, I often rearrange a lot during the night to properly support it
  • I tend to enjoy some give in my mattress, but hate feeling sunk in to the point where mobility is restricted, it’s also a huge pet peeve for me when my mattress topper migrates off the bed and it feels like I’m sliding off myself, thinking I probably need something of medium firmness
  • looking for a queen memory or latex foam bed, a bit confused by the prospect of poly foam

Before I built my budget, I had decided on the medium firm #bestmattressever from Brooklyn Bedding and felt very comfortable with my decision with all four months to try it. Since then, I’ve been trying to consider other options that cost less. My target budget was $450, and my most likely options seem to be DreamFoam Bedding, specifically their 11-inch memory foam mattress and their 12-in-1 Customizable Mattress. My worry with both of these is that they’ll be sagging in three months and they just won’t be as comfortable as I wanted, with a significantly shorter trial period I’m very nervous. My question to any readers who’ve gotten this far is if I should bite the bullet and just spend the extra money (this would probably end up carried over on the new 0% APR for 15 months credit card I’m getting for the move and then freezing at the end of October) or if these are reasonable options for someone like me and I won’t end up buying a new mattress within a year. Other options would be very welcome as well. Thank you.

Hi NintenTim,

[quote]A little profile of me

height: 5'9"
250 lbs (diet is lowering this slowly and steadily, target weight is 190)
side sleeper, often with the bottom arm behind me and a little rolled over onto my stomach
I have a neck injury that bothers me sometimes, I often rearrange a lot during the night to properly support it
I tend to enjoy some give in my mattress, but hate feeling sunk in to the point where mobility is restricted, it's also a huge pet peeve for me when my mattress topper migrates off the bed and it feels like I'm sliding off myself, thinking I probably need something of medium firmness
looking for a queen memory or latex foam bed, a bit confused by the prospect of poly foam[/quote]

You are also the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own personal testing or sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

While the type of materials or the type of mattress you choose is a preference choice (not a “better/worse” choice) … the quality and durability of the materials in a mattress is an important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase because most materials have lower quality and less durable versions and higher quality and more durable versions.

Since you are also in a higher weight range (more than the low 200’s or so) you will need to focus on higher quality and more durable materials more than those that are in lighter weight ranges and I would make sure that any mattress you choose meets the quality/durability guidelines in post #4 here for your weight range regardless of the type of materials inside it.

These are the types of questions that only you can answer because each person has different criteria that are important to them that may be very different from someone else.

The best place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choices … and more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for (or that doesn’t feel as close to another mattress as you hoped it would) that are involved in each of them and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability, durability, and value.

There is more about some of the “simplified choice” mattresses in the first two posts of this topic including some comments about the relative durability of each of them in this topic.

If you are limited to lower budget ranges yet then some of the better lower budget online options I’m aware of are also listed in post #4 here.

I would be very cautious about using lower quality/density materials than would be suitable for your weight range regardless of the cost because you can end up losing the comfort and support which was the reason you purchased it much too quickly relative to the price you paid and for a mattress to last 5-6 years I would use the same criteria that I would use for a mattress that would have a reasonable expectation of lasting 7 - 10 years.

Phoenix

Thank you Phoenix, I should mention that I have gone through the tutorial and have been using many posts on this site to guide my choices. In truth I am leaning towards the Brooklyn Bedding #BestMattressEver, but need to do some hard thinking on the financial aspects of such a decision. It was very helpful to go back through what is important details and recognize exactly what I found important.

If it doesn’t seem feasible I might go with the Dreamfoam 12-1, which is what was recommended to me by the Dreamfoam rep in an online chat.

Hi NintenTim,

Both the Dreamfoam 12 in 1 customizable ane the BB BestMattressEver use materials that would be suitable for your weight range. The 12 in 1 uses 3 x 3" layers of 2 lb polyfoam and the BestMattressEver uses blended Talalay latex on top of Synthetic continuous pour Dunlop latex latex on top of a 2 lb polyfoam base layer and both of them have covers quilted with a thin layer of polyfoam so there are no lower quality materials or weak links in either one of them and both of them would make a suitable choice.

If you choose the 12 in 1 then it may be worth talking to them about whether they think it would be worthwhile replacing the soft layer with a medium layer because of your current weight.

Both of them have good options after a purchase. With the 12 in 1 you can rearrange the layers and/or use the firmer or softer side of the cover to change the comfort or support of the mattress and if you order from the Dreamfoam site instead of Amazon there is also an additional 10% discount along with the pillow bonus for being a member of this site and they also have a 45 day trial that allows you to return the mattress for a $99 charge which would be the maximum risk if none of the layer combinations works well for you.

With the BestMattressEver you would receive a 5% discount for being a member here and there is also a free return policy if the firmness you choose isn’t a suitable match for you (and I wouldn’t suggest choosing anything softer than the medium).

When you are down to finalists that are all choices between “good and good” (which you are) and none of them have any weak links or lower quality materials in their design (which they don’t) and if there are no clear winners between them then you are in the fortunate position that either of them would likely be a suitable choice and post #2 here can help you make a final choice based on your local testing or mattresses you have slept well on, your more detailed conversations with each of them, your confidence about the suitability of each one, their prices, the options you have after a purchase to change the firmness or exchange or return the mattress, any additional extras that are part of each purchase, and on “informed best judgement” based on all the other objective, subjective, and intangible parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

Phoenix