This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertising policy page for more information. Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.In certain places around the U.S., it’s illegal to live in your car. Those who do face fines as well as jail time. But Reddit user BlueMcCrew has had no issues since he started living in his tiny Honda Fit on the streets of New York City — where the practice is legal — in November 2013. In a recent post on /r/Frugal, the 25-year-old designer described how he’s been living in his car to avoid outrageous rent costs and save enough money to pay back his student loans. Now, he saves $600 every month out of his $3,500 paycheck (after taxes), and is honest with his coworkers and parents about his living situation.
So far, BlueMcCrew says living in his small Honda Fit — outfitted with a memory foam mattress — has been working extremely well. He answered fellow Reddit users’ questions about his lifestyle. We’ve compiled some here, edited here for clarity and grammar. How do you stay clean? “I shower at the gym, it use be Planet Fitness when I was super frugal, but I have just upgraded and it has been a world of difference. So I now have towel service and a locker where I can store some clothes — the rest are in plastic bins in my car, although I’m going to upgrade to a custom dresser that I plan to build soon.” What is your typical day-to-day routine like? “Wake up, go to work, sign in, go to the bathroom and brush my teeth, or wake up, go to the gym, then go get breakfast, and then work.” What’s your car’s set up? “I had my windows tinted to the max that I could, which was something like 35%. And then after that I put Walmart cling on tints on in the back, where I sleep.
“If I arrange the seats the right way I fit perfectly. I do find myself a little cramped, but it sure beats rent.” What are the top five things you rely on? “Top 5 are memory foam bed, adequate blankets, extra cell phone batteries, 6-foot cable to charge phone in the back seat, window visor.” Do you ever feel unsafe? “I never feel 100% safe, so I’m always kind of on edge, but I sleep pretty soundly and I’m pretty sure I could handle any situation that could arise. “I don’t really miss not having a room, but I let my buddy borrow my car for a week so I crashed at his place, and it was nice to have a home. It just gives you a sense of security.” What do you do for internet? “I have data on my phone and spare batteries that can last me through the night.” What have you found you can live without?Every item I own now has a lot of value to it. It has helped me in my path of becoming a minimalist and made me really appreciate ‘space.’”
“I have 6 t-shirts, 2 long sleeve shirts, 5 pants, 7 pairs of socks and underwear. Have you had any trouble with cops or parking? “The car is super discreet I have only ran into slight problems 3 times so far. Luckily none dealing with moving my car in the middle of the night, but when the day comes, I’m going to [be respectful]. Being polite, and clean makes all the difference. “I definitely have freaked out a couple of cops when they were writing me a ticket in the mornings I have overslept.” How do you “get lucky”? “If I get lucky I can normally get a hotel room, which is still cheaper than what rent would be for a week and makes you look pretty ballin’.” How long do you plan to live in your car? “I think so far the winter is going to be easier, as you can always get an extra blanket for warmth, but there isn’t much I can do to cool down. and there are no bugs in the winter. I don’t know how long, as long as I can or if I find the perfect spot.
My current plan is to stay in NYC for 3 years so maybe that long. “I’m kind of addicted to having two paychecks a month, and seeing my loans go down. So maybe until I move out of the city, or find the perfect situation, aka awesome roommates, cheap rent, close to work, and an amazing roof to chill on.” Read the full Reddit thread here. “It was delivered right when they said it would be, and has given me some great nights of sleep so far!” “After reading these reviews, I went out of my way to Manyunk due to the reviews mentioning a salesman by the name of Spencer.” “My husband and I had the best experience working with Canute at Sleepys in Manayunk.” Yelp users haven’t asked any questions yet about Mattress Firm Manayunk. Thank you for Choosing SlumberlandDear Customer,With your new Slumberland mattress, you have made wise decision and a sound investment. A new bed is like a pair of new shoes, there is a “setting-in” period while you get used to each other.
At first it may feel very firm compared to your old bed. Your body may take several days to adjust to the sleeping posture. This is normal as Slumberland premium quality mattress upholstery is working to support your body in the most comfortable, healthy and anatomical way. You will get a deeper and sounder sleep. Needless to say, Slumberland’s reputation for comfort and durability will keep you satisfied year after year. In addition to the 15-year warranty that comes with your Slumberland bed, we also provide useful tips to keep your Slumberland bed in excellent condition for your comfort. Have a good night’s sleep on Slumberland.15-year Warranty Register your warranty card in the form below READ WHAT CUSTOMERS HAVE SAID FREE SHIPPING on all Nature's Sleep Memory Foam Mattresses, Toppers & PillowsFor many of us, it’s about 40 prone, self-conscious seconds, clothes on, in a showroom, staring into a fluorescent light, followed by an “I’ll take it” that’s more about relief than approval.
But wait, there’s not a lot of relief, because the markup on mattresses is mysterious enough that it’s impossible to know if you’ve been taken or not. And your 40-second test didn’t tell you much anything about whether this is a good location for you to sleep, fuck, and scan Twitter for the next two decades. That’s why a new approach to selling mattresses is so novel, and so welcome. Casper is one of these new-age businesses. Based in New York City, it doesn’t have a showroom. It ships the mattress to you, in a compact box. That’s right: Your mattress comes to your house in a box via UPS! You cut along the dotted line and—voila!—like a pool toy or a Stephen A. Smith diatribe, the mattress inflates. You position it on the bed, and then comes the really relaxing part: You have 100 days to decide if it’s the mattress for you. This approach marks Casper—and a similar rival, Leesa—as part of the new wave of consumer goods sellers with a decidedly consumer-first focus.
