Ooh, that is annoying!

Even though my noon meeting was pretty short, I have no regrets about eating lunch at 11:30. For what that's worth!

So...D's mom is buying and having delivered a new mattress for our Xmas present. Which is awesome, because the old mattress is old AF, and D has been sleeping in a recliner for almost a year because it hurts his back so to sleep in the bed. (It's over 20 years old.)

But neither of us has ever bought a matress! I don't want to hose D's mom by buying some expensive mattress, but I don't even know where you start. I know some of you have recently bought matresses (Ghost? Casper? IDEK) so I'm looking for recs to at least start from. IKEA?

We need a firm queen...ok, that sounds wrong! But that's what we need, basically. Our box spring and frame are still fine.

Suggestions? Warnings? Hel

I will follow mattress recommendations with interest, as it's something I'm thinking of buying in the new year!

I've about decided to return my Tuft & Needle, but it might be getting better? I think it's among the cheapest (and supposedly firmest?) of the internet mattress-in-a-box dealies. It's fairly low-risk because there's no charge to return, but it still feels like an undertaking to do. OTOH, I have literally no idea how I'd ever pick the right mattress in a showroom.

Sitting next to the CEO's EA is so much fun when I don't want to work -- just heard some Big Big News well in advance of anyone else.

We went to the mattress store and laid down on a handful of mattresses to see which one felt best. You really need to lie down for at least 5 minutes, ideally more, to really get a sense of how it feels. Lie on your back, your sides, your stomach.

Do you have the Original Mattress Factory out there? That's where we got ours. They were great to work with.

Also, a lot of mattresses now aren't made to be flipped -- they only have the pillow top on one side. I think that's kind of ridiculous, and we found a mattress than has pillow top on both sides so we could flip it. (Of course, flipping it is a pain in the ass, but it's good for mattress life.)

I have not only met my deductible for the year, I've met my OOP maximum. So now I'm sitting here trying to think of medical stuff I need, which will be free if I can get it done before January.

Dana - eyeglasses?

We don't have a Mattress Factory, but in Googling it, we have several Mattress Firms who are having end of year sales.

That tidbit about one-sided only pillowtops is a good point, Tep, and one I wouldn't have thought about until I went to flip the mattress.

I think it was Theo who gave me the advice to go the mattress store and start lying down on beds...cheapest first, and keep going up in price until you find one that's comfortable enough for your body.

There's lots of buying guides out there and they can provide helpful info...which brands also make what store brands etc.

The Sweethome did a comparison shop on some of the new online mattresses, which I found informative enough to know they don't sound like they're for me. [link]