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While in college, my luxurious twin-size mattress from the third grade finally gave out. The springs sagged, and the plush top was indistinguishable from the flat bottom. The headaches, backaches and poor sleep finally pushed me to my limits, so I dumped the mattress and started looking for a new option.
After much searching, my choice, though a little unconventional, cost only $28! Even more surprising was that my chiropractor gave it the thumbs up.
But making my choice took time.
Spending a couple hundred dollars on a replacement mattress was not in my budget, so I quickly gave up on shopping big-name mattress brands. I needed something cheap and durable &#; it had to last for at least a year without breaking down.
I was not willing to buy used &#; watching my mom suffer from Lyme disease gave me a hyper-phobic perspective on all bugs. I also needed something that would provide ample support and comfort. What&#;s the sense in investing money in a mattress that ensures you won&#;t get a good night&#;s sleep?
If you are short on cash and need a new mattress, I found several ways to score a new bed at a low price.
When you log into your bank account, how do your savings look? Probably not as good as you&#;d like.
It always seems like an uphill battle to build (and keep) a decent amount in savings. But what if your car breaks down, or you have a sudden medical bill?
Ask one of these companies to help&#;
In my search for an inexpensive new bed, I gathered four tips that helped me choose the best bed for me.
Bed frame permitting, choosing an odd-sized mattress can make a luxurious sleep surface more affordable. For example, some companies make custom-sized mattresses to fit in RVs, imported or antique bed frames and truck beds.
However, many of these companies do not accept returns if the mattress doesn&#;t work out for the buyer. So buyers try to resell these odd-sized-but-brand-new mattress, often at a discounted price, on eBay, Craigslist, and other online marketplaces. In one instance, a couple was selling a brand-new, custom-made yacht mattress for less than 10% of what they paid! Checking these sites can be a great way to snag a bargain.
Even at steeply discounted prices, however, these mattress options were too expensive for me.
Some companies have gotten smart about creating cheaper mattresses. IKEA, for example, makes a sub-$100 mattress that&#;s firm, well padded and quite comfortable. However, many of the reviews say this mattress is not durable.
If you want a comfortable, cheap mattress to get you by until you have the money to purchase something better, a mattress like this is not a bad investment. But if you&#;re looking for something more long term, you may want to consider other options.
As always, make sure you check product reviews before making a purchase.
The Asian futon-style floor bed tickled my brain. For some, floor sleeping is a little too rustic and primitive, but I liked the look and cultural experience. I also liked the water-heated mats that could lay under thickly padded blankets to help keep you warm in the winter.
After much consideration, though, I decided floor sleeping was not a good idea for me. Mice have visited my basement room a couple times, and the thought of being accessible to their creepy-crawly selves while sleeping made me uneasy. Furthermore, the mats and blankets that make these floor beds more comfortable are quite expensive, particularly if you must order them through the mail.
However, if you can adjust to floor sleeping without foam play mats, water-heated mats or plushy floor covers, this option can be cozy, affordable and space-saving. Plus, you will get the chance to experience K-dramas in a whole new way &#; for the thousands of Americans who caught the K-wave, that&#;s a big deal.
Air mattresses were not at all appealing to me, but I humored the idea. Their compact size eliminates the need for a truck. They don&#;t hold moisture, which was a nice selling point for me since I have a basement room. You can adjust the firmness by adjusting the amount of air in the bed. They are also a popular clearance item, so I knew it would be easy to find one at a cheap price. Finally, because there are no springs or foam to sag over time, they are durable.
The downside of an air mattress is that sleeping on plastic is noisy and sweaty, and neither of those seemed appealing. When camping, I&#;ve never found sleeping on an air mattress more comfortable than zonking out on the cold, hard ground.
Despite my negative sentiments, I shopped around for a cheap inflatable mattress.
Closeout stores and clearance aisles are the best places to look for air mattresses. I found a basic twin-size model with an electric air pump for $15 at a closeout store. Even though I wasn&#;t convinced the mattress would last a long time or be good for my aching back, I knew I needed to save money. College wasn&#;t going to pay for itself! So, I bought the cheap air mattress.
