Generally cheap means of very poor quality or flimsy, Is that what you want in a mattress? Flimsy poor quality junk, junk that has deep body impressions in a month, that the sides collapse on a few weeks after purchase. Sure you could spend a few hundred bucks on a queen set now, then a year from now be sleeping on a lumpy uncomfortable mess. There you’ll be a year later out mattress shopping again looking for that great “cheap mattress”. Cheap is not the way to go. I understand cost can be an issue but those cheap mattresses are basically a scam, don’t fall for it.

However if you want a good mattress that is rather inexpensive there are options. Don’t buy the cheap mattress specials that the big names, like Sealy, Serta or Simmons, try to push on you they are just that cheap mattresses. You will know these mattresses first by the cost, you cannot get a decent queen set for three hundred bucks, it will just be made of cheap poor quality materials. Another thing you will notice about these so called “cheap mattresses” is how thin they are, how big can the springs be and how much foam could actually be in that four inch mattress.

The best option is to buy from a company like King Koil or Eclipse these two companies make great mattresses at great prices they have been around a long time and offer great warranties. My personal favorite is King Koil they offer bedding in all categories, the company has been in business over a century and offer very good non pro rated warranties.

Check mattress ratings, figure out how many times over the next fifteen years you will have to replace that “cheap mattress.” Compare that to the cost of a great quality “inexpensive mattress” from a brand like King Koil. Then factor in how much more productive you will be with a restful nights sleep. I think you will find that wise money is on a quality inexpensive mattress.

As the newspaper reports Polish furniture company Com.40 is launching mattress and couch production in Danville, VA for USD 36 million. The company plans to hire 800 workers.
Experts quoted by “Dziennik” believe the value of the US dollar against the Polish zloty may drop below 2.05. Some say it might even fall below what is called the “psychological barrier” of 2 PLN.

His expertise could not save the team from the nightmare of failing to qualify for Euro 2008, but he hopes this will not hinder his new business venture.

Littlehales has designed up to 40 sleep-related products using technology developed in the sports industry.

He has now signed a deal with Wilmslow-based Comfy Quilts to manufacture items such as mattresses which use the same cushioning materials as sports shoes and pillows with chilled inserts which cool down a sleeper’s head.

“Sleep is often interrupted because a person’s head gets too hot. You put the inserts in the fridge for a few hours and they cool the head down during the night,” he said.

Littlehales believes there is a market for the products among the public as well as athletes. “All these products and the technology come from the world of sport rather than Bhs,” said Littlehales. “Sleep debt is a major problem which many people have never taken much notice of. You might be sleeping eight hours a day but you are not getting the full benefits — unless you sleep in the right way and on the right products.”

The deal will involve privately-owned Comfy Quilts taking a 50 per cent share in Littlehales’ business, Sleep Active Ltd, which trades as sleepathlete.com. The website, which promotes the consultancy side of his business as well as selling the products, is being relaunched in September.

Littlehales, a former international sales and marketing director at the Slumberland Group, said the sports world has a lot to teach business people about the value of sleep.

Having worked with the Football Association since Euro 2004, he said he has seen first hand the link between performance on the field and full recovery from a good night’s sleep. Despite stories about boozing footballers, Littlehales said they take sleep very seriously and see it as an essential part of their training and recovery. “If you are a professional athlete you need to know how to sleep properly, if you have to perform mentally and physically on the pitch.

Things have changed so much since the days when George Best used to run around on a diet of whisky and fags,” said Littlehales, whose clients include present day Manchester United players.

Overstretched

In 2005 Littlehales had a consultancy business in Tib Street in the Northern Quarter and received regular visits from premiership players.

The business, Private Sanctuary Ltd, went under in August 2005 when he overstretched himself by opening a large shop in Piccadilly Gardens selling sleep products on the back of his work with the England squad. “The shop was too big at the time and I couldn’t devote enough time to it,” Littlehales said.

After the collapse, he started again by moving his consultancy to the internet and now believes it is time to go back into marketing products — but only online this time.

“We want to expand sleep athlete.com into a range of products which you would see on the high street to buy. We are going to build the brand,” Littlehales said. “We are trying to make sleep interesting and cool.”

Littlehales said his products would be priced in the mid to upper range. Jodi Schofield, director of Burgess Beds in Haslingden, said until the consumer downturn hit, people were spending more than £1,000 on a mattress because of health concerns.

Schofield said: “Nick wants to market the products to the general public but it’s quite a niche market and not everybody can afford an expensive bed.

“He has some good ideas which are very futuristic. It’s not a massive market, it’s a select market and a lot of marketing is through word of mouth.”

However, as consumers cut back on discretionary spending amid spiraling food and gas prices, a prolonged housing slump and weak credit markets, specialty mattress makers have been hit hard.

