Believe me when I say buying a mattress was the most financially conflicting thing I have done in my life thus far. I bought my original mattress (and headboard) for $45 off of my college newspapers website. I suffered nightly to comfortable but I held on to that thing until I graduated. For disclosure, I have had two back surgeries but I couldn't mentally wrap my brain around spending $3K on a mattress. That's right $3K! But as other comments have attested to, it was the best thing I have ever done - I never complain about back pain now. And I made sure to get all of the extra pillows, covers and warranties I could for free too! If I was dropping that much on a bed, they were gonna meet me halfway.