I still hated the thought of sleeping on plastic, so I also bought a cheap, easily washable foam topper at Walmart for around $10. Because the foam topper would keep my body from directly contacting the plastic, I wouldn&#;t have to worry about sweating in the summer or freezing in the winter. I figured the foam topper would also reduce the noise from the plastic bed and protect me from breathing the chemicals the plastics and other synthetic materials put off.
One side of my inflatable mattress has a velvet-like coating. While the foam topper clung to it effortlessly, I worried the foam would bunch up under the sheets over time. To help keep it in place, I bought a zip-on mattress protector for under $3, and stuffed the inflated air bed and foam topper inside. This further reduced my contact with the bed&#;s materials, gave the mattress a more conventional feel and allowed the sheets to properly cling to the bed.
Even though I slept well on the mattress, I thought, &#;You get what you pay for! A $28 mattress does not buy spine care.&#; Even though my back didn&#;t hurt, I really expected my chiropractor to ask me if I had just gone bungee jumping or something crazy like that at my next appointment. Sure enough, when he felt my back, he could tell that I had bought a new mattress.
&#;What kind of mattress is it?&#; He asked. I cringed as I confessed. &#;It&#;s just an air mattress.&#; He replied, &#;Oh, very good! That&#;s the best thing you could be doing for your spine.&#;
I was shocked by his response. My $28 mattress was better for my back than the luxurious, expensive options I gawked at? Yup.
When you lay on an air mattress, the parts of your body putting pressure on the bed, like your shoulders and hips, push the air to the areas not putting pressure on the bed, like the lower spine and neck. This helps the bed support you entire body. Because you can add or remove air as you desire, you can adjust the bed to your back&#;s needs.
Three years later, I am still sleeping comfortably on my $28 mattress.
NOTE: Please mind that air mattresses are not suitable for infants and young children.
Steffanie Howard grew up watching her mom find ingenious ways to make and save money and listening to epic-like stories of her penny-pinching great-grandfather who as a 13-year old, bought the family farm during the Great Depression. She works as a freelance writer, editor and co-conspirator in her and her mom&#;s Lucy-and-Ethel style schemes to make money for the family.
When you log into your bank account, how do your savings look? Probably not as good as you&#;d like. It always seems like an uphill battle to build (and keep) a decent amount in savings.
But what if your car breaks down, or you have a sudden medical bill?
Ask one of these companies to help&#;
Ready to stop worrying about money?
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One of the most important aspects of truck bed camping is being comfortable while sleeping. I highly recommend not neglecting this aspect, but to get a quality truck bed mattress or truck bed sleeping pad. I&#;ve used a variety of setups over the years, both camping solo and camping as a couple. In this article we&#;ll discuss what has worked well and not so well for me over the years.
One of the biggest mistakes that I made when I got started with truck camping was neglecting my sleeping setup.
I set out from the PNW in the dead of winter and passed through Idaho and Utah (read: *really* cold in January).
I had a little 20&#; wide inflatable backpacking air mattress and a memory foam pillow&#; Fun fact: memory foam turns hard as a rock in the cold.
I survived those early days but quickly realized that my initial sleep setup was not ideal&#; The pillow turned out to be fine, so long as the weather was above freezing. But the skinny little pad was not ideal for truck camping.
I&#;m a backpacker and alpine climber at heart so I felt like I could get by with what I had and what I&#;m used to&#;just roughing it, if you will.
But since I was out there full time, basically week after week of truck camping, I figured there had to be a better way. And let&#;s face it, I&#;ve got a truck, I&#;m not carrying all this gear on my back up a mountain, so size and weight isn&#;t the biggest concern (though it should be considered).
After a month or so on the road I quickly turned to REI and picked up the Therm-a-Rest Neoair Dream Mattress, a 25&#; inflatable mattress with a thin foam topper and a nice fabric cover that zips on and off.
This mattress was a huge step up from the simple backpacker&#;s air mattress that I was using.
