(On A Budget) Need A New Mattress But Can’t Afford One

I’ve slept on the floor on top of a Yoga Mat. I’ve been there, broke and needing a new mattress but could not afford one. Money was tight, but I was not going to be buying those stupid expensive new mattresses.

I did not feel out of place sleeping on the floor on a Yoga Mat since I was a broke college student. To be honest, the sleep wasn’t that bad.

Looking back on those days reminded me how far we have come in buying mattresses. When I was in college, there was no buying a mattress online, you had to go to the stores. Since now you can purchase a mattress online, it has cut the cost of beds by a lot. This makes buying a new mattress on a budget so much easier now, even for the broke college kids.

If you’re on a budget and looking for a cheap mattress option I have created a guide to help you find something that will fit your wallet.

I’m not going to lie, some of my advice you might not like, and it will sound crazy, but you got to stick with me on this one.

The Crazy Option

I want to get the crazy option out of the way. The crazy option is also the cheapest too, so stick with me. If you need the most affordable option for a mattress, then you got to sleep on the floor.

Yeah, I know – but hear me out!

Sleeping on the floor is not a crazy as it sounds, many cultures do it, and our ancestors did it too. The trick to sleeping on the floor is not to sleep directly on the ground. You got to be like me and place a Yoga mat under you.

You can even take it a step further and buy a memory foam topper to sleep on instead. When you start to think about it, a memory foam topper is really just a skinny memory foam mattress.

The reason you don’t want to sleep directly on the floor unless you want to is that it’s not the best on your joints. The crazy part is that sleeping on the floor on top of a mat can be good for your back, so consider this if you have back troubles.

I Need A Real Mattress Option

So we got the crazy part out of the way and sleeping on the floor does not float your boat. A real mattress is needed – what can we do?

The cheapest option for a mattress will be an innerspring mattress. The cheapest place to get one will not be within driving distance or at any store. When you start to sit down and consider why a store is not the best place to buy an affordable mattress you start to realize something. Stores have a lot of overhead, lightings, signage, employees, rent, and whatever a company needs to keep an open to the public store running.

When you start to sit down and consider why a store is not the best place to buy an affordable mattress you start to realize something. Stores have a lot of overhead, lightings, signage, employees, rent, and whatever a company needs to keep an open to the public store running.

Now, on the other hand, an online store will have lower overhead. The real kicker is when you buy from an online store that sells many different brands within a clicking distance. More competition = lower price, This is because you have so many companies fighting for the same spot.

What might surprise you the most about these affordable Spring Mattresses is how comfortable they are. Sure, it’s a cheap mattress, but that doesn’t mean it’s a crap mattress. Mattress construction has come very far which means better value to the customer at better prices.

You can get these mattresses in these sizes:

This all wouldn’t be possible without the internet.

The Internet has created a place where companies can sell many more mattresses at a better price to the consumer. Also, the high competition keeps them in check.

On the other hand, it’s hard to price shop a mattress at a store since they confuse you with different names for the same mattress. Plus the margins on a mattress at retail chains is crazy, with some going above 200% markup. That is just crazy!

I Want Cheap, But Not A Spring Mattress

The next option for a budget-friendly mattress besides the floor or a Spring mattress will be a memory foam mattress. A memory foam mattress can be quite expensive; an example would be the Tempurpedic mattresses.

The good news is that there are some lower priced memory foam beds out there.

When I got older and could afford a nicer mattress I went with the more cost-effective memory foam mattress. It was not the most economical, but it was a ton cheaper than those Tempurpedic ones. Honestly, I can’t tell a difference between my affordable memory foam mattress to the expensive high-end ones.

I sleep on a Signature Sleep Memoir 12-Inch Memory Foam Mattress. For the price, you can’t beat this mattress.

What Should I Avoid?

About the only mattress to avoid when it comes to price is the Latex Mattress. Latex mattresses can be quite expensive. Truth be told they are very nice to sleep on.

If you want to learn more about latex vs. memory foam vs. spring mattress, I have little guide about it here.

What About The Bed Frame?

The most affordable option for a bed frame will be a platform bed. Some Spring Mattresses will require a box spring, so keep that in mind when buying it.

One of the perks of a memory foam mattress is that you don’t need a box spring, you can place it directly on the platform bed.

The platform bed frame you want to buy is really up to the style you like. You have a lot of options to pick from.

Since this post is about the most affordable and best options, I consider the Zinus 14 Inch SmartBase Mattress Foundation* the number one choice. The Smartbase frame allows for you to store more stuff under it, doesn’t squeak, and stores away nice and neat for when you move. Match all that with the price and you get a really great bed frame.

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