Why sleeping on the floor on a Japanese futon rocks

I sleep on a futon. And I don’t mean a crappy Ikea foldable futon/couch/bed hybrid. I sleep on this good, soft, thick, dense futon made out of 100% cotton, and made in the U.S.A.

Here are all of my reasons why:

It is comfortable

It is literally a mattress on the floor. Some people are put off by this because they think it looks cheap, or that it is too student-y, but I actually enjoy the freedom of being on the floor.

Your bedroom looks massive

The added benefit is that since it is on the floor, your bedroom looks HUGE.

Think about it – the lack of visual clutter and your ceilings look way higher. There is no ‘bed’ to speak of, no headboard, no spring, nothing required except a futon, and bedding.

Before we bought our condo, it was staged with a queen-sized bed. The bed looked like it took the ENTIRE SPACE, complete with side tables, lamps etc.

I thought:

Man.. this room is tiny.

Once they got rid of all of that, and we put our futon in there, it looked HUGE. You literally walk in to what looks like an empty room and visually just see walls and curtains. Then you look down, and there the bed is!

Our bedroom looks like a massive room now because we don’t have that visual clutter of all those bed accessories.

We use the floor as our side tables (LOL), and saved on that too because .. who needs extra furniture to bruise your ankle or hip on?

Your back will thank you

I used to love and only sleep on soft beds, but then my back started to feel achey and twist.

After I switched to the floor, it is like my back re-aligned again. I sleep on my side and on my back, and it is so comfortable because I am completely supported, and my spine is not twisting in a soft bed, but aligned and straight which minimizes back pain.

You are going to get some heat for this

People think I am poor because I sleep on the floor, but then you just have to frame the story in another way.

Instead of saying you sleep on the floor like some cheapass student, you sleep Japanese-style, with a cotton futon on the floor.

Bam! Completely different view on things. Now people are interested in sleeping on the floor Japanese-style, rather than envisioning this sad, stained spring mattress on the floor, while you eat chips out of a back and watch HBO.

(Real-life picture of Little Bun’s foot sticking out on a futon bed, while we are in the bedroom… playing on the bed!)

We can switch out the futon and travel at any time with it

We flip and fluff the futon ever so often, and when we used to be modern nomads, we moved 19 times in a year. It was SO SIMPLE.

We just rolled up the futon, tied it, threw it into the car, and moved.

No boxspring, mattress, headboard, bed-frame, etc.

We actually do this when we go back to Toronto, and bring our own bed in the car. *shrug*

Guest bedrooms and beds are easily created

We just roll out the spare futon, find an empty space on a bedroom floor (got lots), and bam!

Instant guest bed.

Then when they leave, you can roll it all up and tuck it away, to use that room for another purpose.

It saves you money

Aside from the bed accessories and frame, you also save on the mattress and box spring itself. Instead of $3000 for a premium mattress and boxspring, we are spending $1000 on an organic cotton futon.

You can have children sleep without the fear of them falling off

No monsters under the bed, if they wiggle off the bed (Little Bun does this often), you just pull them back onto the bed and cover them up.

Multi-use of the bedroom as a playroom

We use our bed as a playroom as well, with complete 100% peace of mind. He jumps around, builds bed castles or forts, and we never have to worry about him falling off or banging his head, or having the bed collapse on him.

Our bedroom now has a multi-purpose of being a play area during the day AND a bedroom for sleeping at night instead of just being a one-use room.

Easier to clean

I don’t need to vacuum under the bed now and I can fluff my futon ever so often and rotate it easily with just two adults.

Did you also know that mattresses collect bed dust and mites, and double in weight after 10 years? Gross. O_o

I am sure futons also collect dust mites, but with futons, you throw it over a balcony and beat the hell out of it.

And I think it is an alternative to a bed that is scary because we have a fear of the unknown.

And that’s why I sleep on this Japanese-style cotton futon on the floor..with the bonus of it made in the U.S.!