The chief benefit of the NeoAir Dream is the slightly wider size (5 more inches may not sound like much, but it makes a huge difference), the fabric topper (when sleeping in the heat I find the plastic-y material to be very uncomfortable), and the relatively small size (you could let the air out and roll it up into the size of a sleeping bag).
As a solo truck camper, I found the NeoAir Dream to be the perfect air mattress! Although the first one I bought did spring a slow leak within the first month of using, but thankfully I bought it at REI and they replaced it, no questions asked &#; which is I always recommend having an REI membership.
I would not recommend using a super big truck bed air mattress that fills the entire area of the wheel wells, those are generally more of a &#;neat idea&#; than something well made for truck bed camping in any and all conditions. Be sure to pay attention to the R-Rating of an air mattress, and be aware that the cheaper you buy, the more likely you are to find it spring a leak.
Later on, I would be joined by Andrea as we set out across the American West and into Mexico and beyond to South America. Unfortunately the 25&#; wide NeoAir mattress would not work for the both of us. Why oh why Therm-a-Rest don&#;t you make an extra wide twin size version?
During our first trial run truck camping trips around the Pacific Northwest we just decided to use my two backpacker NeoAir mattresses (the All-Season and X-Lite) which are both 20&#; wide. They were the perfect size for my truck bed and they wedged together nice and snug with no gaps.
During the cold weather camping they served just fine for the both of us. Though it did become somewhat tiring blowing up and rolling up the air mats every day. I also worried that the ultralight backpacker material would spring a leak with such frequent use, or get a splinter or something from the wood. It never happened, but I worried about it.
Ultimately, for the hassle of blowing them up and storing them, the concerns about durability, and the aforementioned plastic-y problem, I began looking for other options.
My truck bed has a space of approximately 39&#; between the wheel wells when sleeping in Base Camp Mode, and there are surprisingly very few options out there with that size.
I would have loved the Therm-a-Rest Dream at those dimensions, but sadly that does not exist. All the cheap-o Coleman air mattresses which are twin-bed size are also ridiculously thick (6&#; or 8&#; thick) which is a no-go when you use the backshelf approach in Base Camp Mode.
What is the difference between a 3&#; thick air mattress and a 6&#; thick air mattress, Coleman? Nothing in terms of comfort, just more material and time to blow up.
The only ready made solution I could find that would meet my requirements was the Teton Sports Camp Cot XXL foam mattress.
It&#;s a 3&#; thick foam truck bed mattress with a fabric topper. The dimensions are perfect width-wise, but it is slightly over 6&#; long which is longer than my truck bed.
The pad is pretty comfortable though a little thin because it is meant to be used as a topper while sleeping on a cot and not meant to be used as a standalone sleeping pad.
But the biggest downside, of course, is the massive size even when rolled up. It takes up a lot of room in the back of the truck. One major plus is that you don&#;t have to worry about punctures, ever. It can take a lot of abuse.
It&#;s nice that it has the removable fabric topper, but it is quite difficult to take off and put back on since they put the opening along the narrow end of the sleeping pad.
All-in-all the Teton Sports Cot Pad is an affordable and viable option for those looking to maximize their sleeping space and don&#;t want to worry about the potential problems of an truck bed air mattress that can spring a leak.
I&#;d still say that the perfect truck camping sleeping pad doesn&#;t exist.
Ideally, I&#;d like to see a cross between the Teton Sports pad and the NeoAir Dream. Perhaps something with the heavy duty blue foam pad on the bottom, a thin inflatable air mattress, and a super soft foam topper.
It would be the size of a twin bed (39&#; wide by 6&#; long) and include an easily removable and washable fabric topper like that which is currently on the NeoAir Dream.
Click here for more truck camping info and inspiration and don&#;t miss out on my favorite truck camping gear to get outfitted and get going.
How about you? What do you use while truck camping? Sound off in the comments below&#;
P.S. If you&#;re interested in truck camping, be sure to check out my #1 best selling Amazon book Big Travel, Small Budget which includes a chapter on overlanding and truck camping.
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