Timely discussion for me... I am in a major dispute with Raymour & Flanigan - big furniture and mattress chain in the northeast. I am 60, the hips are getting sore, my old mattress was old so I decided to buy new. Went to all the "mattress" chains, hoping not to spend more than $600ish. Went to Raymour and I walked out with a $1300 mattress. Almost immediately the mattress started to shift each night so that when I woke in the AM I had to be carefull not to fall of the edge on my bum (which I had done a few times). I thought maybe it was the risers, so I took those out. Thought maybe the sheets were too large. I Bought about 5 different styles of sheets - no change. So they send a service guy and he tells me I need to buy something to put between the boxspring and mattress. Told him I needed to talk with someone higher up, quickly. Regional office calls, they said all twins will shift. Said maybe I was to "big" for a twin, even after I explained I had been sleeping on a twin for over 20 years. If fact I gave my old mattress to my adult boy and he has been sleeping on it just fine. My main argument of course, was that if "all twins will shift" as she stated, I should have been told this at point of sale. So now I am talking to people on the corporate level. Waiting to see what they say. Will keep you informed. What I will say is that you really should listen to your friends as to what they do or don't like about their beds. Do research online, and when you do go to choose don't just lay on the bed for 5 min and say "okay, this is great" - and look at this like buying a car. Awful but necessary. BTW they were also trying to sell me on the gel bed. Too new on the market for me.

Current rates here are 21% on bank-issued cards and 31% on store-issued cards, in 2023. Most of the stuff we buy using the card isn't deductible for income tax. If you owed $100.00 for a year at 21%, and they add the interest monthly, if your income tax rate is 25%, you have to earn a bit over $28.00, then pay more than $7.00 tax, to have the somewhat over $21.00 to pay the bank-issued "credit" (really "debt") card debt. On store-issued card, it's about $42.00, paying over $10.00 income tax, to have the $31.00 to pay the "credit" (really "debt") card amount owing. Pay the balances owing in full every billing period - earn from about 28%+ to 42%+ on part of your money! If you're a newly-minted adult who was issued a "credit"/ ("debt") card, maybe without applying and have used it, lacking the funds to pay the full amount owing each billing period ... go borrow the funds needed to pay that amount in full from dad, at 5% (or even 10%). Pay the amount owed in full ... and don't buy stuff that you can't pay the full amount owed every billing period. Isn't it wise to pay 5% - 10% to dad, to earn/avoid paying 28% - 42+% on some of your money?? ole joyful

Oh, I like that one a lot, it’s really pretty CindyMac. I saw last night that it was on sale but still priced a bit higher at Home Depot. :c( I’d still buy it from Home Depot though only because if it were damaged or I didn’t like it in person, I could return it to the store and not have to deal with the return shipping. My situation was a tad different in that I saw our rug first at the store and when I wanted a bigger size, I was directed to the site. Before pulling the trigger, I called their customer service line and was pleasantly surprised at how helpful they were. I had an eye on ours for quite some time and it would go on sale fairly often as a special buy. If you decide to go this route, maybe next time the price will drop more. ETA: I think the one you have in the cart at Overstock and HD is much prettier than the two above. Those two don’t appeal to me at all. What’s keeping you from pulling the trigger?

Thanks for the info re identification for sales tax purposes, ritaweeda. As local factories/stores close ... don't pay property tax, so in addition to house prices increasing in major cities, the residential property taxes will increase as well. Local and major newspapers, who hired professional journalists, are dying as advertising dollars flow to silicon valley. The press gallery at our legislatures are a shadow of their former selves ... and many claim that their oversight, keeping the politicians' feet held near the fire, helped keep them more careful about their actions. When I pointed out to a helper at the recently-installed check-out machines at a local grocer that those machines don't pay income tax, as she and I do, she agreed. So - who'll be paying for roads and bridges, schools and for some, hospitals, in our brave new centralized world? When a manufacturer mechanises (often, after some crying, with government help) to get the same amount of production that was earlier done by 500, now by 50 (or 5) ... ... apart from the income tax that the corporation may be paying, the goverment(s) lose 90% of the income taxes formerly paid by their employees. Even more if the manufacturer sources goods from suppliers in low wage/low safety standard areas, or sets up their own supply systems there, or gets into joint ventures. Since after World War II we in the increasingly rich world have understood that our kids'd be better off. Only a part of young folks maturing in our part of the world today share that view, I think. ole joyful