While the average mattress costs about $500, specialty mattresses can cost thousands of dollars.

And in the current environment, “you might hesitate on a $2,000 mattress purchase,” said Morgan Keegan analyst Laura Champine. “For the first time in years, traditional mattress sales are holding up better than specialty.”

Meanwhile, prices for raw materials such as steel for springs and foam have been soaring. As a result, specialty mattress makers reported dismal earnings for the first quarter.

In April, Select Comfort Corp., known for its “Sleep Number” bed, said it swung to a first quarter loss while revenue fell 22 percent.

Tempur-Pedic International Inc. said first-quarter profit fell by more than half as sales fell 7 percent.

At the time, company Chief Executive H. Thomas Bryant said “we believe average selling prices in the industry are trending lower as many consumers defer high-end mattress purchases.”

Sealy Inc.’s first-quarter profit dropped 34 percent, hurt by higher material costs and a dip in wholesale domestic sales. Revenue fell 5 percent.

Share prices have suffered as well. Since the beginning of the year, Tempur-Pedic shares are down 69 percent, Sealy shares have dropped 47 percent and Select Comfort shares are down 77 percent.

However, despite the weakness in the sector, some analysts still believe mattress makers are a good buy.

Champine, for example, rates both Tempur-Pedic and Sealy “Outperform.”

“The stocks have gotten killed, so they’re trading at much more reasonable valuations,” she said. “Sealy and Tempur-Pedic are still generating substantial cash flow.”

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Keith Hughes said that despite the weak trends, offering lower-price products is not necessarily the answer either.

“Given the brand appeal of Tempur-Pedic, I’m not sure going to the really low end is the answer,” said Hughes, who rates Sealy and Tempur-Pedic “Neutral.”

“I think answer is to wait it out for consumer demand to come back.”

Hughes said that the past three years have been the most difficult for the mattress industry, and added things aren’t likely to improve this year. But he believes conditions will improve eventually.

“I think the reality of this product is consumers like to buy it, they like to get a good night sleep,” he said.

He predicts that mattress sales will improve when consumer renovation sales begin to improve.

“Investors have to understand that this is probably the worst period of time we’re ever going to see in the industry,” he said. “This is not a normal situation.”

We’re comparing gas mileage over morning coffee, jealous of those smug Prius pioneers and their 44 miles per gallon. There’s that guy at the office who walks to work - and talks about it each morning. The envy factor is higher for the neighbor with new bamboo floors than the friend who bought a Tuscan abode in Troon. In Hollywood, the new movie-star-laden waiting list isn’t for a motorcycle or a private plane but for a just-released Simmons Natural Care mattress constructed from the milky sap of the rubber tree.

It seems eco-pride is the fun new bragging right. Living large now means living small, and he who has the most canvas grocery bags wins.

We used to fixate on financials and fitness: who makes the most money or who has the perfect Pilates-toned body. Perhaps we should just be glad then that our psychoses are fixating on something a little more important: Mother Earth and who loves her most.

Lunchtime girl talk in Ivy Ciolli’s circle of friends shifted recently from “What are you wearing?” to “What part are you contributing to making the environment a better place?” says Ciolli, 30, co-owner of Twig and Twill, a Scottsdale shop that stocks eco-friendly fashions and home products.

The ladies gather at Cafe Monarch for organic salads and discuss cork floors and non-toxic cleaning products.

“They all think of what they did that was green or organic or good to the environment, and they want to tell me,” Ciolli says.

The same chatter has taken over the hallowed halls of the hair salon. Instead of talking about how many carbs they aren’t eating, the girls are gabbing about how they’re saving the world, one lightbulb at a time.

While she is applying eyelash extensions at Leidan Mitchell Salon in Phoenix, Sydney Goldstein and her clients discuss their latest finds from Whole Foods or the organic section of Safeway. They exchange tips on locating organic dog food and discuss the benefits of sleeping on shredded-rubber pillows and non-petroleum-based mattresses.

“People are just really excited about it,” says Goldstein, 28.

It’s the perfect trend for a recession. No one wants to feel bad about the new car they’re not buying or the island vacation they aren’t taking. When faced with beach-bound friends or the neighbor’s latest vehicular acquisition, why not brag, just a bit, about all the fuel you’re saving this summer by staying home and changing all the lightbulbs or coating the house in paint that’s low in volatile organic compounds? Doing good is supposed to feel good, after all.

“There’s a sense of pride to it because it is such a social cause, all about personal action,” says eco-chic poster boy Danny Seo, who writes books, hosts TV shows and counsels celebrities about the glories of going green. He even helped design that new must-have Simmons mattress and lives on a farm in Pennsylvania.

