Bed/Frame Shopping Hacks

[moda0306]

For the first time in my life I'm actually approaching bed-shopping with anything close to what could be considered "intentionalism." Combine that with a somewhat new-found respect for the importance of optimizing sleep.

I would greatly appreciate if folks here would be willing to give advice. Obviously, some of this is personal preference. But if there are any objective best-practices, brands, or hacks when it comes to finding the best bed, I'd love to hear it.

Also, of some consideration is the strategy of going with "platforms" and a mattress rather than a traditional frame plus box-spring. I'm really lost on all this. I value opinions here.

Thanks, all.

[Cortopassi]

I've gone through many mattresses and toppers. Settled on this for the base piece, and thought it would work ok by itself:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40307442/

It is a great, quiet, inexpensive mattress, very thick (no box springs) so sheets may need to be rebought. Could work for you as is.

But after a couple weeks on it, seems our 50 years old bodies still weren't too happy with it, and I topped it off with a 3 inch 4lb memory foam topper. This works for us, esp. the combination of price still <$1000 for a king.

There's no way I will ever sleep (except on vacation) without at least 3-4" of memory foam. For years, on our regular mattress I would fall asleep on my side and have my arm fall asleep and have to shift. Never happens on memory foam. I have never woken up with a sore back because of foam, but certainly when just on a regular mattress.

At one point we did try a latex topper and a full memory foam bed. The bed was too much in terms of sinking in. The latex topper ended up being too hot. Also tried an air sleep number knock off. Did not work for me at all.

One other thing that seems to have helped in keeping things cool is a wool mattress pad under the sheet, like these:

https://www.overstock.com/Bedding-Bath/ ... ubcat.html

Overall, the biggest negative of all this is the stackup ends up being more than any even extra deep sheets, and I have holders on the corners to keep the sheets in place.

I also found this site useful: http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/bed-mat ... -home.html

[Mr Vacuum]

We’ve bought a couple beds for the kids over the past couple years and I went both ways on the platform vs. box question after some head scratching. It seems there is no difference these days and it’s all about height and something to place the mattress on.

The one on an antique bed frame with retrofitted slats and box spring is fine, and the one on a cheap metal platform from amazon is fine. I would want sturdier bases for adults, though. Both are $400 range Sealy plush eurotop and feel great; too soon too tell how they will hold up, though.

[Mountaineer]

Over the years my wife and I have had several mattresses of various types. My comments:

Conventional interspring mattress and box spring when we were younger: good - degree of firmness is important, we like firm but not extra firm. Now that we are older, this type is not as easy on the back and joints as latex or memory foam.

Water bed: did not like - everytime one of us moved the sloshing affected the other. It was comfortable if you did not move. Got rid of it after a few years.

Simmons Beautyrest (individual pocketed coils): very good. Lasted about 15 years.

Sealy latex: excellent, comfortable and great isolation. When one moves the other side of the bed does not. Have had about 10 years and it is beginning to get depressions where each of us lay. Time for a new one.

Overall comments: When we were shopping for the last mattress, I wanted memory foam but my wife thought it retained body heat and was hot. We tried the Sleep Number air beds in the store but did not really care for them. We ended up with latex which for us was not hot and was comfortable for both of us. Overall, we prefer a foam mattress vs. innerspring. My advice would be go to a mattress store that will let you lay on them for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Even then, it is somewhat of a crapshoot whether you will like it. We have returned a couple during the "grace" period that were comfortable in the store but not after sleeping on them for a couple nights. Mattresses are a very personal choice, and that choice (type) changed for us over the years as our bodies aged.

Good luck!

[Mr Vacuum]

Great info on latex and memory foam here worth the price of admission. I will save this thread for next time.

I often wonder why water beds ever sold. My parents had one for 25 years before they moved their room upstairs. As a kid it was fascinating, but obviously kind of like being in a boat.

[Cortopassi]

There are waveless waterbeds nowadays that aren't supposed to slosh around. I've never tried one. I would have, but the thought of dealing with it, filling it up and then needing to empty and return it if I did not like kept me away from it.

Of course, returning a foam bed was a pain in the ass as well. No way can it be recompressed. Had to borrow a van to get it back to the store!

