Archive for the ‘air mattresses’ Category

Lavender Oil?

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

Could something as simple and common as lavender oil help ward off bed bugs while you sleep? I’ve heard stranger things. An article from last July in the First Post, a British online magazine included a personal testimony from a Briton who encountered bed bugs while on holiday in Germany and recommended lavender oil spray, although he didn’t specify whether to spray it on yourself or in your room or bed.

Don’t think that booking into a five-star hotel will offer you protection. Earlier this year, a US lawyer sued a luxury hotel in London after he and his wife had been badly bitten. A better – and cheaper – alternative is never to go anywhere without a lavender oil spray: apparently, it’s the one thing the little bastards can’t stand.-unknown bloke

How did this guy know to use lavender spray? Was this discovery simply the result of dumb luck, as was the case with the invention of the microwave ovens and silly putty? Perhaps his wife was burning lavender oil candles (you know how women love that aromatherapy stuff) from an oil lamp or something and they noticed how the bed bugs in their hotel room reacted to the scent. It has been well documented that bed bugs can smell each other’s pheromones, fecal matter and even dried human blood; they very well could have smelled the lavender oil as well.

I will try burning lavender oil in my own oil lamp (it’s actually M’s oil lamp) to see exactly how well this works. However, I don’t have nearly as many bed bugs as I used to (I see maybe one or two live ones a month these days) so if anyone else could conduct this little experiment in their own bed bug-infested homes and share the findings with the rest of the class, I would very much appreciate it.

By the way, I did receive my new mattress from Sleepy’s the day after ordering it, and to my surprise I did not have to wrap it in a plastic drop cloth. The mattress came sealed (with a small air pocket, unfortunately) in a tough plastic whose durability is similar if not superior to that of a plastic drop cloth. They really are the mattress professionals! However, I do remember the salesman telling me that all mattresses sold by Sleepy’s have a 10-year warranty; I suspect that 10-year warranty is considered void if that protective plastic seal is broken.

I really did like the inflatable mattresses, but it’s much nicer to have worry-free sex on a conventional mattress secure in the knowledge that the mattress won’t spring a leak and break down.

Happy Valentine’s Day, by the way!

Posted in Europeans, air mattresses, holiday, mattress, news articles, tips, updates, white people | 5 Comments »

The Hell With Air Mattresses!

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

I’ve had it. I’m through with inflatable air mattresses.

The tenth or eleventh air mattress I’ve bought in almost two years just sprung another leak. Ever since I threw out my bed bug-infested mattress, bed and headboard two springs ago, I’ve placed my faith in inflatable mattresses in the fear that if I bought a new conventional mattress would only become infested and promptly thrown away. Besides, buying all that laundry detergent and fabric softener to wash my entire wardrobe and ammonia to mop and scrub my home got rather expensive, making the purchase of even the cheapest conventional mattress even more of a pipe dream.

Air mattresses (especially the ones that are under $50) are basically camping equipment and only meant for occasional sleeping and not everyday use to be slept on day after day for weeks on end. And they’re definitely not built to withstand a regular routine of vigorous sexual activity. Not to be terribly explicit, but M and I are both around 200 lbs. (she’s gonna crucify me when she finds I out I blabbed about her weight!), we’re in our 20s and we’re horny and in love. I think what we do in that bed has probably led to the many, many sprung leaks which have appeared in the many air mattresses we’ve bought.

The air mattresses I’ve bought range from $20 to $45 and are either made by Greatland or Coleman, the latter being a much weaker brand of bed. I really don’t have the money for an Aerobed or one of those fancy Eddie Bauer air mattresses and the widest variety is only available during the summer. During the winter, at least in New York, most stores don’t sell air mattresses, and those that do barely sell any at all. Since August I think I’ve bought about five air mattresses, all of which have sprung leaks. These mattresses do come with patch-up kits, but even these don’t hold for very long, and if they do hold another leak appears elsewhere. The mattresses are almost as much of a nuisance as the bed bugs themselves.

I finally broke down and decided to buy a conventional mattress on Sunday when M, after unsuccessfully trying to patch up a leak in our air mattress, declared that we’ve spent enough money on air mattresses to buy a conventional mattress. I couldn’t agree more. So I went to Sleepy’s yesterday and ordered a regular full-sized mattress for about $400. I cringed as the salesman kept pressuring me to lay down on the more expensive mattresses, afraid that a lone bed bug would somehow crawl out of my pants leg or something and onto the bed. And then he’d see it and make me pay like a million dollars for the bed. I cringed even more when he told me horror tales of buying mattresses from other retailers, who he claimed often pick up discarded mattresses from the curb, slap a new cover on them and then sell them as “new” mattresses. “Sometimes these discarded mattresses have bed bugs in them,” he warned in his spookiest tone. “And then you bring them into your home!”

