Mail Bag: A Year Later, Would You Still Recommend the TempurPedic GrandBed?
I get this question periodically so I’m going to respond to the latest version of it publicly to save time in the future by linking to it as a response.
Joshua,
On one of your family posts last year, you mentioned a TempurPedic GrandBed. Our friends rave about it and your recommendations about everything else have been amazing so I wanted to know how you feel having slept on it for some time now. Would you still recommend it? My wife really wants one but I balk at spending $8,500 on the King size mattress. By the time you add in the bed, comforter, sheets, and other stuff it would approach $20,000. That seems ridiculous.
Hunter F.
You are correct. I mentioned it in an off-handed comment when we had finished designing the bedding back when my life was consumed with home renovations.
To answer your question, one of my rules in life is to never say something if Tim Curry can say it better. So here is my response:
Yes. It is worth it. I have no idea what I did or how I lived before I had it. It’s worth way more than the future compounding you have to give up to enjoy it. There is a 4-6 week adjustment period, though, just like they warn because it is unlike anything you’ve ever had. I used to wake up 3-4 times per night. It’s been a year and I sleep through the entire night. Anything else is miserable except for one bed in the Omni Hotel in downtown Dallas which was so good I would have bought it for a guest room.
The TempurPedic GrandBed is so unbelievably fantastic that one night, maybe six months ago, as I was about to pass out, I feel the significant other curl up under the covers, snuggle up behind me, get right up to my ear, and whisper dramatically but with a hint of seriousness, “I will never go back.” If, God forbid, the apocalypse comes and the global economic system collapses, we may all be living in cardboard box houses, but I will at least have the TempurPedic.
There’s a reason people talk about it like a cult. It’s … magic and fairy dust and rainbows and dividends. In fact, I think it even comes with free puppies.*
To be fair, I was frugal about it like I am most things. It’s a habit when you grow up relatively poor. I never pay retail if I can help it so I took advantage of one of the only sales TempurPedic permits and bought mine with the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder discount, which was around 50% off if I recall correctly.
(I got the bedroom set even cheaper. The bed frame and dressers were $21,235 but the sales associate with whom I was working called me and said that the manufacturer had one set left in a warehouse somewhere in the United States and if I would pay cash on the spot, they would let me have it for $7,107 plus sales tax and shipping, making it 70%+ off. They were discontinuing the line and wanted to clear up the space; she saw it and knew I would love the style.)
So, yes, I highly recommend the GrandBed. I also say find a way to get a discount like I did then save or invest the difference. This is one of those areas where you can have your cake and eat it, too. Considering that you will spend more time of your life in bed than anywhere else, it is a wonderful bargain; cheaper than a car, certainly, and gives you much more utility. You don’t realize how much of a difference it makes until you see what life is like with it.
Even if you did pay retail, you’re still only talking about $70.83 per month, spread out over ten years. People spend more than that on smartphones or cable subscriptions. When you do a cost accounting schedule, it’s far more affordable than it appears. Looking at it another way, The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the average American sleeps 7.6 hours per night. Over 10 years, counting leap days, you are talking about 27,759 hours you will spend asleep. Paying the full retail $8,500, the cost would be slightly more than $0.30 per hour to feel as if you were nestled in a piece of heaven and wake up without any pain. Very few things in life approach that kind of utility return per dollar spent.
*The TempurPedic GrandBed does not, in actuality, come with free puppies.