Need advice

I have read through the whole tutorial but still feel fairly helpless and confused. I’ve been to some local stores and tried a number of mattresses, but in my area (Durham, NC), there really aren’t a lot of places that I can try the kinds of mattresses that get recommended on this site. It’s been a year or more since I first stumbled on this site, but we just aren’t getting any closer to getting a mattress, and so I finally gave up and decided to write for advice.

Basically, we are sleeping on a horrible mattress right now; it’s 17 years old and was cheap to begin with, and at this point it has major sagging. A year or so ago I got a foam topper, which helps (but only some) with the pressure issues that we are having, and we know we have to buy something as soon as possible. However, we just don’t want to spend a lot of money.

So is there a really inexpensive mattress I can get, perhaps online, that is likely to be at least an improvement on what we have?

I can say that my husband and I are both pretty light weight, and both side sleepers. I tend to sleep hot. When we try mattresses in the store, the softest foam top ones seem to feel best.

Hi LucyP,

Which step of the tutorial are you “stuck” on?

I’m also not quite clear on what you mean because I don’t recommend any specific mattresses or materials. I’m happy to help with “how” to choose or answer any specific questions you may have about the quality of the materials in a mattress you are looking at or act as a “fact check” for some of the information you will come across in your research but there are too many unknowns,variables, and personal preferences involved in choosing a mattress for me (or anyone) to be able to recommend a specific mattress for someone else with any certainty based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). Only you can feel what you feel on a mattress and you would also know more about your own preferences and the types of mattresses or materials you tend to prefer than anyone else.

Having said that … I’m not sure if you’ve seen this already but post #6 here includes a list of the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Raleigh/Durham area (subject to the guidelines here) and there are some good quality options available to you in the area to either test or purchase different types of mattresses.

I don’t know the types of mattresses or materials you prefer or what you would consider to be inexpensive but the tutorial post includes several links to lists of the better online choices I’m aware of (in the optional online step). The end of post #4 here and posts #3 and #4 here also include some lower budget options that may also be worth considering.

Hopefully this will help get you “unstuck” but if you have any other questions I’m always happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

Phoenix