If only he knew, he wouldn’t have even let me in the damn store.

Damn, I forgot how much money conventional mattresses sell for! Some of the more expensive ones (just the mattress, mind you. No frame or box spring) sold for $1,500 and even $2,500. I cut the salesman off in the middle of his pitch and told him I was looking to spend no more than $400 and he led me straight to the cheaper mattresses.

I really liked the inflatable mattresses, but I really need something that’s going to last more than a month or two. I plan to cover and seal the mattress with a heavy plastic drop cloth, the kind painters use to protect the floor and furniture from dripping paint. Not to perpetuate stereotypes about Latinos and the tendency to work as day laborers, but in my apartment, we have a six-foot steel ladder, various work gloves, safety goggles, a tool belt and of course, a 100-foot roll of heavy plastic drop cloth. When my mother purchased a new mattress (her old one became infested with bed bugs) last August, we covered it with the plastic and closed it shut with duct tape. Obviously, there is a crinkling sound that comes from the mattress whenever someone climbs onto the bed but to me it is a small price to pay to sleep bed bug-free. And when you consider that a mattress these days can cost $400 and up, it makes sense to do whatever needs to be done in order to keep bed bugs out of it.

I sincerely recommend that anyone buying a new mattress do the same. The drop cloth is not that expensive, and is a rather smart investment considering how expensive mattresses can be.

Posted in air mattresses, disgust, furniture, mattress, paranoia | 3 Comments »

Bed Bug Haikus, Part Two

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

I’ve only received seven bed bug haikus thus far and was waiting, waiting, waiting for the tenth so I could post my next barrage of haikus. Then I thought, what the hell, seven is good enough. For those first-time visitors, I wrote ten bed bug-related haikus about a month ago and promised to release my next ten provided that I receive ten bed bug haikus from visitors dropping comments. I’ve decided to ignore my old promise and put up my best eight bed bug haikus anyway.

But before I release my own poetry, I’d like to share with everyone the very amusing and creative bed bug haikus that are too good to not share. Unfortunately, the poster was anonymous and the poems were submitted within several different comments , so I have no way of knowing if these seven haikus were written by one anonymous poster or several. In any case, here they are…

******

Bugs have given me
Obsessive Compulsive Order
Mess harbors vampires

***

Bugs! I have become:
Carpenter, maid, repairman,
Entomologist

***

When I find a bug
I tape it to white paper
My only revenge

***

My cat has become
Both best friend and enemy
Potential bug bus

***

My feet are so cold
But the alternative’s worse
Socks could carry eggs

***

My clothes are in bags
My dignity is missing
Where did my pants go?

***

Red welts on my skin
Either stress hives or bed bugs
I think a mixture

******

and, without further ado, are my ten haikus.

******

Exterminators
$400 a room
My kidney’s for sale

***

Bed Bugs?!? Why me, God?
Oh yeah, I forgot
That thing I did with donkeys

***

Bed bugs in New York
Pay no rent and eat for free!
Freeloading assholes

***

Unwelcome bed bugs
Go back to 1950
Nobody likes you

***

My blood is too sweet
I should cut down on Starbucks
That’s why they bite me

***

Spray here and spray there
Wash your clothes and scratch your legs
I sure miss roaches

***

The next guy who says
“Hey, don’t let the bed bugs bite!”
I will throw rocks at

***

Through pain springs forth art
Bug bites replace my bed frame
Bed bugs are my muse

Enjoy!

Posted in Haiku, air mattresses, bug bites, exterminators, fun and games, humor | 2 Comments »

Bed Bug Haikus, Part One

Monday, September 10th, 2007
Some of you may not know that I am a writer. In addition to the blogging, I worked for a few years as a reporter and editor. I’ve done some unpublished fiction and am currently writing a book. I thought about how art develops through suffering and emotion and loss, three things I’ve encountered since I first saw bed bugs in my room.

Long story short, I sat down and began writing bed bug haikus. For those unfamiliar with the term, haiku is a Japanese form of nonrhyming poetry. The first line contains five syllables, the second line contains seven and the final line contains five. There are a few variations to this rule but 5, 7, and 5 are the standard. Without further ado, I give you ten haikus I wrote in the last hour.

******

My blood is their food

I itch yet they are not there

I miss my mattress

***

“Don’t let bed bugs bite”

Much easier said than done

Bring back DDT

***

Please, legalize it

DDT, I mean. Not weed

No, wait…yes to both

***

I live with bed bugs

If you can call it living

Ow, my arm itches

***

Are bed bugs a dream

For minimalist people?

Bare rooms confuse bugs

***

Die, Rachel Carson!

Say, now that she’s dead, can we

Bring back DDT?

***

I live with bed bugs

I sleep on an air mattress

You come here often?

