During the four years of undergrad, she was either in a dorm or housing that already had beds. Now she’ll be moving into an old house in boston and attending grad school for 2 years (won’t be moving during that 2 years). And she won’t have a car. What’s the best approach? Use an online place like Casper? (and I’d have to learn more about this) or find a mattress store in boston and they deliver it? And what does the mattress literally sit on? (just a bed frame?)
How about Bed in a Box.
We went to a mattress store in grad school town and they delivered the next day. There were LOTS of mattress stores to choose from. My kid took her old full sized bed frame that was in my storage unit, and she bought a mattress and box spring set.
Just one piece of free advice…if your kid buys and assembles an IKEA bed platform, let them know that when they move…THEY are responsible for disassembly and moving. Ask me how I know?
But IKEA is a good inexpensive place to get a bed. My kid’s non-bed furniture is all IKEA.
Amazon sells metal platform style frames which are easy to put together/take apart and are pretty inexpensive, amd there is room underneath for storage boxes, too.
Memory foam mattresses are also reasonably priced and easy to set up. We ordered hers from amazon, but there are many online options available with/without easy returns, and a wide range of prices. Both items were packaged in boxes which she was able to transport into her apartment.
My current grad student has a full sized 10 inch memory foam mattress, and the amazon frame which she put together herself, and the mattress is heading into its 4th year and is holding up well.
She will be in Gardner Mattress territory. All of their mattresses are made in Salem, and they deliver. We’ve had 5 of them and love them. We once made the mistake of buying a Saatva online because it was cheaper, but will never do so again.
We have had Gardner but they are expensive, very high quality. I did a lot of research on this topic and ordered an Arctic Dream (from the company, not from Amazon). Great reviews on mattress forums 
Wayfair has a nice simple platform that isn’t too hard to assemble. I think their shipping might be free.
For my kid’s off campus apartment last year, we got a simple platform bed frame and a memory foam mattress in a box from Amazon. It’s worked out well. And thankfully they are staying in the apartment for senior year so no need to think about relocating it yet.
For ikea, is it even worth moving it?
I think IKEA furniture can be worth moving but not if you have to disassemble it to do so.
For furniture you assemble, put the instructions in it or tape it to the bottom so that it can be disassembled in reverse order of assembly when moving.
I’ve had bought and shipped mattresses to my kids at school numerous times. You could get them online. There is not much to do with mattress. I’ve even had a bed delivered to my self few years ago. I asked a good friend’s husband to help me put it together.
@ucbalumnus have you ever done this with an IKEA bed? I have the directions…I’m not sure how my kid got the thing assembled. But I can tell you very clearly…I’m not disassembling it. Period. It’s complicated…
we used costco online.
Costco will deliver right to the apt. They have a lot of options and sell the bedframes too.
I got one off Woot and that was a bed in a box and was great. Delivered to the door, my daughter helped me haul it up the stairs, snip the binding tape and it explodes into a bed.
My daughter moved into a third floor walk up in Boston after college. I spent the money and bought her a dresser, end table, mattress, and platform bad from crate and barrel. All purchased on line (although I previewed them in a local store), which they delivered and assembled. She is now in her fourth year in that apartment. I figure when she moves, we will call a moving company and let them worry about it all. I really felt like she is a grown up now and it was time to have some real stuff that she will keep for many years to come. Also, after living in college dorms, it is nice to begin having stuff you like and you selected that make your house a home.
I ordered my college junior a metal frame and memory foam mattress when she moved from a furnished apartment to an unfurnished apartment. The set was about $500 and she says the mattress is very comfy despite being some off brand. It had good reviews on Amazon. We’ll see what happens when she tries to move it into a new house in July.
Bernie and Phil’s is not far from Boston in Saugus . Jordan’s furniture is also near Boston in Reading and Furniture World in Stoneham is a mom/pop furniture store. Prices vary in all stores and they all deliver. Chances are quality and price is higher than Ikea but it depends on what you pick. These places might be good if your looking for stuff to last longer than 2 years.
In one short-term location, we just set the box spring on the floor, and the mattress on top, with no frame at all. When we moved to a location where that strategy would have blocked the heating vent, I found a cheap metal base/frame at Walmart for maybe $20 to lift things high enough for air circulation. Still working fine several years later. Mattress set itself was from a local mattress company that delivered and set up.