I only sleep in a bed so I can sleep with my wife

[farfromfire]

I see. Because sex on a mattress on top of a slippery floor is one of Dante's circles of hell.

[sequoia]

You guys need to get out there and live some.

Slipping into a nice bed is heaven. With high thread count sheets and comfy pillows.

Spend some of that money you can't take it with you for Pete's sake.

Tempurpedic bed. That is heaven for us. We are so used to it, when we travel, we always comment how the hotel bed is not comfy - this includes bed in expensive hotels.

[maizefolk]

I went out and bought a bed because I had started a relationship. Am I or my partner technically prostitutes now?

If you bought your partner a bed (or your partner bought you one) so that the two of you could pursue your relationship, I could see a way to make the argument.

That's why I finally gave up sleeping on the floor too.

[Bracken_Joy]

Favorite sleep arrangement me and husband ever had was our so-called "hobo bed". A latex foam mattress topper, right on the floor. Done up with sheets like a bed, but nice and thin and low. We did that the first 3 years we were together. It was a ton of work though. With any flooring, you have to worry about moisture trapping, so I would move and flip it every week (I'm in Oregon, things are damp here over the winter). When you're on hard flooring, motes of dust work their way onto the edges of your sheets (and yes, I swept a ton). Then we lived in an old house with no protection against ants and spiders and centipedes at all, so that sucked. Eventually we gave up and went to a standard mattress. Much lower maintenance for me.

Mainly, I came to the conclusion that just one episode of mattress topper/floor rot would undo any savings, so it wasn't worth the risk. I know quite a few people that's happened to, actually. (College life, holla). And St. Vincent's here does or at least used to recycle inner spring mattresses and redo the upholstery. A whopping $90 for a like-new mattress. We used that for a few years, until a family member was moving and got rid of their guest room mattress. 10 years old, but barely ever used. Nice and firm. Score.

Anywhoo, for people who do legitimately like mattresses, they don't need to be spendy. For people who like floor sleeping, more power to ya, but be cognizant of the risks/challenges. Personally, it's just one more reason for me to love camping =) I get to be back in my hobo bed.

[C-note]

I see. Because sex on a mattress on top of a slippery floor is one of Dante's circles of hell.

Now that's a visual that will be with me for quite some time!

[MrsPete]

Okay. I'm now calling bullshit on lots of this. I get it. Beds are comfy and really, none of this is a big deal. If you want to sleep in a bed, I'm not gonna fart in your general direction. But...

...it's totally out of the spirit of the forum and the blog. Not that I'm a purist. In fact, I barf every time somebody writes "mustachian" as if they were protectors of orthodoxy. But come on! The subtitle of the blog is "financial freedom through badassity". Shouldn't we, generally speaking, be encouraging people to move in the direction of greater badassity?

I'm going to answer with one of my favorite words:  Balance. 

Yes, this board is about getting ahead through frugal living; however, we all still need to spend.  The question is, What's reasonable and what's excessive?  I say a good night's sleep is well worth the modest cost of a nice bed and quality sheets.  I said earlier that we bought a mattress for ourselves as a Christmas gift a few years ago; before that, we were sleeping on a hand-me-down mattress that another family member bought used in the late 80s.  I hate to sound like a commercial, but we literally saw an increase in the quality of our sleep, and some aches-and-pains we thought were a result of being in our 40s disappeared. 

I cannot support the idea of spending as little as possible on everything at all times no matter what ... partially because it's a bad idea, and partially because I grew up in that family, and it was miserable.  No, the right answer is balance.  Spend modestly, but spend enough to live comfortably.  Do not mistake spending for happiness, but also do not make saving such a priority that you're unhappy today. 

Tempurpedic bed. That is heaven for us. We are so used to it, when we travel, we always comment how the hotel bed is not comfy - this includes bed in expensive hotels.

We didn't like the Temperpedic, but -- yeah -- I actually miss my own bed when we travel.  Not enough to stay home or even to whine about it, but my bed is perfect and is genuinely one of the pleasures I enjoy most in life. 

Incidentally, for all the poo-pooers of expensive things, Do you realize you can go to a high-end mattress store and buy a returned mattress?  When you buy a mattress, you are allowed to return it within 30 days if you're not happy with it ... and they sell those returns for 25-30% of the original high price.  (They, however, are not returnable.)

