Things you should know before buying a mattress from a first time mattress buyer

I recently bought a mattress that my girlfriend and I really, really like. She likes it so much that she's referred to it as "heavenly". I notice myself tossing and turning much less when I try to go to bed and I feel like I'm getting much higher quality sleep. The process of finally buying this mattress, however, was a bit of a headache and I made a few mistakes along the way. I'm not an expert, but here's a bunch of things I learned as a first time mattress buyer that you'll find helpful if you're looking to buy a great mattress.

1. If you don't sleep alone, buy a mattress with motion isolation.

I really can't stress this enough because it's so important. I actually exchanged my first mattress for the one I have now because any movement that me or my girlfriend made were really noticeable and it hurt our sleep the very first night.

Without motion isolation, it only takes one persons movement on the mattress to ruin the others sleep. If you're buying a mattress with a spring support system, make sure you buy the ones that specify "pocket springs". In a pocket spring system, every coil in the system is independent of one another and that prevents the motion from one part of the bed from transferring over to another.

2. Support vs comfort (softness). Go for both but know that support is more important than comfort.

There are different "comfort" categories such as "firm", "pillowtop", and "plush". The industry calls them comfort preferences but that's a little misleading because they don't mean how comfortable the mattress is (since that's subjective), they really just describe the softness of the mattress. Namely, how far any part of the mattress is able to sink down when pressure is applied.

The softness of the mattress is what you'll immediately experience when you try a mattress for the first time. The feel of the softness is important, but don't make the mistake of buying a mattress just because it feels great when you're lying on your back for the first five minutes. Don't let it fool you. What you're feeling is the upper layer of the mattress. What's more important is the middle layers, which are the support layers.

The job of the support layers is to primarily to support your spinal alignment by contouring itself to the shape of your body as if it were standing up straight. You can have a really soft and seemingly comfortable mattress, but you'll wake up with awful back pain if the mattress has poor support.

It's hard to tell whether or not a mattress has good support from lying down on it for a few minutes, so the best thing to do is just to ask. You can change the softness of your mattress but you cannot change it's support (which is what you're paying the most for).

3. A mattress that has a solid support system, comfortable surface, and motion isolation will probably cost more than $800.

I've tried many, many mattresses (20 - 30) while I was shopping for a mattress and I rarely came across one that I really liked that was only for a few hundred bucks. Assume that if it's less than $800, it's likely compromising on one of those three features. Either it has poor support, no motion isolation, or cheap surface fabric. If you're not sure which one from trying it, ask directly. I'm not getting paid by a mattress company to say this - you really do feel the difference. The prices are not arbitrary.

4. Don't be afraid to test the mattress at the store.

Does it claim to have motion isolation? Does it say it has a great support system? Test it. Don't be afraid to try the mattress. When you buy new clothes at a store, you try it out in the fitting room don't you? There's no mattress fitting room, but don't let that stop you from rolling around on the mattress. When I was showed a couple of mattresses that supposedly had reduced motion transfer, I asked the sales person to lie down next to me and and then roll off the bed. I tried this with a few different beds - all promising the same thing on paper but delivering different results - until I found one that I was satisfied with. Don't just take their word for it - try it and experience it for yourself before you decide to fork over your money.

5. Know your budget.

There are some incredibly expensive mattresses. If you're not careful, you could end up spending a whole lot of money for very slight marginal improvements in comfort. For me, the mattress I settled with was within my budget and was good enough for me. Were there better ones? Yes - but it was only slightly more comfortable for twice the price and I wasn't willing to spend more than I allocated no matter how much more comfortable.

Pick a price range and then stick to it. This will prevent you from spending more than you have make your search much more efficient. You can always find a better, however slightly, mattress if you do not budget and that can eat up a lot of your time. By sticking to a range, you're able to compare mattresses in a similar quality spectrum and make a faster decision.

6. You can get a discount if you do your research.

After you've tried a number of mattresses in person and found a few that you like, check the price online with the exact specification. I did this but made the mistake of leaving out one crucial detail and ended up buying a mattress which I had to exchange because it was not the same mattress. A lot of them look the same and have very similar names so you have to be very specific.

Try to get a range of prices for each one. If they're less than the in-store retail price, go back to the store and ask for a discount. I suggest going back to the store because:

1. If it's really the same product and it's cheaper elsewhere, they'll likely sell it to you at a discount because they want to earn their commission.

2. If it's not the same, you'll know because they'll tell you that it's not and refuse to budge on price.

Donating used goods

I've been cleaning out my apartment recently and wanted to get rid of a lot of old clothes that I don't plan on wearing anymore. Most of them were still in very good condition so wanted to donate them instead of throwing them away. I did some research and found a couple of non-profit organizations that have drop off sites in NYC and I highly recommend them if you're looking to donate clothes that you don't wear anymore.

Organizations

The Salvation Army

A non profit that's also a christian church. They provide food, shelter, and humanitarian aid.

Good Will Industries

A non profit that provides community-based programs like job training and employment placement for people who have disabilities.

Both organizations have store operations throughout the country that sell the non-cash donations that they receive. They're essentially non-profit thrift shops. If you're looking to donate your goods, make sure you go to a drop-off location. You can't drop off your stuff at a store.

For example, there's a Salvation Army location in Manhattan called the "Salvation Army Store and Drop off Center" where you can buy used goods as well as donate.

Physique Swimming: Lesson 10

I had my final swimming lesson with Physique Swimming today!

We started off with a variant of the streamline. You take the streamline position and then you take a breath by moving your arms apart to take a breath and then back into streamline. I had a lot of trouble staying afloat after coming up for air. This was due to a few issues:

• Instead of simply parting my arms I was pulling them too far back. This meant that when I put them back into streamline, I was creating too much drag. The key is to part them slightly and push down slightly to get air. 
• Don't jerk your head up too high or your legs will sink. That's like the basic mistake.
• Exhale slowly. Don't breathe it all out at once. This prevents you from feeling out of air too quickly and keeps you buoyant longer. 

We then worked on streamlining and turn. You would swim in streamline on your stomach and then turn onto your back while still holding streamline. Every time I turned, I would keep kicking but my face remain submerged under water. 

• I'm kicking my feet up - this is sending me into the water. Try to let your legs drop a bit lower and kick downwards a bit. 
• Your hands are not tilted upwards. Tilting it up will help push you higher in the water. I have no idea why.
• You are dropping your hips. Don't drop them or else your feet will go up and your butt will go down and cause you to sink. 
• Maintain your streamline. Keep your arms outstretched.

Note: Not having your arms outstretched makes it significantly easier to stay afloat. 

Finally, we did some treading. I think I finally got it! We started by just trying to keep our head on top of the water. Then we were asked to show one hand. And then the other hand. 

What works:

• Slow but wide movements. This creates a lot of power while minimizing effort. 
• Push down with your hands and do a flutter kick with your legs at the same time. 
• Breath out slowly 
• Kick a bit harder when you bring your arms outside of the water. 

Next steps:

• My instructor told me I should continue practicing on my own and maybe come for a private lesson once a week or once every two weeks to make sure I'm on the right track. 
• Work on my breathing. Stop exhaling so fast and relax.