Our Mattress Story: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

I hate to admit it but prior to this summer Dave and I were sleeping on a mattress that my parents bought me when I was 16. It was decades old and it was only a double.

That’s why when I was excited to work with Serta. They recently flew me out to their headquarters, provided accommodations, transportation, meals, a mattress, and adjustable base.

I am excited to be a Serta iComfort Directions ambassador. While at the Serta headquarters where I learned all about mattresses and how they are made and quality tested as well as a few tips for picking out a good mattress as well.

While on the trip the Serta crew wanted to get to know all of the bloggers a bit better so when we arrived they asked us to introduce ourselves and then share info about our current mattress. They wanted to know size, type, and age. They were curious to see why we picked the mattress we did and what we liked or didn’t like about it.

As the other bloggers started introducing themselves and answering these questions one-by-one, I could feel my face start to get redder and redder. They were saying their mattresses were 2-5 years old, memory foam of some sort, and each one of them had a king size. I never realized other people actually buy mattresses every 5-10 years. I couldn’t think of one mattress in our house that was less than 25 years old.

When it came to my turn I admit I wasn’t exactly truthful.

I did tell the age of my mattress and when I heard the appalled gasps in the room from the other bloggers I immediately decided to not say anything about the size of the mattress unless pressed.

The Serta crew was very interested to learn why we had never bought a new mattress. I explained we just didn’t have the money for it. I thought we were in the norm. Mattresses are expensive and we honestly were never in the position to purchase one. They all nodded their heads in gracious understanding and even said that Dave and I were a much more common representation of the general public than you’d think.

I thought they were then going to move on to other things, instead they asked the next dreaded question, “What size mattress is it?”

I felt like I was in junior high and my face burned as I imagined the utter shock of the other bloggers when they heard we were sleeping on a double bed. So I clumsily tumbled over my words and mumbled out, “A king.” Everyone nodded and thankfully they moved on to the next order of business.

I never lie but the mattress made me do it.

While the lie got me out of the jam I felt I was in, it really weighed on me. It wasn’t long however before the truth came out. Later that afternoon the bloggers and I were talking while we waited in the Serta headquarters lobby and in the course of the conversation I slipped up and said we had a double bed.

This is why I never lie. I’m terrible at it. I blame the mattress.

As soon as the words came out of my mouth I knew I was caught. But then there was a moment or two when everyone went on talking and I was about to breathe a sigh of relief. Just then one of the bloggers abruptly turned to me and said, “Wait, I thought you said you had a king?”

At first I tried to play it off and laughed like it was a misunderstanding but in the end I did own up to it and said we had a double. There was a chorus of “I can’t even imagine” and “How do you do it?” and “No wonder you’re 2 Tired.”

It’s true. For years Dave and I were exhausted. We could never figure out why. We exercised. We made sure to eat right. We did stay up too late but we’d balance it out with early nights here and there too. It impacted our lives so much that it’s became the name of this blog.

I never attributed the exhaustion to our mattress. Isn’t that funny?

It makes sense though. We were cramming ourselves into a tiny double bed on a mattress that was more than 25 years old. Anyone would have been tired all the time.

While at Serta we discussed mattress purchases and talked about why people buy the mattresses they do. One thing that really stood out to me was the thought that yes, purchasing a mattress is a huge investment. But they are something that you use every single day for years. You have to change your thinking. When you try to go with a cheap mattress to save money you may be buying something that is uncomfortable and therefore affects your daily life. A good mattress equals a good night’s sleep which is priceless. .

This thought changed my mindset about a lot of things. I used to be a cheapskate when it came to buying jeans. I hate spending money on jeans, but I wear them every single day. Therefore I should be spending a bit more money to get high quality jeans so that they fit better, look better, are more comfortable, and last longer.

The same goes for buying a mattress. Since we’ve had the Serta iComfort Directions Epic King Size Mattress Dave and I have been sleeping so much better. Thanks to the memory foam we can’t feel every movement the other person makes.

I’ve heard that memory foam can hold heat but this mattress is made with EverCool GFX Memory Foam and has a Cool Action Dual Effects that offers additional support and technology that helps transport heat away from the body. I was excited to learn that the Epic mattress is the only iComfort Directions mattress that features Cool Action Gel Energy Foam which responds quickly for enhanced comfort. The MicroSupport Gel also helps enhance the cooling properties of the mattress.

We’ve now had this mattress for a couple of months and it has been life changing. It’s soft, comfortable, and at the end of every day we are excited to climb into bed.

We recommend the Serta iComfort Directions Epic Mattress to anyone looking for a new mattress especially to those who are like us and had a 25-year-old mattress full of lumps and bumps. You’ve been saving your money for 25 years and now is the time to treat yourself with a new mattress. We’ve found this mattress to be worth every penny.