***

It’s hard to get laid

With bug bites on your body

They look like herpes

***

Comment on Bugged Out

If you don’t do so tonight

More bed bugs will bite

***

My bedroom is bare

These bed bugs are everywhere

Do you even care?

***

After I wrote these I thought, why should I have all the fun? If these goofy haikus inspired you in any way to write your own bed bug-related haiku, please do so in lieu of a comment on this post. If you have writer’s block, just remember your little buddies waiting at home for you to come back to bed! Remember the pain and suffering! The itching! The humiliation! The stigma! Oh, the humanity!

I’ve actually written ten more, but you won’t see them until I see at least ten haikus from my dear, dear readers. They must be bed bug-related. If you need any more inspiration, peruse the many many posts here on Bugged Out.

Note: Non-haiku poetry also accepted.

Posted in DDT ban, Haiku, Rachel Carson, air mattresses, bug bites, personal, roaches | 12 Comments »

A Word on Air Mattresses

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

An anonymous poster recently asked a question about air mattresses and how exactly they help people who are living with bed bugs.

Okay, so just trying to confirm, as I am also living in New York with bedbugs – getting an air mattress will stop it? Like, really?

Trying to figure out what to do…

Air mattresses don’t exactly get rid of bed bugs, but they do make life a bit easier for those trying to get rid of them. In my case, as I had explained in an earlier entry, the bugs had made a comfortable little colony for themselves in my wooden bed base, pillow, mattress and headboard. While I remained in denial for a few months (because I did not want to get rid of the bed) ultimately I had to get rid of the whole damn thing in order to destroy about 90 percent of the bed bugs in my apartment.

Air mattresses are a great solution for people living with bed bugs because the bugs are famous for cutting into conventional mattresses and burrowing themselves into the fabric of the mattress, waiting for you to go to sleep or even lie down. Remember, bed bugs love fabric, paper and wood simply because they make great hiding and nesting places to quietly hide and even launch a small colony. Air mattresses have none of these. Even when you put a fitted sheet over the air mattress, the rubber mattress cannot accommodate bed bugs. The best they can do is crawl onto the blanket, sheet or fitted sheet, but even this environment is not as bed bug-friendly, as the sheet is obviously not as thick or deep as a mattress.

I’ve had a lot of satisfaction with my air mattress. My queen-sized sheets fit perfectly over the bed. They do require some routine maintenance, though. Depending on the temperature of the room, air mattresses will require to be re-inflated twice a week to once every other week. Remember science class? Well, in hot weather air expands, keeping the air mattress firm for much longer than in colder weather, where the air will become thinner, requiring the mattress to be inflated more often.

A word of warning: make sure the air mattress you’re buying comes with an air pump. I made that mistake and discovered there was no way to inflate my new mattress. I had to go back to Target the next day and buy the pump. Make sure the pump you’re buying (usually ranges around $10 to $15) has a power cord and is not the battery-operated kind.

Also I guess you’re probably wondering how to clean an air mattress, like if you spill something on it or if it’s just dirty from constant contact with the floor. Any damp cloth with water or diluted pine will do; it’s much easier than cleaning up a spill from a conventional mattress, since the whole thing is made of rubber.

Where to buy air mattresses: I bought my queen-sized mattress for $25 at Target. I trust the Coleman brand simply because they have quality camping products. But other brands are also well made and long-lasting. In February M’s mother threw out her bed bug-ridden mattress and was basically sleeping on a table. I gave her a $10 twin-sized air mattress from Walgreens and it is still in fine condition.

Let’s move to a subject that I’m sure is on the minds of everyone who is considering replacing their bed bug-ridden mattress with an air mattress. Obviously sleeping is not the only thing we do in bed, and I’m sure some of you are afraid your sexual activities just might pop the mattress like a party balloon. I too was concerned about this. My advice would be to check the maximum weight capacity on the air mattress, which should be printed somewhere on the packaging. Simply combine your own weight with the weight of your partner, if you’re single, the average weight of whoever you bring home and add 50 pounds more for all the bouncing up and down that will take place on the mattress. Take that magic number and compare it to the maximum weight capacity listed on the box.

The best time to buy an air mattress is right now as the stores are stocking up their outdoor merchandise. Air beds are widely regarded as camping equipment (so don’t look for them in a furniture store like my dumb ass did!), and since summer is coming many stores will be stocking up on these beds and probably have them on sale. Some are affordable, others are expensive. Some are self-inflating with the air pumps built into the bed; some have three-foot high frames to give the illusion of a traditional bed. In short, there are many different kinds of air beds to choose from, so use the Internet to shop around for one that suits your tastes.

Well, I can’t think of any more tips to offer on buying a mattress, but if you can come up with some questions, I’d be happy to answer them.

Posted in air beds, air mattresses, tips | 2 Comments »