March has been a mega expensive month for me financially. And this has everything to do with my inability to pick the right furniture for myself.

I’ve always had bad luck with furniture, especially living room furniture. I could never seem to pick the right couch and always end up sitting on the floor instead. So, when I moved to my new apartment last year, I decided to go the minimalist route by not having a couch.

I’ll have beanbags or sit on the floor like this cool Singaporean couple!

Genius, right?

But it turns out that my body (specifically, my ass) did not like sitting on beanbags or on the floor. It also turns out that despite having no problems sitting on the floor most of my youth, sitting on the floor in your 40s isn’t … a great thing.

So, after half a year dealing with an achy back, butt and other painful joints, I’ve reluctantly concluded that this was a minimalism fail, and it was time to get something I could sit on.

Yet, I was still resistant to the idea of buying a couch.

Instead, in an effort to hang on to my minimalism ideals, I bought a low bed with a mattress and turned it into a makeshift daybed. At first, it was sublime. I would spend hours lounging in that daybed watching TV.

But the mattress was less than optimal, and after a year on it, my hips began protesting from sitting on it. All those DIY videos of turning a bed into a daybed … eh, not so romantic when applied.

So after almost a year with my makeshift daybed, I sold the beanbags, mattress and bed frame on Carousell. I was glad I could get rid of it with some money back at least.

I hunted for more practical furniture – a couch. Something I swore not to get because I felt that it could end up really hard to move if I shifted houses. But all the sofas I saw were in insane ranges — RM2000 to RM4000. It felt beyond reach to me.

Then, I spotted a chaise lounge at a shop I usually frequented. It was only RM800. What a steal! I tried it out and imagined myself lounging on it with a book.

I mean, seriously, look at it! How luxurious, how elegant … doesn’t this look like it is in an apartment in Paris somewhere?

And yet, by the first few weeks of owning it, I knew it’d have to go.

First, it gave my back grief almost immediately. I was hugely disappointed that my body ended up hating it because it sure they didn’t tell me it didn’t like it at the store! It would’ve been much better if it had told me that before I bought it!

It also had no cushion to speak off, and a curve that forced my back into a position it didn’t like.

Second, I had to admit that I really disliked the ugly brown colour and how it took up so much space. I really liked to have some floor space to sit on the floor sometimes. I ended up pushing the chaise up against the wall which was a hideous furniture arrangement.

I parted ways with the chaise after a mere two months.

So, a couch it is then!

This time, I decided to shop for my conventional couch in a second-hand furniture place called Kaki Lelong.

Frankly, the entrance to the shop looked like it led to a serial killer’s lair.

However, inside, there were treasures!

I spotted the cheery blue, 2-seater couch almost immediately. It turned out to be a Harvey Norman couch that was used for display (hence the low price). I bought it for RM600, an incredible steal as the original price is around RM2000 to RM2500. I made sure this time to sit on it long enough to see if my back liked it. I can happily report that it’s been a month and it’s one of the most comfortable couches I’ve ever sat on in my life. No wonder those suckers cost at least RM2000!

It had an “open end” so it looked incomplete, but it allowed me to add an ottoman at the edge to make it a three-seater. (I bought the ottoman from the same shop for RM100.) I can also shift the ottoman to the front so that I turn the sofa into a chaise. I love the flexibility.

Then there’s the bed adventure

Then it was my mattress.

I was forced to buy a new one online during the pandemic. (Mattresses sure pick a great time to break down.)

I bought a mattress, Sonno Lite, online. It wasn’t cheap, costing me about RM1500 or more. Despite trying it out (my brother has the exact model), and it being fine for 6 months, the mattress eventually sagged and gave me all manner of body aches. I suspect the foam layer degraded, turning the bed harder and also made it sag.

After a terrible night with an aching back, hips and shoulders and waking up utterly smashed, I had it. This morning, I drove to a nearby store to buy a new mattress.

Fortunately, unlike my pandemic mattress adventure, I did a lot of research this time. I discovered that as a combination sleeper, someone who sleeps on her side and her back, a medium firm, hybrid mattress is my best bet.

A hybrid mattress basically has spring coils and a few layers of foam or latex. Knowing that I’ve never had a good experience with memory foam (it makes me hot), I decided to go for latex as it seem to have a lot of good things going for it. And because of this, the mattress cost me RM3,300. There was a cheaper RM1,500 one made from foam … but I decided to go for something durable this time.

I’m nervous because I’ve never spent this much on a mattress before.

I’ve always prided myself on having a good back – I could sleep on any mattress, so most of the mattresses I’ve slept on was on tend to be cheap ones. In fact, my frugal, penny-pinching parents insisted that I should not spend more than RM1000 for a mattress. They would probably faint if I told them that I had spent.

But as I researched this topic – you need to change the mattress you sleep on as your body changes. If you get heavier (or lighter), or when your body gets achier due to aging. All these changes demand different types of matresses.

So all in all, this has been such an expensive lesson. Choose the furniture that involves your back very, very carefully. You may regret it if you don’t!