Portable Matresses ...Is The Investment Worth It? is it Just Another Dumb Thing You Bought on QVC or HSN?

When the air mattresses became popular many years ago, I would seem to always wait until they were on sale to consider buying one. At the time they started at $100 and the brand everyone knew of was Aero bed. Whenever I would scan the TV channels I'd always see them on QVC or Home Shopping Network. They sold them in all sizes...and they could have talked me into buying one so many times over, but I didn't give in to the buying temptation. I am guilty of buying things off the TV and never using them. I have thousands of dollars worth of "stuff" I bought over the years that I end up donating to goodwill just to get rid of them. But I still hesitated and watched the store circulars to buy one of these air mattresses. I thought they might be one of those many "useful" items that I thought I would use over and over again, but ended up cluttering my closets along side the millions of other "useful" items I've b ought in the past or it might be the next best thing to sliced bread. I just didn't know.

The turning point came when I was in an Odd Lot one day about 2 years ago. I saw a big display on air mattresses, not Aero brand, but some other generic brand. The cost started from $15.99 for the twin to 19.99 for a queen. I read it closely for a long time, and made sure it had a pump, which it did, but later after I bought it, I found out it was a manual pump, which we all took turns winding to push air into the mattress. Finally after we all got tired of doing this, and it was only half filled, I got out the vacuum cleaner hose to pump up. So once it was pumped up the kids all laid on it while watching TV. I figured, I'd try this and see if it's something we could use more than once. The first time we used it, it was my youngest son's sleepover party. It took forever to pump this mattress up with the vacuum cleaner. I remember complaining to myself, that I should have gotten the electric pump models in the stores, which of course were in the $100 range. All pumps aren't the same, and in this case, electric was necessary.

So, after the party, I went to Target and looked at their electric Coleman pumps. There was one on sale for $20. I bought it. So now I had invested about $40 on this mattress. I still felt I was ahead. And that night, we went home and I used the new electric pump and it blew up in less than one minute. I felt relieved. My own kids ended up sleeping on it in the family room that night, because it was big enough; a queen, and they liked it so much.

Ever since I made this purchase 2 years ago, I have used this air mattress over and over, at least 25 times. I take it with us on driving vacations, to help with sleeping arrangements, I have used it for all my kid's sleepovers, I have loaned it to family and friends to increase bed capacity in their homes. I absolutely love air mattresses. Though I would never get anything less than a queen size, so at least 2 people can sleep comfortably. The many uses and the many places I have taken this air mattress is well worth the investment. It is worth the $100. I will be buying another one this year just to have. My kids have lots of parties and my friends seem to always want to borrow mine in emergency situations, like out of town friends and family popping in for the night. So I end up it myself and also loaning it out to others. I have to admit, this is one of the best things I ever bought. Right next to the George Forman grill, this air mattress serves many purposes and is a lifesaver in a pinch. I have reaped the value of it over and over and I recommend it to all families with kids and even Adults who are empty nesters. There is so much flexibility you allow yourself by having a portable mattress at the ready.