[Goldielocks]

The primary reason for a bed may be the raised platform.  As I get older, and especially  DH, an easy swing out of bed to stand up is worth a lot.  As in, camping with a cot, and now he is asking for a chair to take backpacking...

A raised platform is likely a lot cheaper than a mattress.  Just be sure to put a pallet (bamboo mat or something) that you can switch out for hygiene every season.

[marble_faun]

We got a super-nice, practically brand-new bed (complete with mattress, box-spring, sheets, duvet, etc.) for $0 when a friend moved and had to give it away. 

We sleep the sleep of the righteous!

Before that, we slept on an old mattress, placed directly on the floor. Gotta say, the bed is a lot better.

[Lmoot]

I sleep on a relatively comfortable cot,  twice a week, for work. I highly prefer a bed.  Although when I was in Africa earlier this summer, for a month I slept on solid concrete with just a pillow underneath my knees and a pillow underneath my head/neck. It was actually quite comfortable. I did have a mattress, but it was too hot.  Luckily I have a little junk in my trunk, so having padding on those three points, my legs, bottom, and head/neck, that's all I needed. Still, I prefer a bed.

[GuitarStv]

The question is, What's reasonable and what's excessive?  I say a good night's sleep is well worth the modest cost of a nice bed and quality sheets.  I said earlier that we bought a mattress for ourselves as a Christmas gift a few years ago; before that, we were sleeping on a hand-me-down mattress that another family member bought used in the late 80s.  I hate to sound like a commercial, but we literally saw an increase in the quality of our sleep, and some aches-and-pains we thought were a result of being in our 40s disappeared.

Have you spent significant time sleeping on the floor?  Because yeah . . . mattresses suck.  It's possible that some extremely high end mattresses are as nice as sleeping on the floor, but the crappy mattress you were sleeping on that gave you problems was certainly worse than the floor.

While I'd agree that a good night's sleep is worth a lot, an awful lot of people without significant floor sleeping experience are simply assuming that a mattress is the key to a good night's sleep.

[nereo]

Well of course you need a raised bed. Where else will you store your little gun collection for the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse?

I sleep on.a raise bed but its rock hard. I tent camp a lot so am pretty comfortable sleeping on.the ground. However at home I sleep with my windows and drapes open and like to be even with the window to keep an eye out for zombies...or get a nice breeze

ETA: I like a really hard firm mattress and can't stand a soft one or any kind of topper. The mattress I have is a never used hand me down from my Dads extra bedroom and its so firm it doubles as a weight bench.

Holy crap person-formerly-known-as-spartina... is that your actual bed?  I think I'm in love (with the storage).  Made a bedframe last year with storage drwaers underneath, but it was nothing so ... extensive.

[dios.del.sol]

Okay. I'm now calling bullshit on lots of this. I get it. Beds are comfy and really, none of this is a big deal. If you want to sleep in a bed, I'm not gonna fart in your general direction. But...

...it's totally out of the spirit of the forum and the blog. Not that I'm a purist. In fact, I barf every time somebody writes "mustachian" as if they were protectors of orthodoxy. But come on! The subtitle of the blog is "financial freedom through badassity". Shouldn't we, generally speaking, be encouraging people to move in the direction of greater badassity?

I'm going to answer with one of my favorite words:  Balance. 

Yes, this board is about getting ahead through frugal living; however, we all still need to spend.  The question is, What's reasonable and what's excessive?  I say a good night's sleep is well worth the modest cost of a nice bed and quality sheets.  I said earlier that we bought a mattress for ourselves as a Christmas gift a few years ago; before that, we were sleeping on a hand-me-down mattress that another family member bought used in the late 80s.  I hate to sound like a commercial, but we literally saw an increase in the quality of our sleep, and some aches-and-pains we thought were a result of being in our 40s disappeared. 

I cannot support the idea of spending as little as possible on everything at all times no matter what ... partially because it's a bad idea, and partially because I grew up in that family, and it was miserable.  No, the right answer is balance.  Spend modestly, but spend enough to live comfortably.  Do not mistake spending for happiness, but also do not make saving such a priority that you're unhappy today. 

Okay. Okay. I stand properly chastised. I guess I got my panties in a bunch because somehow this topic became about money. I was never arguing for avoiding a bed because sleeping on the floor is cheaper. I was just saying that I like sleeping on the floor, but my wife doesn't, so I don't do it.