There’s something of a secret club, or at least a knowing glance, Seo says, for those who spot one another doing good.

Picture two strangers in line at the grocery store, both armed with canvas bags, and watch them until they make eye contact.

“You can always tell,” Seo says. “(They) look at each other, like, ‘We both remembered, isn’t that great?’ ”

You can still be electronically posh if you don’t have the new iPhone. Just send out every e-mail imbued with the new stylish send-off: “Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.”

There’s even something to celebrate about Prius chic, weary as non-Prius owners may be of hearing about its joys. The cool car in America now isn’t a Mercedes or a sleek Porsche but a relatively affordable hatchback that looks like a beetle - and not in the cute Volkswagen way.

“It definitely is not a good-looking car,” Ciolli says, but “you can get away with having (one) because it looks like you’re doing what’s cool.”

Even Valley real-estate agent Neil Brooks switched from a fancy ride to a Prius. He expected his clients to complain and heard compliments, instead, he says.

Vehicular boasting rights are changing, indeed. One in five cars sold in America in April was a subcompact or compact model, up from just one in eight cars about 10 years ago, according to sales data and J.D. Power and Associates. Forget six or eight cylinders and oodles of horsepower: High miles-per-gallon readings are the sexy new numbers that salesmen love to whisper in your ear.

As a dental hygienist, Julie Strehlow has the daily chore of carrying on rather one-sided chats, and these days, that means bragging to clients about her new Prius and the fact that she can fill her gas tank for $48.

“It makes me feel kind of like I’m keeping up with the times, kinda in with the in group a little bit,” says Strehlow, 49. “Anything to not feel like I’m getting older and older.”

Oh, and yes, she feels glad about helping the planet, too.

“It’s fun with the Prius,” Strehlow says. “There are so many around. You kind of wave to each other at the stoplight, like you’re doing your part, kinda like, ‘Did you unplug your toaster this morning? We did!’ ”

Those who have been entrenched in eco-minded living for some time look at all this carrying on and giggle a bit. The truly devout go about their way quietly riding bikes to work or composting faithfully, while newbies buy a new lightbulb or visit the farmers market and wait for the Earth to move, or at least for a small chorus of praise from their friends.

“It’s like you’re trying to hit a home run, and you just managed to nick the ball,” says Greg Burkett, 23, an eco-devotee studying design and sustainable consumerism at Arizona State University. “You’ve got a long way to go. You can be proud of finally not missing the ball.”

It’s baby steps, he says, and baby steps are good, but eventually consumers are going to have to stop parading about and start taking these steps because it’s the right thing to do.

It’s about a small, silent footprint, after all.

My husband and I decided it was time when our toddler was waking up every night for a glass of water, to use the bathroom or any other excuse to get some comforting. When we moved her to her big girl bed, she stopped waking up in the middle of the night.

We talked to Dr. W. Michael Brown, director of pediatrics at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, who offers these tips on moving your toddler to a big bed:

• “If they’re trying to climb out, it’s time to move.” Brown says this is the No. 1 reason parents are forced to make the transition. Typically it’s boys, between 15 and 18 months old, trying to climb out. But for any child at this age, be sure to remove the crib’s bumper pads, lower the mattress all the way down and get anything out of the crib that can be used as a step (i.e. stuffed animals). Watch for any signs that the child is going for the rail. Falling from a crib is way worse than falling from a toddler bed, he says.

• Toddler bed or twin bed, it makes no difference. It’s a matter of preference, not safety. But Brown recommends going straight to a twin bed if all things are equal. “The reason being, if you pick the toddler bed, the child won’t fit there for too long and you’ll have to buy another bed,” he said.

• Protect them in the new bed. Easiest thing sometimes is to put the crib mattress down next to the new bed in case the child rolls out, Brown says. You can also use a mesh guard rail, but be careful if your child is large. Rolling against it could be uncomfortable.

• Make the transition easier. If your child isn’t excited enough at the prospect, provide an incentive, like you did in toilet training. Brown recommends themed sheets or blankets (we did Dora the Explorer in my house), and talk up the thrill of being a big boy or big girl.

• “Sometimes they’re just happy as they can be in that crib.” Brown says he knows of some kids as old as 3, 4 or 5 years old who still sleep in a crib and that’s totally fine. “As long as they fit and they’re not trying to climb out, it’s okay!” he says.

To promote this theme, I’m introducing a new feature called “A Bay Area Moment.” From time to time, I’ll write about an experience that would only happen in the Bay Area–and then I hope you’ll share your moments. This feature offers us the opportunity to celebrate and laugh at ourselves.