[Kriegsspiel]

Are you more comfortable in the firm snuggle of a wooden floor, or embedded in a cloud-like soft mattress? I sleep on a Thermarest pad on the floor. I will probably build a small platform to put it on once I move into a more permanent home, but will stick with firmer sleeping conditions.

[Maddy]

Years ago, I found a recipe on the internet for building your own Tempurpedic, and I did exactly that. It was precisely what Cortopassi described: a 5-inch-thick base layer of high-density foam (the density is important) topped with a separate 5-inch-thick piece of memory form. As I recall, the author of the post suggested using an inexpensive Ikea foam mattress for the base layer. Elsewhere on the internet, I found a bamboo "envelope" with a zipper for enclosing the two pieces. All this wasn't cheap, but it was much, much less expensive than buying a commercially-sold version of the same thing.

Everybody who has slept in this bed thinks it's wonderful. I, personally, find the memory foam too hot in the summer. The solution is probably a wool mattress pad. I've got a couple of wool army surplus blankets that I'm going to try doubling up and putting underneath the mattress pad to achieve the same result. Should work just fine.

Here's a link to a reputable on-line supplier of high-quality foam:
http://www.bergad.com/us/about-bergad/

[l82start]

i sleep on a traditional Japanese futon mattress on the ground, it is only a few inches thick, very firm, but it is the most comfortable mattress i have ever had. (i am not exactly young either) it is even better than the thicker americanized futon mattress which i used for years. i think if i had the option i would put it up on a airflow platform a few inches off the ground to get better sleeping temperature control,.
i have had a sleep number it was great for variable softness/hardness control on each side but feels like sleeping on an air mattress. the addition of a memory foam pad might remedy that, but it also has parts that break and wear out.. not a great choice in my opinion..
my wife is sleeping on something similar to what the previous couple posters have done, she bought a cheap mattress as a base and built up layers of memory foam pads to suit her comfort needs. (comfortable and cost effective)

[dualstow]

Sleepopolis

Check it out.

[bedraggled]

I have heard several people outside this forum advocate for sleeping without a pillow. The spine and neck supposedly benefit.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[Cortopassi]

I have heard several people outside this forum advocate for sleeping without a pillow. The spine and neck supposedly benefit.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Yeah. They are nuts.

And for the others who sleep on a thin pad, or practically on the floor, you are all nuts too...

Just kidding of course. My kids have very firm mattresses and I used to as well and loved them, but last time I tried, my body told me don't try again.

[WiseOne]

Great topic.

I could sleep on just about anything in my 20s including Thermarests and futons, but now firm mattresses end up triggering bursitis. So I'm also in the soft bed camp.

Memory foam is great but only if you don't tend to sleep hot. I ended up getting a Kingsdown mattress and buying a cooling mattress pad (~$100 on Wayfair or Amazon). Not active cooling, just a cooling material. It works well enough.

When I visited the Yucatan Peninsula, I discovered that the locals all sleep on hammocks rather than mattresses. They're a lot cooler. When my sleeping-hot problems were at their worst, I gave serious consideration to setting up a hammock in my bedroom. There's a whole website about people who have traded in beds for hammocks.

[Cortopassi]

First thing that came to mind

[Greg]

Any thoughts on the Purple mattress? I've been looking into it lately.

https://onpurple.com/mattress?gclid=Cjw ... oC-PLw_wcB

P.s. they have the funniest mattress video ads I've ever seen

[Kriegsspiel]

Any thoughts on the Purple mattress? I've been looking into it lately.

https://onpurple.com/mattress?gclid=Cjw ... oC-PLw_wcB

P.s. they have the funniest mattress video ads I've ever seen

LOL, those really were good.

$999 for a bed, I was LOLing all over the place!

[Greg]

Any thoughts on the Purple mattress? I've been looking into it lately.

https://onpurple.com/mattress?gclid=Cjw ... oC-PLw_wcB

P.s. they have the funniest mattress video ads I've ever seen

LOL, those really were good.

$999 for a bed, I was LOLing all over the place!

Lol'ing because $1000 is too much to spend on a bed? I've also found this site which is very interesting for un-biased mattress comparisons: http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/

[moda0306]

Any thoughts on the Purple mattress? I've been looking into it lately.

https://onpurple.com/mattress?gclid=Cjw ... oC-PLw_wcB

P.s. they have the funniest mattress video ads I've ever seen

LOL, those really were good.

