Why is buying a mattress so confusing?

Argh. I need to rant. Recently my mattress gave up the ghost, it was lumpy, uncomfortable and generally just a mess. I was waking up at 4am with back and neck pains, and this wasn’t really ideal as you can imagine.

Part of the problem was my pillow.

I have had the same Slumber branded pillows for 8 years now, and they say that most pillows should be replaced after just 5.

But the average person only replaces their mattress every 7 years or so – despite coming with 10 year guarantees, as is the case with the Nectar mattress for example.

And what’s more pages and pages of reviews don’t really help, although this website tries to de-mysitfy the entire mattress buying process.

Dreams claims that you should replace your mattress every 8 years – and has come up with some techy-sounding formula for it.

Strange that a company that sells mattresses should advocate such a long period – I would have thought, it would have been better for them to say every 8 months! 🙂

There are so many strange words and marketing hype in this market that it makes me want to scream. What exactly IS ‘micro-Q’ technology? And why are all mattresses, if they are so different, made in the same factory in Derby?! It is all just marketing nonsense.

Their marketing spend is also huge. I have read that around 25% of the cost of a mattress is eaten up by marketing and advertising.

Hiring models and a photography room all costs lots of money

 

In the end I bought the mattress that was cheapest, highly ranked and reviewed, and just generally easy to understand…

For anyone wondering, the one I bought was the (double) Sofia mattress by Silentnight. Nothing flash, nothing expensive, but it does the job.

If you are spending £1299 on a mattress I think personally you need to re-assess your life.

 

 

Surviving the COVID meltdown

Aargh! I am starting to go mad, but I guess we are all in the same boat. But I don’t eat at McDonalds so that’s some small grace.

Not like this small child I read about – what a BRAT!

The four-year-old, from Chelmsford, Essex, burst into tears when it dawned on her that she’d have to survive on her mum’s cooking alone.

Luckily, Layla-Rae’s mum Joanne found the whole thing hilarious and filmed her “drama queen” daughter’s meltdown to share with family and friends.

In the video, Joanna lists all the takeaways that have had to shut down – including KFC, Nando’s, and McDonald’s – while Layla-Rae cries in horror.

Struggling to compose herself, the four-year-old then meekly asked her mum: “Are Chinese closed too?”

Firstly what is the name Layla-Rae about and can we expect this kind of bhaviour from other similar brats?!

“Then she kept on crying as she does like McDonald’s – but doesn’t eat it all the time.

“Afterwards she just cuddled me and then went upstairs to bed and called her nana.”

Although she found the whole thing hilarious, Joanne says she always thought her daughter liked her cooking – and that four-year-old Layla-Rae isn’t always the easiest to cater for. She added: “She can be very hard to cook for because she says ‘no I don’t want that’, but she can be very easily persuaded as she’s tried different meals.

“When she was going to a childminder she was eating a variety of food, but when she came home she would say ‘I don’t like sweetcorn’ and I said ‘you ate it earlier’ and she said ‘I don’t like it now and I don’t like it here…That’s just a four-year-old trying to make their stance really.”

Why is this woman excusing the behaviour of her child, instead she should be focussing on herself trying to find out why her child is so spoiled!!

I have found a way to save money though, and it involves using voucher codes. I found a working 10% off AO.com code here.

The money situation

Soooo, about the cash/money. Firstly, I am going to lose about £1m in  trade from my business receipts. Then there’s the hefty question of fan compensation. This is a force majeure, no doubt, but there are going to be a lot of my suppliers fearing for their jobs right now, so getting a refund on a product they didn’t get full use out of is going to be a top, top priority.

I fully expect returns and refunds to rocket when I go back to work too.

Loads of good signs though to stay positive!! Google are paying their contractors. Most are resisting layoffs (he says after week one). They are all keen to take a stand that keeps their businesses intact / doesn’t leave them hate figures when all this settles down.That is a huge question. We’re not in great shape as it is financially, so how we deal with this will be interesting.

Our mortgage repayments are going to go down at least, but only by a tiny percent. Thanks Rishi!?