I get a kick out of not spending. I also get a kick out of not counting pennies (or dollars) once I decide that something is worth spending on. We decided to buy a bed, looked at some options that were within $200 of each other, and chose the most comfortable one.

Ultimately, to the extent I actually had a point, I suppose that point was that often doing what your spouse wants is more important than doing what you want or saving a few bucks here or there. I suspect you'd agree.

[RedmondStash]

I cannot support the idea of spending as little as possible on everything at all times no matter what ... partially because it's a bad idea, and partially because I grew up in that family, and it was miserable.  No, the right answer is balance.  Spend modestly, but spend enough to live comfortably.  Do not mistake spending for happiness, but also do not make saving such a priority that you're unhappy today. 

Yes. This. Especially that last sentence.

[Imma]

I'm officially on a matrass on the floor, as of today! So far it's certainly not as bad as it sounds.

We've been sleeping on the bad base on the floor for months now (we're getting a different bed) and that feels basically the same as sleeping in a bed, except closer to the floor. My s/o really loves it, I don't really love it that much. So much dust comes from a matrass. When you have a raised bed, the dust falls through the matrass and the bed base on the floor below the bed and you clean there. When you're sleeping on the bed base right on the floor, you have to pull up the matrass to be able to reach the floor below the base and a double matrass is quite heavy. If you don't vacuum often enough, there'll be dust everywhere.

The matrass on the floor is much easier to clean honestly. To preent moisture issues, when we wake up we put the matrass up on its side leaning to the wall. You can easily clean the floor below and I don't really notice the difference between sleeping on the bed base or straight on the floor. It isn't half as bad as I thought it was! I also like the feeling of space in the bedroom during the day.

We'd arranged to pick up a friend's bed, but now I'm not so sure ....

[Hula Hoop]

How about a futon that you roll and put away every day like in Japan?  Maybe a nice compromise.

[mustachepungoeshere]

I like sleeping on a bed over the floor.  Much more comfortable IMO.  I hate sleeping with my wife (or anyone) though and would much prefer to have my own bed, or even better my own bedroom.  My wife has a lot of resistance to that idea though, so it looks like I'm stuck sleeping with her and losing out on thousands of hours of restful sleep over my life because she wants to be near me.

If you get a really tall bed frame you could sneak under the bed at night for some restful sleep.

Sounds like a wicked fort.  Sorry honey, the sign says no girls allowed.

Brilliant.

[Ishmael]

Everyone on this thread is aware of the Frugalwoods internet mattress, right?

[nereo]

Everyone on this thread is aware of the Frugalwoods internet mattress, right?

Thanks for the link - and timely too; we need to replace our guest-room mattress, which we sold to our former tenant.
To date the cheapest option we've found was at Ikea - but still about 2x the price of "the internet mattress" listed by the Frugalwoods.

[tipster350]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this option. It requires no sheets, no pillows, it never wears out.  The sensations when lying in it can provide continuous reminders of all the money you're saving.

[GuitarStv]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this option. It requires no sheets, no pillows, it never wears out.  The sensations when lying in it can provide continuous reminders of all the money you're saving.

I like that you don't have to worry about moisture build up on the floor from sweat with this model.  A tad concerned that there might be moisture build up from blood though.

[shelivesthedream]

Everyone on this thread is aware of the Frugalwoods internet mattress, right?

When we bought our current mattress earlier this year, I tried so hard to buy one of these that I actually wrote to the company. Turns out they have no sellers in the UK and won't ship internationally. Practically shed a tear.

All you people without mattresses...where do you keep your vast wads of cash? Stuffed under your duvet? :P

[Roger D]

Many decades ago I moved into a new place, and had only my backpacking pad to sleep on. This suited me fine, and I slept that way for three months.

Then my birthday rolled around, and two of my employees rolled around with a (second-hand) bed on the roof-rack of their car. They said it just didn't feel right that their boss didn't sleep on a bed. Lol!

[farfromfire]

There is a Japanese saying, "A Good Bed and a Good Pair of Shoes are Vital, because You are Either in One Or The Other!"

A good sleep is vital for every human for a good day ahead, we spend almost 1500 hr sleeping a month. That means we spend almost nearly one third of their life in bed !

