After mphty-mph years, we got a new mattress!
I won’t talk about how long we knew we needed it, or about how old the mattress was that we slept on for our entire marriage until last month.
But I will talk about my excessive cheapness and how that was a major factor in waiting so long.
Mattresses are expensive, y’all. And stressful to purchase since they’re one of those things you’ll spend a LOT of time regretting if they’re not as comfortable as you thought they were. Y’know, in those five awkward minutes of lying down and rolling around in front of an expectantly waiting salesperson/stranger.
But we did it. We finally did it. We rolled and shifted and rolled again and shifted again. We made awkward jokes about the shifting and the rolling and finally made a decision. And we ordered. And we paid.
But at the moment of payment, decisions are required. Because it’s never as simple as just paying for a mattress, right?
What about the old mattress?
Do we want to pay fifteen dollars to have it hauled away?
Really? Fifteen dollars to let someone else take my mattress? Fifteen dollars to basically throw something away? (Because that mattress was beyond redemption or repurposing or any of that.)
And haven’t I heard radio ads from other stores saying they’ll haul away an old mattress for FREE?
Oh, how my frugal brain looks for reasons to procrastinate when forking over big chunks of money.
But I said, “Yes.”
“Yes, I will pay you an amount of money that’s less than what it would cost for us to go out to eat at a fast food restaurant to not have to worry about getting rid of that old blankety-blank mattress.”
The second, wordy version of “yes” is what I said in my head. The first, single-word version is what I actually said to the woman taking my money.
Here’s the thing. I know how things go in my house. Many times, I’ve uttered an Auto No to something that will cost me money.
Many, many times, I’ve lived with large items sitting in my home waiting on me to get them out. Ummmm, didn’t I just write about a big, humongous chair that I stubbed my toe on many times between the time I decided I didn’t want it and the time when it actually left my house?
Sure, we could have saved fifteen measly dollars taking that mattress and box spring to the dump on our own.
Except we’d have to borrow someone’s trailer to get it there. And we’d have to spend a Saturday morning borrowing the trailer and loading up the mattress and driving to the dump. And I’d have to devote an hour or so in the week before to figuring out where the town dump is, and learning what we have to do to be able to dump there.
We’ve never even been to the town dump in this town. In past cities, though, we had to have proof of residency. And I seem to remember needing special tickets that we picked up at city hall.
Whatever.
That’s a lot of hassle, and it was worth fifteen dollars to me to not have to deal with that hassle.
Here’s the thing. If that mattress took up space in my garage for a few months, I’d probably be giddy with excitement to pay someone fifteen dollars to get it out of my way. I’m sure I’d be happy to pay someone fifteen dollars to free up a Saturday that would otherwise be spent hauling it myself.
But for some reason, I hesitate in those key moments when the salesperson asks if I want to pay extra on what is already an overwhelming purchase for a cheapskate like me.
But I said yes.
And I’m so so glad I did.
Because this was the scene in my living room for about 6 hours before the delivery men arrived with my new mattress.
I’d taken the old one off of the bed so I could use this ridiculously-rare opportunity to clean out under the bed while there was no mattress or box-spring on it.
So worth fifteen dollars to me.
Would have been worth forty.
Thankfully, it wasn’t fifty. I may not have learned enough yet for that amount.
Yay for not moving (and moving around) that monstrosity sixty five times before it left my house.
If you’re horrified, I get it. I’ve been there. I’ve pursed my lips in disapproval at people who “wasted” any amount of money on things they could technically do themselves. But that was before I understood and accepted the value of open space in my home. The value of a Saturday morning without the hassle of a trip to the dump or the dark cloud of needing to take a trip to the dump hanging over my head. It’s been a long road, but I’ve learned a lot.
Oh. And that guy who takes everything I want to donate? The one thing he won’t/can’t take is mattresses.
If you are desperate to change your mindset, and you want home management strategies that actually make sense (to us not-naturally-organized types), check out my new book, How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind.
--Nony
So worth the $15. A dump run costs money (50-100 in my area), plus the hassel and fee for renting a truck. Most donation places won’t take matresses or box springs for fear of bedbugs. I know – my boxspring would not fofit up the stairs when we moved to our new place, and I’ve been trying to get rid of it for months. Finally found a way to dispose of it – it will finally be leaving my garage this week!
If simply dragging it out to the curb for your regular trash collection was not an option then $15 for haul-away was definitely and absolutely the right way to go! I’m proud of ya, Nony!
My new rationalization for paying people to do things I technically could do is that people need jobs, and I think it’s better to provide a job than a hand-out. It works for me; for hubby, not so much.
It’s not of you CAN, it’s if you SHOULD.
Having the ability to do something is not the same thing as it being smart for you to do it. You CAN move a mattress seven-eleven times, it doesn’t mean you SHOULD.
Soooo true. We live in a society based on the division of labour. So I can try to grow my own food and sew my own clothes and move a mattress seven-eleven times, but I don’t have to. And I sure don’t have to feel bad if I don’t do everything myself!
I just bought a new bed and payed extra so that they didn’t only deliver it to the curbside, but into my bedroom and took the packaging with them. Sooo worth it. Unfortunately they didn’t offer taking the old one. Fortunately the garbage collection service here collects bulky items for no extra cost every now and then, and I got rid of it today. But the seven weeks it sat in my tiny apartment I sure stubbed my toes a lot and would have happily payed something if they had taken the bed at once.
Completely the right choice. But people can rationalize this even when it’s a free service. Last year I had to have my tv equipment replaced. At the end of the service call the technician asked if I wanted him to take the old broken dish and box away. I sort of laughed about this being an obvious choice and he told me that his experience it was pretty much 50/50 on people keeping the broken equipment and people having him take it to be disposed of.
That is so fascinating!!
I would be in the 50% who would ask that the broken item be hauled away. My husband would be in the other 50%. It’s a constant frustration with me. It’s never one in/one out with him. 🙁
I’d pay it! Oh, and I hope you really like your new mattress! We got a new one 4-5 years ago and I love it! I sleep so much better!
Ditto on the awkwardness of laying on a bed in front of a salesman, but I’m glad we did! The first couple of mattresses I could still feel DH flop, and he could feel me—not good! Finally we found one where the flopping didn’t transfer. At that point it almost (almost!) didn’t matter what it cost!
I’m a cheapskate too, but I’ve started to pay for things like that too! Through experience, I can recognize when I “could” do something vs. something that would take me months to actually get around to doing. So worth the $15! Getting excited about your book coming out soon :-).
A. I have been living on your podcasts. You have no idea how much of a lifeline your encouragement is to me – and you’re right, habits make everything easier! The house is easier to clean when it was clean yesterday, just like my lawn is easier to mow if I don’t wait a month!
I get being frugal – we are trying to pay off six figures of student loans before we hit 30. or at least before we hit 31. Haha. So cheap and frugal and affordable and FREE is always the name of the game! Like the front door that we recently re-did for less than $50. And yes, I questioned every penny spent… and it was so worth it in the end. Good job on the mattress decision. 🙂
This is an old thread, but I had to laugh at the mental struggle over $15. I paid about $2000 over 3 separate occasions and several dump trucks clearing my house of old junk, including furniture, mattresses, non-working ride-on mowers, old electronics, etc. 20 years worth of junk, that might have had some value if I sold or donated these items the minute they no longer served a purpose in our lives. But holding onto these things “just in case” proved costly, as most things end up becoming obsolete or just unusable over time. Trying to do better.
Also worth paying to have delivery guys put furniture together. My husband has learned that lesson a few times! The “simple” directions never make any sense!