A Bed of Dilemmas

29 August 2006 15:17:49

Call me obsessed, call me financially minded, call me whatever you’d like. It seems as of late many things that I’ve spent time thinking about have been money related. For the last few months, I’ve been mentally debating myself about buying a new bed. The bed I currently use is “that bed” we all somehow pick-up in college—my college roommate’s parents bought it for him when he was old enough for his own bed. And then while in college, he gets married, gets a bigger bed, and I’m left with the spare one.

Don’t get me wrong, the bed has been a huge blessing for the last three or four years, but nonetheless, the bed has seen better days years. It’s slowly killing me to sleep on the thing. I wake up in more pain than I went to bed with. I need a new bed. It’s that simple. But it’s not that simple.

Beds are freakin’ expensive. Seriously, have you ever actually looked at what a brand-new bed costs? We’re talking somewhere in the rage of $500-$1000 for a descent queen size mattress/box spring set. And that’s on the low side. I’ve casually browsed online and seen beds for well over $3000! What the heck? What do they make these things out of? There’s not enough volume there for $3000 in solid gold.

So that’s the big complaint. I don’t want to shell out the cash for something that isn’t important. Right, like a bed isn’t important. I only spend roughly a third of my life on it. What’s the issue then? I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right to spend so much money on a bed. Maybe it’s the fact that I just don’t want to spend the money. I mean, I’ve been working hard to stop spending money I don’t have (read: credit cards) and start saving money I do have so I don’t have to live the rest of my life at the mercy of an APR (Another Personal Rip-off). Maybe I’d rather spend that kind of money on something more fun that a bed. A new computer, a trip to the Boundary Waters, those are just a few good ideas.

Here lies my dilemma. None of the excuses I can muster come close to justification for not buy a new bed. And yet, my mind is just not comfortable with the idea. I don’t get it. It looks like I’ll be bed shopping this weekend.