$999 for a bed, I was LOLing all over the place!

Lol'ing because $1000 is too much to spend on a bed? I've also found this site which is very interesting for un-biased mattress comparisons: http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/

Thanks folks for all the input!

But I want to address this point... is $1,000 too much to spend on a bed...

I don't have any back or joint issues, and sleep mostly well, and like most folks, there are probably a myriad of lifestyle choices I could make that would have more of an impact on my sleep than having the perfect bed (how late I eat, what I eat, exercise amount and timing, lighting at night, stretching more before bed, etc).

But think about it... $1,000 is the gross cost, but let's say the "cheaper" alternative is $400, so your marginal cost is $600. Let's also assume that your useful life of that bed is 10 years. And your opportunity cost on your money is 6%.

This comes to $81.52 per year.

Or $6.79 per month.

Or 23 cents per night.

23 cent per night to optimize where you spend 1/3 of your life, and is very important for overall health.

I think one could make the argument that IF a better bed will have even a modest affect on your sleep quality, one could justify a hell of a lot more than $1,000.

[Cortopassi]

$1000 is a bargain nowadays. I have a sub $1000 mattress from Ikea. My parents and brother have $4k+ beds from Tempurpedic and Sleep Number.

[Kriegsspiel]

Any thoughts on the Purple mattress? I've been looking into it lately.

https://onpurple.com/mattress?gclid=Cjw ... oC-PLw_wcB

P.s. they have the funniest mattress video ads I've ever seen

LOL, those really were good.

$999 for a bed, I was LOLing all over the place!

Lol'ing because $1000 is too much to spend on a bed? I've also found this site which is very interesting for un-biased mattress comparisons: http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/

Yes I thought that was the joke.

[dualstow]

I still think you should give SLEEPOPOLIS a glance, Moda. It's free and you can tell the guy whether you prefer soft or firm, if you're side sleeper, etc. Very helpful.

@corto: Me, too. Hammock sleeping is great, as long as the skipper isn't whacking you in the face with that fucking hat of his.

[Maddy]

But think about it... $1,000 is the gross cost, but let's say the "cheaper" alternative is $400, so your marginal cost is $600. Let's also assume that your useful life of that bed is 10 years. And your opportunity cost on your money is 6%. This comes to $81.52 per year.

Only on the PP forum.

[moda0306]

But think about it... $1,000 is the gross cost, but let's say the "cheaper" alternative is $400, so your marginal cost is $600. Let's also assume that your useful life of that bed is 10 years. And your opportunity cost on your money is 6%. This comes to $81.52 per year.

Only on the PP forum.

It's funny, because this is literally how I make almost every financial decision now... I'm trying to work in a "space/rent" factor but it's proving difficult. Every surface or storage area should have a certain per cubic or per square foot of space rent cost, and be compared to everything else that could be more useful in that place.

It's proving difficult to implement, but even thinking in that manner is more ammo to keep me from buying or accepting more sh*t to live with. This becomes especially interesting when one of your parents loooooves handing down "family heirlooms" and regretted purchases.

You should see my analysis on the "true cost of snow tires." I'm particularly proud of that one.

[stuper1]

What's the conclusion on snow tires?

[moda0306]

What's the conclusion on snow tires?

I don't have the spreadsheet within easy grasp, but the main cost is the opportunity cost depreciation of the extra rims and extra set of simultaneously-owned tires. The tires I find are actually cheaper than the all-seasons (although they do lose their tread faster). So really the tire cost in and of itself really isn't the ultimate expense.

I think when it was all said and done it was like $20 per winter month (December thru March here), including the tires, depreciation of the rims, and opportunity cost at 7% or 8%. It's a no-brainer for me in MN, as my car is low and poor in snow with the high-rolling resistance eco tires on... oh and I don't pay for comprehensive/collision insurance, so my net-exposure to an accident that is my fault is much lower with than without the snow tires.

Another thing I hadn't factored in was its ability to let me ware down my tires further than I otherwise would, where if you're going into winter with a shaky set of all-seasons you'd usually throw them out to do the swap, where you maybe could get another 5k miles out of them if you'd switch them out until spring and ride out a summer on them. This'll be my first year pulling the trigger.