Last year was my first Memorial Day working as a sleep writer and, frankly, I was unprepared. As the mattress sales rolled in thick and fast, amazing discounts passed me by amid the sheer volume of deals.
This year, I'm ready. Having followed numerous mattress deals days since, I've learned tricks to navigate sales and tracked the best sleep offers for this particular holiday since they started appearing at the end of April — I'm looking at you, Sleep Number.
You'll find the fruits of my labor in our Memorial Day mattress sales hub, which features the latest, and best, offers. But if all those deals are too much, I relate.
In this guide I'm not here to give you the best saving, instead, I'll offer my top advice — everything I've learned in the past year, to help you find the right mattress at the best price this Memorial Day.
My 5 top tips for buying a mattress this Memorial Day
1. Know what you're looking for in a mattress
Good sleep is vital to our wellbeing and the right mattress is the foundation of an excellent night's rest. I’ve learned this in the past year, as I sleep much better since upgrading my bed for a firm mattress that suits my particular needs.
But there's a huge amount of mattresses out there, and everything from budget friendly memory foams to luxury latex hybrids are be likely to discounted this Memorial Day. This overload of offers means you might nab a good discount — but not end up with a bed that's actually right for you.
So, before you begin deal hunting, decide what features you need in a mattress. Factors to consider include your primary sleep position and whether you share a bed, if you sleep hot or experience any back pain.
We’ve rounded up the best mattresses you can buy online, categorized into the key needs people tend to focus on when purchasing a new bed, and they're all tested and selected by our sleep experts at Tom’s Guide.
One more piece of advice? Avoid disaster and choose a bed with a sleep trial, giving you time to test the mattress at home and see if it's right for you.
2. Don’t be dazzled by a huge price drop
When I covered my first major mattress sale (Black Friday 2023) I was wowed by all the giant price drops. Up to 50, 60, 70% off — the brands with these enormous discounts appeared to be practically giving the mattress away for free.
However, I’ve now tracked the mattress sales for over a year and a half and those massive percentage drops? They're rarely the exciting discounts they promise to be.
In many cases, these large percentage savings are the same deals we see year-round, sometimes with a heightened MSRP to make the discount look bigger.
While some huge savings are legitimate (and when I find them, I share them with you) it's the final price that reveals the real deal.
We record the amount you can expect to pay for each mattress in our reviews, so if you're struggling to weigh up a price drop, that's the place to start. You'll be able to get a sense of whether the current discount is actually a great offer, or if you can expect to pay about the same price if you choose to buy outside Memorial Day sales.
3. Think twice about free gifts
I'm never one to turn down a freebie — but while a free gift might seem like an appealing addition to a mattress sale, consider whether or not you actually need the gift on offer, or if it's future fodder for the spare room.
Take free pillows. As a stomach sleeper, standard pillows typically have a loft that is too high for me, which means most free gift pillows will leave my neck aching.
Likewise, a free sheet set might seem like a handy way to avoid paying separately for bedding, but depending on the materials, it might transform your cooling mattress into a stuffy cocoon.
That’s not to say there are no good free gifts, but when you're mattress shopping, consider if you actually want that cherry on top before you press add to cart — or if you could switch your freebies for a better saving on a different mattress.
4. The deals end sharpish after Memorial Day
Memorial Day isn’t like the Black Friday mattress sales, when Cyber Monday lurks around the corner to ensure the continuation of the deals.
Once Monday 26th of May has gone, I expect the savings it brings to come to an end quickly, with most brands wrapping up their offers in a few days.
Some will keep the discounts running (and at brands like Nectar or WinkBed, the Memorial Day sales are just a rebrand of the year-round deal) but your options will be whittled down.
My advice? If you’ve found a sale you like, make your purchase before end of play on May 26th.
But if, towards the end of Memorial Day, you still haven't found the mattress you want, don't worry. I'll be keeping track of all the last minute offers to browse.
5. Summer is a mattress sales lull
The Memorial Day sale is the time to shop for a mattress in the first half of the year. Once these deals have passed, summer is a quiet season for sleep deals.
Yes, the 4th of July sales and the Labor Day deals bookend the summer months with decent savings, but these don’t typically match the breadth (and depth) of the mattress discounts you can expect on Memorial Day.
You might find yourself waiting all the way until November for a real saving on the mattress you want. That’s a long time to spend sleeping on a bad bed.
Top sales to consider
- Saatva: Get $400 off our top-rated bed
- DreamCloud: our top rival to Saatva from $399
- Helix Sleep: 27% off with code TOMS27
- Leesa: 30% off mattresses + free bedding
- Casper: up to 35% off cooling mattresses
- Avocado: 10% off organic mattresses
- Emma: 60% off all mattresses
- Tempur-Pedic: up to $500 off + $300 free accessories on selected adjustable mattress sets
- Purple: up to $400 off mattresses + free pillows
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