I’ve never been a good saver. In fact, up until now I don’t ever recall actually saving money for anything other than immediate spending. But that has changed, albeit in a small way. I remember before the 2 pound coin (that’s UK currency, not weight) was introduced thinking how odd it would be to have. I realise that there’s the 1p and 2p coins but on the whole UK currency is split into multiples of 5. The 5p coin, the 10p coin, the 20p coin, the 50p coin, the 1 pound coin, 5 pound note and so on. But I always liked the idea of a 2 pound coin, probably because the only ones that had been around prior to general circulation were limited edition ones commemorating special occasions – they seemed exclusive.

Anyway, I digress. A couple of years ago my girlfriend suggested we start saving 2 pound coins for a king sized bed. We’ve both got double beds but there’s never enough space for two people to stretch out at the same time in one so it seemed like a good idea. Of course, once we started collecting neither of us would get them as change any more and I didn’t see one for weeks. But after a while they started appearing thick and fast. I’d walk into a supermarket and buy some sandwiches and cookies (no, not biscuits, cookies – the big things with chocolate chips or raisins in them). I’d go to a cash machine first and get a tenner. I’d pay with that note and get a couple of the aforementioned coins back. I then couldn’t spend that change so I’d have to return to the cash machine if I wanted to buy anything else.

If any of my friends had any I’d swap them for pound coins and all the time our box of change was getting heavier and heavier. At the same time, my mattress was getting lumpier and lumpier. This didn’t bother me as I can sleep on anything from concrete floors to tables to gravel car parks. Remember, when I moved into my house I bought a shoe rack before I bought a bed. However, it was playing havoc on my girlfriend’s back. To be fair, the springs were like lumps of rock boring into your body and there was no support in the mattress at all (in fact, you could literally fold the thing in half). So we decided that enough was enough and we’d spend some of our saved money on a new mattress.

So we went out yesterday to a few places before finding one that had quite a selection. The guy was delighted to explain to us all the science of beds and it turns out that the types I prefer (rock hard) are actually the cheap ones. Sadly, compromise in a relationship means doing what the female wants, so I had to be fair and choose one that my good lady could sleep on. So after chatting with this guy we opted for one of the more popular brands, brought it home and made the bed. I always like to get my money’s worth out of things so I was counting the minutes until I went to bed.

Okay, if you’re still reading this then you’re probably waiting for some kind of punch line. Or at least a verdict on how good the mattress was. Well, never being one to want to disappoint, here goes. The mattress was excellent. Tough guy though I may be, I notice now how bad the old one was by how comfortable this one is. I haven’t slept that well for ages and was in no hurry to get up. I eventually did and feel much better for it thanks.

I know this may have sounded tedious and not exactly and adventure, but I can’t stress enough how important a good night’s sleep can be!