So, I thing it wouldn't be a good decision to sleep in a backpacking pad on the floor for the rest of life.

wat

[ElleFiji]

There is a Japanese saying, "A Good Bed and a Good Pair of Shoes are Vital, because You are Either in One Or The Other!"

A good sleep is vital for every human for a good day ahead, we spend almost 1500 hr sleeping a month. That means we spend almost nearly one third of their life in bed !

So, I thing it wouldn't be a good decision to sleep in a backpacking pad on the floor for the rest of life.

wat

#life goals
But I'm happy to achieve those goals on any surface

[ooeei]

Air mattresses are fine, but damn they're loud. If either person fidgets at all it's like someone crinkling a chip bag all night long. I also love the occasional waking up to a deflated mess with the accompanying pain. If you both go into straight up Dracula hands crossed over chest lying motionless on your back slumber, then air mattresses are fine.

We got a foam mattress and crazy sturdy bed frame with lots of storage underneath and built in support (no box spring). Now we don't even notice the other one getting up at night other than occasionally if moving the covers wakes us up. We stay on air mattresses at family's house who we visit regularly, and the noise is bearable for a long weekend, but would drive me crazy if it was long term.

[GuitarStv]

There is a Japanese saying, "A Good Bed and a Good Pair of Shoes are Vital, because You are Either in One Or The Other!"

 . . . and the Japanese sleep on mats on the floor.


QED

[maizefolk]

There is a Japanese saying, "A Good Bed and a Good Pair of Shoes are Vital, because You are Either in One Or The Other!"

A good sleep is vital for every human for a good day ahead, we spend almost 1500 hr sleeping a month. That means we spend almost nearly one third of their life in bed !

So, I thing it wouldn't be a good decision to sleep in a backpacking pad on the floor for the rest of life.

The average month has 24 * 30 = ~720 hours.

[partgypsy]

There is a Japanese saying, "A Good Bed and a Good Pair of Shoes are Vital, because You are Either in One Or The Other!"

 . . . and the Japanese sleep on mats on the floor.


QED

they sleep on futons, on top of tatami floors which are softer than a typical floor. If they do not have a tatami floor, my understanding most have some other way of adding cushioning to the futon, such as an additional layer or even a more regular bed set up.

[Bracken_Joy]

There is a Japanese saying, "A Good Bed and a Good Pair of Shoes are Vital, because You are Either in One Or The Other!"

A good sleep is vital for every human for a good day ahead, we spend almost 1500 hr sleeping a month. That means we spend almost nearly one third of their life in bed !

So, I thing it wouldn't be a good decision to sleep in a backpacking pad on the floor for the rest of life.

The average month has 24 * 30 = ~720 hours.

Given the "I write for" in their signature, I'm thinking some weird spam.

[GuitarStv]

There is a Japanese saying, "A Good Bed and a Good Pair of Shoes are Vital, because You are Either in One Or The Other!"

 . . . and the Japanese sleep on mats on the floor.


QED

they sleep on futons, on top of tatami floors which are softer than a typical floor. If they do not have a tatami floor, my understanding most have some other way of adding cushioning to the futon, such as an additional layer or even a more regular bed set up.

I've been slammed on a lot of tatami in my lifetime.  It's not significantly softer than a carpeted floor (it does absorb impact better though).

But yeah . . . it still seems more like an indictment of a traditional mattress than a pro.  :P

[dcheesi]

I'm not a badass floor-sleeper, but I long since acquired the habit of sleeping on couches rather than a bed. For various reasons I seem to sleep better that way.

Right now I'm on a western-style "futon" (albeit a very cushy one). I don't bother unfolding the frame --I just sleep on it in couch-mode.

[maizefolk]

The average month has 24 * 30 = ~720 hours.

Given the "I write for" in their signature, I'm thinking some weird spam.

Ah, good catch Bracken_Joy.

[Salim]

OMG. I can't stop laughing!!!

[skeeder]

Ironically, I love our bed.  It was expensive (Natural Latex Queen Mattress) and it was the one item we bought when we got married.  We figured we'd spend a great deal of time in the bed so why not have something nice.  ;) 

For those who lean a little more to the side of a balanced approach to minimalism/mustachism, a good bed can seriously help your back and keep your energy levels up.  I whole heartily recommend spending the money on something you average 1/3 of your day in.