Do you need to replace your mattress and wonder if there is a better time of the year to buy one? It's worth considering since it's rare to have a mattress-breakdown emergency. Instead, you start thinking you might sleep better on a new mattress, especially if yours is years beyond its warranty. Usually, you consider it because you are moving or adding a bed to your household. If you check the ads, you see that mattresses are constantly on sale, so you don't have to look hard to find what purports to be a deal. Just remember: mattress prices are negotiable. Ask for a better deal, and you're likely to get it. That said, there really is a better time to find real deals on mattresses.May is the best month to buy a new mattress at a mattress showroom. The industry rolls out its new models in June through September, so they want to clear out the older models in May. Memorial Day weekend may be the best time to get a great deal, as it combines the month of May with another peculiar sales time for mattresses - holiday weekends.
Retailers tend to have good mattress deals on the long weekends of national holidays - President's Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day. You might even snag good deals on bedding at the same time at January white sales around Martin Luther King Day weekend.If you are going to shop online for a mattress, you won't be able to lie down on it and try it out. It pays to use the online sites for comparison shopping on the models you liked best in the showroom. You can use online sites to check the prices you see at retailers and get a good sense of what an actual discount price may be. Also, consider that you won't be able to negotiate a better deal as you can in a showroom, the stated price is the final price. If you find a better deal online, check the delivery details and return policy and conditions to make sure that all of the possible fees add up for real savings.Buying a Used MattressUnlike used appliances, buying a used mattress isn't often the best idea. You'll see mattresses included in many lists of things never to buy used.
The big reason is bed bugs, which seem to be more and more common. You don't want them in your home, period. The second reason is that mattresses don't last forever. If you need a cheap substitute rather than a new mattress, consider a foam pad or air pillow mattress until you can afford a new one.Do Your Research and Prepare to HaggleIf you don't have an emergency need for a mattress, spend the time to determine what kind of mattress you want and how much you are prepared to spend. If you are buying at a retailer or showroom, negotiating is expected, and you will save by offering less than the sticker price. You won't have this option at a warehouse or membership store or online, so consider that when comparing prices. Spring Break for Grown-ups The 7 Books Every Spiritual Person Needs to Read "I Will Never Know Why" How to Survive a Rainy Day with Children: A Summer Guide 5 Key Words Every Spiritual Person Needs to Know 10 Airport Secrets That Only Insiders Know
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Around that time, I visited my parents and slept on their new pull-out couch. But instead of peaceful slumber, it felt as if I were being gassed by the mattress's smell. I opened a window but tossed all night, worried about the toxic fumes I might be inhaling. Mattresses, I soon learned, are rarely ecologically innocent. Most are made with synthetic fibers or foam, which don't biodegrade. Cotton or wool stuffing can be processed with pesticides and other chemicals—some of them potentially carcinogenic. Considering I spend one-third of my life lying in bed, realizing this was fairly disquieting. The good news is that choices once limited to size and firmness now include environmental options as well. If you prefer an innerspring mattress—steel coils surrounded by layers of fluffy padding—you can rest easy on beds made from organic cotton and wool, with steel coils that aren't coated in chemicals. If, like me, you prefer a solid-foam mattress, you can opt for latex made from the milky sap of rubber trees.
And though I worried that sleeping on something made from coconut husk fibers or natural rubber would feel like napping in Gilligan's hut, when I test-drove the beds, my back couldn't feel the difference. Here are three tips from my eco-mattress hunt. The smell that kept me awake at my parents' house is a cocktail of chemicals, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are associated with skin irritation and respiratory problems. Walter Bader, author of Sleep Safe in a Toxic World and cofounder of Organic Mattresses Inc., sent a conventional mattress to a lab that measured its emissions and found 61 VOCs. "Mattresses are like cigarettes were in the 1930s," Bader says. "Completely unregulated, and everyone thinks they're safe." Experts, though, remain divided about what exposure levels pose a danger. Berkeley-based toxicologist Janet Weiss, MD, who has studied these chemicals, says, "Like the new-car smell, mattress smells aren't hazardous." Others argue that exposure should be limited as possible.
"Although the amount people inhale is incredibly small, the exposure adds up," says epidemiologist Devra Lee Davis, PhD, of the Environmental Health Trust. Choosing organic materials is one of the best ways to cut the toxins you inhale while sleeping. Fumes are strongest in the first few weeks, so it also helps if you can let your new bed air out in a spare room or garage before using it. Ask for the Real Credentials There is no government certification for eco-friendly mattresses. "Manufacturers use the terms green and natural however they want, and there isn't much standardization," says Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst at the Environmental Working Group. While shopping, I found mattresses made with castor oil, aloe vera, green-tea infusions, and bamboo—and labeled every variation of green, eco-, organic, and natural. It takes some sleuthing to push past the green stickers and figure out what really goes into a mattress. I tried out one "eco-friendly" memory-foam mattress in a store that was plastered with green leaf symbols.
A salesperson offered me piping hot green tea, but when I pressed her on what was so green about their mattress, she explained that more than 10 percent of the oils in the petroleum-based memory foam had been replaced with plant-based oils. So the product wasn't exactly green, just 10 percent greener. "We're the hybrid cars of the mattress world," she said. "We're still burning gas, but it's better than a regular car." Yet to many shoppers, the company's beds appear just as pure as those made by rigorously green Organic Mattresses, Inc., a company Bader started because of his chemical sensitivities (the handcrafted creations are made from cruelty-free wool, certified organic cotton, and 100 percent natural rubber latex in a facility where no one is allowed to smoke, wear fragrances, or wear fabric softeners). When shopping, ignore words like eco- and natural. Instead, seek out companies that explain ingredients clearly and can point to where materials are sourced. Even better, look for third-party certification" Oeko-Tex Standard 100 is the largest voluntary third-party certification for textiles free of harmful substances, and Global Organic Textile Standard certifies that a natural fiber was grown organically and processed sustainably.
Find a Comfortable Compromise If I had a $3,000 budget, I'd be on a virtuous mattress made by Organic Mattresses in a heartbeat. But there's only so much I can spend on my back health and eco-consciousness. I decided I wanted a memory-foam mattress that replaced some of the usual synthetic latex with soy. And after careful research, I bought it from Magniflex, an Italian company, because its bona fides were so impressive: Its memory foam is 30 percent plant oils, one of the highest percentages in the industry; it uses water to expand the memory foam rather than relying only on solvents, like most companies; and it created a flame retardant derived from sea sand, saving me from more chemical additives. The company's textiles are Oeko-Tex certified, and it uses GOTS-certified cotton. When Peter and I lay down on the $1,600 mattress, I knew I'd done what I could to make my bed more eco-friendly, and as a result, I sleep just fine. Next: Check out 3 smart choices for eco-bedding