So you buy a nice two shelf bookcase but it’s wobbly and you know it won’t hold much. I’ve recently gotten one and my solution was to put L-brackets on it. After installing about 8 of these brackets at the cojoining parts of the shelving, it is now completely stable and ready for use.
Does anyone have tips on a cheap sleeping arrangement? I’ve been on a cheap tatami mat and futon mattress, my body is pretty constantly sore. I usually pile up throw blankets to make it a little more comfortable.
Check the local buy sell sites, people throw mattreses or sell them all the time
I would rather sleep on the floor or keep your present arrangement than take the risk of buying a used mattress.
The biggest risk of a used mattress is in carrying bed bugs which is everywhere now, more so in the past decade because they outlawed toxic insecticides that kept them in control in the past. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good thing they no longer allow DDT but it meant a resurgence of bed bugs.
Bed bugs are not to be taken lightly as it will cost you a lot of money time and agony if you ever get infested with them. You basically have to shut your life down for about a month to get rid of them and even then there’s still a chance you won’t get rid of them.
Too right about the bed bugs. At the library they’ve had to start screening every returned book for them. Yeesh!!
We once took a gamble on a fancy tempurpedic mattress that was on local auction where my wife’s grandma worked. “Nah nothing seems wrong with it!” She said. Cool! Won it for cheap!
We muscle it into the house and only in the enclosed space did we realize it REEEEEKED of cigarettes. It was NAUSEATING. We eventually had to pay more to have it hauled away. Learned our lesson.
The plastic base for it was nice though, and was cleaned pretty well by applying elbow grease and strong cleaning chemicals and sunlight and fresh air.
Fair enough :) Totally right about that
It was good advice about 20 years ago … hell, I remember furnishing my first home with a used mattress back then. I remember I had to daily take it out and place in the sun and wind for a week every day, flipping it every few hours … to get rid of the horrible cigarette smell from someone who was a chain smoker!
It’s not a good idea any more because of the danger of bed bugs.
I know this is a weird answer, but try sleeping in a good drawn end hammock (think an Eno hammock, but try to find one that is longer). If you sleep diagonally, it cradles your body amazingly. I’ve been sleeping in one for a couple of years, and it’s both gotten rid of my tossing/turning and helped pretty drastically with my back.
I’m pretty happy with the combo of a cheap, thin mattress with a nicer memory foam topper on it. Affordable, and can replace the topper separately if needed producing less waste than needing a whole new mattress.
If you want to be unethical you could buy a mattress from Walmart (maybe Amazon?)shipped to you then return it online. They will tell you to just keep it
You could look at inflatable roll mats for camping, we’ve got a double one which is about 10cm thick and it’s nearly as comfy as our actual bed. It wasn’t cheap, I think around £200, but definitely a lot cheaper than our mattress.
I’d avoid air beds, I don’t find them comfy at all.
The other thing you could do is look for a mattress on 0% interest credit. We brought our Simba mattress on credit over a year or so for £20-30 per month.
I started it on a futon too and did eventually get used to it but would not want to go back so I totally feel you.
Not sure what your budget / bed size is but IKEA have a range of different priced, decent quality pocket spring mattresses with good warranties. My friend ended up returning his after nearly 3 years (iirc) and they honoured it after inspecting and agreeing that the springs at the very edge on one side were faulty.
I strongly agree with the other comment on not taking second hand ones because of the risk of bed bugs.