An Inexpensive Alternative to a New Mattress is Money Well-Spent

March 8th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under • by tisha

Got an achin’ back? Hips and knees giving you trouble? It may be your old mattress causing you some of your sore and matresses aching problems. Mattresses are meant to last for many year; however, with the cost of a good, quality mattress, it may take you several years to save up to buy one.

There have always been mattress accessories that aim to add extra cushioning to an older mattress that are relatively inexpensive. The “egg crates” tend to not last for very long and flatten out after an extended period of use. They are also thin and do not prove a lot of support for the body. There are also feather top bed cushions that are really comfortable and soft. There are more moderately priced but, like the egg crates, the feather mattress toppers flatten out after using for awhile and they are also hard to clean.

Having tried several varieties of mattress toppers and cushions, we recently purchased a memory foam mattress topper. While more expensive than the egg crates and feather pillow toppers, the memory foam is more “mattress-like”. We purchased the 4″ mattress topper for a king-sized bed for a price of $160. Compared to the price for a new king-sized mattress, we saved quite a bit of money and received instant results. The memory foam mattress pad is almost like another mattress. It is firmer than our old mattress, fits perfectly on top of the bed and there are no issues with bed sheets. They fit as well as they did before adding the topper. It took about 2 days for it to fully expand, as it was enclosed in a vacuumed-sealed plastic package.

For the first time in a long time, I woke up feeling like I had slept well. No aches and pains in my shoulder or knees. The mattress pad conformed to my body weight and even seems to retain body heat that kept me warm but not overheated. I can not vouch for the other sizes which can range from 1″ to 8″ but noticed that even though the thickness expanded with each size, only around an inch or an inch and a half was comprised of the memory foam material and the rest was another type of foam. Because of this, we do not have the option to flip mattress and still have access to the memory foam. The brand of memory foam mattress topper we purchased provides an 5 year warranty. I made certain to return the warranty card as I am concerned about it flattening out at some point. However, by all accounts, the money we spent was well worth it for our immediate needs and does provide an excellent substitution for a new mattress, which we can not afford at this point.