What would you do?

[PenelopeJune]

We need a new mattress, badly. It is probably older than us, and it has springs poking up all over the place. I wake up every single morning with my back, neck, and hips KILLING me, and I always have a headache in the morning. Every single day. I never feel rested after a night of sleep.

The thing is, we have no money. Like, none. We have bills that are late, although my husband has a second job now and we may be able to get caught up on them soon. I would love to be able to just run out and put a new mattress on a credit card, but we have about $2000 in CC debt and I SWORE we wouldn't add to it. But I'm just so tired, literally tired, of being in pain every morning. I'm 25 years old! I shouldn't feel like this when I get out of bed.

Should we get a new mattress now on the credit card? Or should I try to tough it out a little longer (sigh. Maybe 6 months?) until we can pay cash? I've suffered for four years and two pregnancies on this piece of crap. I don't know how much longer I can take it.

[llamalluv]

If it were me, I would wait until I was caught up on everything, and had a teeny baby e-fund of $500 before saving up for a new mattress. Then, work on chipping away the credit card debt.

I have found that some places you can get a queen for $400-450, mattress and boxsprings. You might also consider buying something used, but newer than what you currently have, just to tide you over until you can get your "dream" mattress (pun intended.)

I don't know what your income is, but if the only debt you have is $2,000, then you are in better shape than my DH & I were a year ago. (We had over $60,000 in debt, and NONE of that was a house!

[earth_mommy]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

We need a new mattress, badly. It is probably older than us, and it has springs poking up all over the place. I wake up every single morning with my back, neck, and hips KILLING me, and I always have a headache in the morning. Every single day. I never feel rested after a night of sleep.

The thing is, we have no money. Like, none. We have bills that are late, although my husband has a second job now and we may be able to get caught up on them soon. I would love to be able to just run out and put a new mattress on a credit card, but we have about $2000 in CC debt and I SWORE we wouldn't add to it. But I'm just so tired, literally tired, of being in pain every morning. I'm 25 years old! I shouldn't feel like this when I get out of bed.

Should we get a new mattress now on the credit card? Or should I try to tough it out a little longer (sigh. Maybe 6 months?) until we can pay cash? I've suffered for four years and two pregnancies on this piece of crap. I don't know how much longer I can take it.

For a short term solution, until you can afford a new mattress, see if anyone has one to give on www.freecycle.com in your area.

[Alare]

I'd try to tough it out until I had enough money to pay cash . . . but I wouldn't sleep on a mattress that caused so much pain. That has to be killing your spine. An air mattress would have to be better than that . . . .

Or, if you wanted to be really hard-core you could put blankets down on the floor and sleep without a mattress at all. That's what I did during college until I saved enough money for a bed. Maybe just try sleeping on the floor for a few nights and see if it hurts any worse than sleeping on the bad mattress?

[mommy2naomi]

I would probably get a 0% credit card and buy a reasonable mattress on it. Then pay it off before the introductory offer is up so no interest is paid.

[dolcedaze]

I think there are certain essential big purchases where some debt is okay- a reasonable home, a safe car, basic appliances, and the most basic of furniture (like a mattress) fall into that category for me.

We bought our mattress straight out of college with nothing in the bank, but did as another poster suggested and financed it through the store so we paid nothing in interest. It's essential to pay it off on time, but as long as you're disciplined, I think it's a good option. We did the same for our washer and dryer.

We still, on the other hand, haven't bought a frame to put the mattress on, or replaced our one ugly old dresser with a decent bedroom set. Those are things that don't fall into the "essentials" category, so I wouldn't consider financing them.

[Blooming]

If your body is in that much pain because of your mattress, I would buy the mattress. We need to take care of our bodies once they stop working it's not going to matter how much money is in the bank.

Take care of yourself then save away. (I say this because of all the pain you are suffering, I too suffer from daily pain unfortunatly it's not from my mattress) If I could pay $500 to make it go away, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[PenelopeJune]

Thank you everyone, for your opinions. I agree with everyone. Ha! Which isn't easy since most of you didn't agree.

I currently have several blankets underneath me to try to soften it up, but I can STILL feel the springs poking through. How bad is that? We have a king sized bed frame (nothing special, but it was free, along with the mattress) so I think it will cost a bit more to get a mattress for it. I might try to sleep on the floor or something and see how that works. Maybe we can at least catch up on current bills before we do the mattress thing?

