How to Buy a Mattress

The mattress you sleep on can mean the difference between having a productive, energy filled day and struggling to make it through your day as a result of all of the aches and pains in your body. Although you can’t control the type of mattress you sleep on when you stay at a hotel, you have full control over the mattress you purchase for your home. By learning how to properly pick out the right mattress, you can end your sleepless nights and begin waking up every morning with a feeling of being rejuvenated.

When Should You Buy a New Mattress?

According to most experts within the mattress industry, the average person should replace their mattress at least every ten years (if not more frequently). For people over the age of forty, it is generally recommended to replace their current mattress about twice as frequently (every five to six years).

In addition to the time frames above, it may also be time to buy a new mattress if you have noticed a decrease in the quality of your sleep. Whether you are having trouble falling asleep because your mattress feels uncomfortable, or wake up in the morning after a full night of sleep still feeling tired and sore, it’s time to get a new mattress if your current one is no longer allowing you to get a proper amount of rest.

Do Your Decision Making in Person

While the Internet is great for buying a lot products, a mattress is not one of them. Unless you intend to purchase a mattress online that you have already thoroughly tested out in person, don’t make the mistake of blindly purchasing online. You can still use the Internet to compare prices and get reviews from other mattress owners, but when it comes to actually making purchasing decisions, you need to do that at a store in person.

When you are at a store shopping for a mattress, it may be tempting to simply walk around and feel the mattresses. While this is fine for getting an initial impression of a mattress, when you start seriously considering a mattress, you need to test it out thoroughly. To really experience what a mattress is like, you should lay on it for fifteen minutes. During this time, you should be in the same position as you are when you’re asleep.

Check Into the Small Print Before You Buy

Once you have found a mattress that feels good after you thoroughly test it, you are almost ready to make a purchase. However, before you actually buy the mattress, there are a few more details you need to look into. Even though you have performed about as much personal testing as possible, there is still a chance that your mattress won’t feel the same once you get it in your home. Therefore, make sure that the store you are purchasing the mattress from will give you at least thirty days to return the mattress. Additionally, you should make sure that the mattress has an extended warranty from the manufacturer.

Before you pull out your credit card, it may be worth your time to compare prices at multiple stores. In addition to checking out prices in person, this is the time when the Internet can actually play a beneficial role in the mattress buying process.

If you can get a reasonable window of time to return the mattress, a manufacturer warranty and the price seems fair, it’s time to buy your mattress and take it home. One word of advice: as funny as it sounds, in the event that you need to use the warranty for your mattress in the future (for example, if it starts sagging more than one and a half inches), the mattress company can void your warranty if you take the tag off of the mattress, so make sure that you actually do leave it on!