Another request for help.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So much for not blogging. You all were so great about the ink stain options (I plan on dedicating part of my evening to fixing my jacket) that I wanted to ask for more help.

How do you buy a mattress?

1995-2000 I used college supplied mattresses

2000-01 I borrowed a bed from a friend who was studying abroad

2001-05 I used a borrowed futon mattress

2005-07 I bought a used Serta Pillow Top and loved it until my 30th birthday. Seemingly on the same daymy body and the mattress gave up the ghost. I now wake up at 5:30 every morning with terrible lower back pain that takes an hour or so to get worked out of my body. Sleeping in is no longer an option, at least not past 7:00AM.

And the how-to columns have been pretty worthless. My mom suggested memory foam, but I’m not in the market for a $1200 mattress right now. How? What? Why? It’s my last adult purchase before I’m allowed into the 30+ demographic.