Is it hard to get the 0% deals through stores? Because we used to have PERFECT credit, but I'm afraid it may have taken a ding in the past few months.

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by earth_mommy

For a short term solution, until you can afford a new mattress, see if anyone has one to give on www.freecycle.com in your area.

With the resurgence of bedbugs, I would hesitate to get a used mattress. I had a friend who got bedbugs and it was a real mess to deal with.

OP, I am in a similiar situation, my mattress sucks, I bought it new 6 years ago but it wasn't the best and now I wake up sore, so I feel your pain. Honestly if I only had 2K in debt, I might be inclined to just buy one now and pay off ASAP. I spend the hour or two every morning in pain, not fun at all.

[lalaland42]

Can you buy an air mattress? I slept on one for a month while my furniture was in transit and it wasn't that bad. I don't think cosleeping is safe on one but I put DD next to us since the air mattress is the same height as a crib mattress.

[PenelopeJune]

Yeah, I don't want another used mattress. This one was used, but it came from family so it didn't seem so bad. I don't think, after all the reading I've done on mattresses, that I want to have someone else's mattress.

I also don't want to spend money on an air mattress and then turn around and spend way more on a real one. We used to have an air mattress but it didn't get used much and it got a hole in it somehow.

And the 2K is just credit card debt. We also owe about 5K on a car, and 90K on our house.

[Dar]

Would getting a mattress topper be a good short-term solution? Like a memory foam one? Overstock.com has them, and there are always coupon codes for them around. Or even just some regular foam pieces for your bed...

I actually got a memory foam mattress from overstock for about $300 (full) and it's been great... there was a week or so when my back hurt as all the kinks sort of got worked out, and after that I've slept perfectly.

dar

[p1gg1e]

I 2nd the memory foam. You can get a queen topper at Big lots ( if you have one near) for $50...smaller sizes are less...you could get to and sleep like your on a cloud

[mommy2naomi]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

Is it hard to get the 0% deals through stores? Because we used to have PERFECT credit, but I'm afraid it may have taken a ding in the past few months.

It doesn't have to be through a store. You can find most credit card companies offer 0% intro offers. Just make sure you pay before the end of the term and don't put anything else on the card. This will ensure that you will pay it off on time better.

[Kyamo]

How about going to goodwill and finding more blankets/comforters to put on top of it?

[karne]

If you can get the mattress I would do it. I am pretty darn frugal, but we also need a new mattress, and your post has made me start to think about what to do about it. Sleep is an essential part of our health, so my thought is that i will go ahead and make the best purchase I can. It's funny-what was comfortable to me 5-6 years ago just isn't comfortable today. i don't think it's necessarily a totally worn out mattress. Rather, I think it's me, and getting older. My needs have changed and my body has changed. Oh yeah, I also have 2 kids and a dog that often share the bed with DH and I. i guess a lot has changed!

[KayleeZoo]

We were in the same situation 2 years ago and bought a memory foam topper from Overstock.com

It was a great solution- only now is the topper getting indentations where we sleep. Life got added to our older mattress for relatively little money.

But if your only option is to buy a mattress on credit, I would do it. Getting a good nights sleep is important.

[happyhats]

If I was in your position, I'd do a lot of research about the best deal on mattresses in your area. I know you said that you aren't interested in a used mattress, but I have one and I haven't had any problems. We disinfected the heck out of it, and then put a rubber sheet over it before the fitted.

I'd think even a futon and some extra blankets would be a better situation than this. If you can get a decent futon it can always be used somewhere else or sold when you have more money.

[amyamanda]

FWIW, we have gotten more than one really good mattress off Freecycle.

Also, is your mattress already on the floor? If not, that will firm it up. Put the mattress directly on the floor (without the box spring). Or, if you have some spare stiff plywood lying around, you could put that between the mattress and box spring for a similar effect. It has helped our backs to do this when we had saggy mattresses.

[jeca]

Originally Posted by lalaland42

Can you buy an air mattress? I slept on one for a month while my furniture was in transit and it wasn't that bad. I don't think cosleeping is safe on one but I put DD next to us since the air mattress is the same height as a crib mattress.

: try putting an air mattress on top of your boxspring instead for a few months until you can save up the money for a good mattress.