Think Warby Parker and Netflix. The queen-sized example Casper sent to my home goes for $850, with a $50 discount coupon floating on the Web, which is very competitive for a good mattress. In fact, if it lasts as long as my previous mattress (20 years), it'll be a stinking bargain. (Casper does offer a 10-year warranty on top of the 100-day evaluation period, and claims that to sell the same product in stores it would need to charge three times more. Some of the latex mattress makers offer a 25-year warranty.) So the big question: Is this mattress any good? I put it through its paces for 30 wintry nights, then spoke with the Men’s Health sleep expert, Dr. C. William Winter, about what I learned and what you should be thinking about when you pick a mattress. (Check out the Best Sleep Positions to find out what the way you sleep says about you.) It wasn’t that long ago that nearly all mattresses were built around coiled springs. There were outliers, like the Temper-Pedic (memory foam) and Sleep Numbers (air bladder) brands that you likely heard marketed on the radio, but it was a world dominated by Serta, Sealy, and Simmons.
That’s changed to a degree in recent years, with non-spring-based mattresses increasing their market share. There are air-bladder-based mattresses, like those made by Sleep Number. They promise endless adjustability. You can change the amount of air in the bladder on a daily—heck, hourly—basis. But most people don’t want endless change; they want to set it and forget it, for a long period of time. On the negative side, the mechanical nature of the air bladder introduces the ability for your mattress to “break." A latex mattress is another option. Its selling points: personalization, durability, and eco-friendliness. "The cool thing [about latex mattresses] is that they are completely customizable,” says Winter, who sleeps on one, from Savvy Rest. “You could have a mattress split down the middle, where your side is different than your partner’s side. And the absence of springs means one less thing that can wear out. "Theoretically, the mattress never needs to be replaced.
If part of it wore out or needed to be replaced, you could simply open the liner and replace the faulty layer with a new piece, which isn’t terribly expensive,” says Winter. He adds: “If your needs change or your preferences change—or your partner changes—you can unzip the mattress and pull her layers out, and throw them out, and get new layers for your new girlfriend." Memory foam mattresses—like Tempur-Pedic—are celebrated for their body-enveloping support. People with back pain often sing their praises. On the other hand, that enveloping can make them uncomfortable on hot nights and can make moving around on the mattress difficult. And sometimes it’s very important that we be able to move around on our mattresses. “It’s like screwing on a marshmallow,” Dr. Winter writes in an email about foam mattresses in general, adding, "I unfortunately have to disagree with the band Spinal Tap's conclusion, 'The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin’.’
The Casper is a bit of a hybrid, with a latex layer on top and the memory foam underneath. You get the benefits of both, Casper claims. What you lose, though, by purchasing from a startup with a lean business model and an eye on costs, is the ability to customize it. Large, deep, cushy mattresses have taken the market by storm in recent years, with some exceeding 14 inches in depth. Dr. Winter said that while the plush tops no doubt feel very comfortable, a lot of factors go into what’s right for you. The Casper is just 10 inches thick, with a 1 1/2-inch synthetic latex layer atop a 1 1/2 inch layer, this one of memory foam, with 7 inches of foam as a base. The Leesa has a similar mattress, which was just redesigned (and a similar 100-day vetting period). Even if you go to the independent mattress seller’s store and put in the Consumer Reports' recommended 10 minutes of lying-around time, you’re not going to know much till you sleep a night on the darn thing. When you do, you might find the mattress is too firm and hurts your back, or what was pleasingly plush in the showroom is claustrophobically enveloping or sweat pore-dilatingly hot in the wee hours.
In fact, the only thing that Dr. Winter recommends in purchasing a new mattress is that you have a guaranteed window to return or replace it. “I’d avoid a mattress deal or a mattress dealership that says you buy, you own it,” Winter says. “You can’t just sit there, lie flat on your back in your street clothes, and say this is the mattress for me for the next X number of years. “I’d encourage guys to work out a deal so the mattress can always come back in, at least, the first month." While a 100-night trial period is great marketing, my experience was that it took about a week to make a decision. My first couple nights with the Casper were a bit off-putting. I had, strangely enough, grown accustomed to the trench that ran through the middle of our bed from 20 years of sleeping with my wife. Gravity—and our great love for each other, honey—pulled at us inexorably each evening. If we didn’t come together, it was because someone didn’t want to. And sleeping close to each other has its benefits.
Recent research showed that couples that slept within touching distance of each other got more, better rest. By Night #3 we were past the newness of it, and we settled in. Casper’s latex-over-memory foam construction gives it some of what Dr. Winter calls that “reinserted into the womb” feeling. At the same time, the latex is firm enough that you—and your sex life—aren’t swallowed by it. After a week on the Casper, my wife said that a pain she had been feeling in her leg and hip through the fall had gone away. "I know people who say they bought a mattress and the back pain they had for 10 years went away; I believe it,” he says. “I went on a trip to the Midwest and slept on a hotel mattress for two nights and my back never hurt worse. People often wake up after a bad night’s sleep and say, ‘Oh, my back’s all locked up and I have sciatica or whatever. It definitely works the other way, too.' All in all, we're sold—for now. The Casper is plenty comfortable, and we’re sleeping soundly, night after night.