My kids and I had a Bay Area moment over the weekend. Here goes:

On Saturday, we bought a mattress (thanks to a generous donation from grandma) for Dante’s twin bed frame. I, the paranoid mother, didn’t want a mattress treated with toxic flame retardant so I spent Friday night researching green options. We finally decided to make our purchase at Keetsa, a San Francisco-based company that uses nontoxic flame retardants, recycled materials, and sustainable ingredients.

I called the store the following morning.

“Hi, I need a mattress. Do you have a twin in stock?”

“Well yeah, but we’ve got the Folsom Street Fair going on over here and I might close shop.” (A little background: Keetsa is located at Ninth and Folsom. The Folsom Street Fair is an S&M festival.)

“If I hop in the car right now, will you stay open? I need a mattress today.”

“Yah, come on over.”

We pulled up to Keetsa, which sits next to the entrance of the fair. As we were getting out of the car, a huge naked man rode by on his bike.

“Mom, why does that guy have a sock on his penis?” Paris asked.

“Um, well, um…”

“And Mom, why does he have rings sticking through his bottom?”

Only in the Bay Area would you see a man with pierced butt cheeks on your way to buy a mattress treated with sustainably grown green tea.

Anyone else have a Bay Area moment to share?

Through their winning entries in Green Nest’s Freecycle Contest, both Shannon B. of Windsor, CT and Holly A. of Topanga, CA can rest easy on their new certified organic mattress foundations. The Green Nest organic mattress foundations were donated by a local Southern California family, The Garmon’s, who said, “The choices were not hard to make. The ones which touched our hearts the most were the ones who were putting others in front of themselves. Servant Hearts!”

The Green Nest Organic slat Foundation has a heavy-duty organic cotton cover that is united with extra-firm support from wide wood slats placed every two inches for maximum coverage.

The Organic Slat Foundations are designed to be used with the Green Nest Organic Inner Spring or natural latex mattresses while providing perfect support and unmatched comfort. Solid wood slats are fitted following a traditional European design in heavy-duty organic cotton fabric. They feature a 2 inch gap between slats which allows for ample air circulation as well as a heavy-duty organic cotton cover and kiln-dried Spruce wood frame. These foundations offer both the benefits of organic materials and environmentally friendly practices.

According to Green Nest LLC, organic materials such as wool and cotton are better for humans and the environment. Using wool helps regulate temperature, and keeps irritating chemicals or pesticides away from sleepers. Because these products utilize organic wool they keep pesticides, antibiotics, and chemicals away from animals and groundwater.

“Traditional furniture often contains finishes and plastics that can unleash harmful chemicals into your home, putting your family’s health at risk. But our environmentally friendly bedding options - like organic organic mattresses, linens, barrier covers, wood furniture and fabrics - are made without the use of pesticides, chemical finishes and composite substances that can off-gas chemical vapors” says Lisa Beres, co-founder of Green Nest. In addition, their gorgeous new bed frames are just the beginning of their natural products furniture line that will provide families with organic alternatives to health endangering furniture.

“If you can only get six, then why not get a better six?” the ads ask, referring to the fact that most Americans no longer get the traditional eight hours of sleep per night.

The light-hearted campaign supports two major project introductions by the Trinity-based manufacturer, according to an announcement from Sealy (NYSE: ZZ). In January, the company debuted its new Posturepedic Innerspring line, designed for back support and pressure relief. Sealy also recently brought out a specialty latex product it calls PurEmbrace.

Mattress-makers in general, like the rest of the furniture industry, have suffered from the slow housing market. Sealy has been growing more slowly than its niche competitors like Tempur-Pedic and Select Comfort, according to industry trade newspaper Furniture/Today.

Today with the Internet there are many more opportunities to shop for good deals on a whole range of used items including children’s furniture. However, older items may not be safe, as they might not meet local and/or current safety regulations. Theses items include:

Car seats

Experts do not recommend buying used car seats. Used car seats usually do not come with instructions; it is essential that car seats be installed and used properly and as directed. If the seat is more than 10

years old it is considered unsafe. Are all the parts in perfect working order? Is it the right size and fit for your child? A seat that has been in a collision must not be used again. Buyers cannot tell how old the seat is or what has happened to it. All car seats must meet current safety standards and carry a compliance label (stating the size of the child for which the seat is designed) on the side, rear or bottom of the seat.

Cribs

Cribs made before September 1986 don’t meet current safety standards. The mattress support in them, suspended by hooks, is not secure and can collapse easily. These cribs cannot be fixed to meet the standard and must not be sold or given away.

Strollers

Strollers manufactured before 1985 may not meet current standards. Choose one that is both sturdy and safe. The stroller must match the size and age of the child and be sturdy enough to support the child and not be easily tipped.

Walkers

WALKERS ARE VERY DANGEROUS and should not be used, they actually have been banned in Canada.