A Simple Mattress Can Help In Many ways

For quite a while now,Rick and I have been complaining about our mattress and how we really needed to get a new one. We slept on it for 10 years. It was a no name brand that we could afford at the time. It was comfortable back then. It worked.

The last few years,however the signs of wear and tear were starting to show on our old mattress. There were lumps and valleys. We flipped,re-flipped,turned and re-turned that sucker over the years. We put one of those "egg carton" type foam toppers on it. It was to the point where none of it made a difference. We would wake up with back aches, hip aches,etc. We would toss and turn all night,and not all of it was due to nightmares or minds racing. Many times we just couldn't get comfortable. We complained about it- a lot.

Sleep is a very important factor in life. Those of you who have a hard time obtaining a good night of it,for whatever reason,know what I mean. A few nights of fitful sleep can really affect your mood,thought process,and motivation.

Of course,we have other contributing factors. Rick gets nightmares and has sleep apnea,so he sleeps with a sleep apnea machine.( For those who are not familiar,it's a device that has a mask that one wears over their face so air is being forced into the body and helps keep the throat open to prevent snoring and keep breathing regulated-Rick stops breathing over 50 times an hour) I have nights where I just can't shut my mind off and I toss and turn and turn and toss-which also affects Rick's sleep patterns. I also am bothered with RLS ( restless leg syndrome) once in a while,as well as night sweats on occasion (ah,the joys of being a woman!!!)

Wednesday in the mail,we got a flyer for Big Lots. They were having a sale on mattresses. Now, one may not think of Big Lots in terms of  great mattresses. However,when we woke up yesterday morning both sore yet again,Rick said to me,"We need a new mattress. NOW." We figured we would take a drive down to our local Big Lots and see what they had.

Well, I must admit I was actually impressed. All the mattresses were Sealy brand. Not no name generic. We laid down on all of them (which did feel rather strange with people walking around). We laid on our backs. We laid on our sides. We laid on our stomachs. We compared every one. We read the literature. We finally decided on a good mattress with a 800 coil count. Our old one probably had less than half of that. You could feel the body support.It wasn't the most expensive( memory foam) but it wasn't the cheapest,either,which would've been our first pick in the past. Even better,the box spring came with it for only $10.

Why am I mentioning our mattress? Because it ties in with my theme of late-surrounding yourself and clearing out clutter. 

Clutter? How does that play into it?

Have you ever looked under some one's bed? Apparently we had not looked under ours for quite a while. We found socks,a staple gun that was missing, a hammer, a level, a hat Rick was looking for,VCR tapes we no longer want,assorted other items,and plenty of dust. Blech. Under  the bed clutter! Who knew?? We cleaned everything up,and now  under the bed is very nice. No junk.

So,we placed the mattress on the deck. I know what you are going to say- "Donna,how long is that sucker going to decorate your deck?" Not long. Rick is inspired to clean out the garage today,to we are going to put it in there until town pick up in a few weeks.We joked that we could lay it on the deck if anyone wanted to sleep outside one night ;)

One thing I thought would be neat is having a raised bed. I don't know why,I just always thought

that a bed that was higher than the normal ones would be cool. For some reason,it never occurred to me while we were setting up the new bed,until Brother B suggested,"Why don't you 

put the old box spring on the bottom,then put the new box spring and mattress down?That way you can have a raised bed." DUH! The one thing I had been wanting to do for years! At first,it was too tall for me to even climb on ( I'm 5'2"),so we took the wheels off the frame,which lowered it by three inches,so now the bed comes up to just below my belly button. I need to hop a bit,but that is no problem. I could use a little stool if necesary. Before, I could just roll over in the old bed to shut off the alarm. Now I have to reach down to do so-which is no big whoop to me. Here is a photo to give you the idea of the height:

You may notice my lack of bedspread. I had one up until five months ago. I had a very pretty quilted spread which matched the pillows above. I loved it. Until the dogs started ruining it.The spread would get dirty.They would get it wet when they washed themselves. I would wash it. It would get ripped from their nails. I would fix it. It was a cycle. I finally gave up and  had to get rid of the quilt.The fabric got too flimsy and you can only repair the same areas so many times.You could say,of course,"Donna, just close your door.Put up a gate. Don't let the dogs in there." Been there,done that. This is the problem: our bedroom is right off the dining area. It gets a lot of light during the day that our dining area doesn't get,so I like to keep the door open to brighten things up as much as possible. We also get a lovely breeze through the bedroom windows that we don't have in the kitchen. Having this door open creates a fabulous cross breeze.Plus, I don't always remember to fully close the door behind me if I am in the middle of something and I am on a mission."OK,but what about the gate?" you may ( and rightfully) ask. We did that,too.It was too much of a pain taking the gate out of the doorway and putting it back up when we had to go in and out of the room . I guess you could say I paid for my own need for convenience.Now the bed is too high for the dogs to jump on. When we repaint the bedroom,our new bedding will not get ruined.

How did getting a simple mattress help in many ways? For us:

1) It helped us get a comfortable nights sleep,which is a good thing physically and mentally (pain and a tired mind lead to body and mind clutter!)

2) It allowed us to see the crap under the bed and clean it up (junk clutter!)We are now mindful that we need to keep an eye on that.

3)It let us get the high bed we both wanted (Rick loves it!)and is a first step into creating the type of bedroom haven we want. We feel like royalty on that bed!

4)It gave us a way to save future bedding,and stop the dogs from climbing on the bed without closing off sunlight and lovely breezes. It also stopped annoyance.

All from a simple mattress.

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!!