There is nothing wrong with inexpensive bedding. There is something wrong with saving money on the layer whose whole job is to protect a more expensive one. Here is the order we would spend in.
Do not save on the protector
A mattress protector costs a fraction of a mattress and exists to be replaced. Skipping it, or buying one so thin it stops working after a few washes, is the only saving on this list that can cost you several hundred pounds. If the budget only stretches to one thing on this page, make it this.
Save on the duvet cover, not the duvet
A cover is a bag of fabric that gets washed weekly and seen daily — it is the right place for an inexpensive, hard-wearing polycotton in a colour you like. The duvet inside it is a thermal product you will own for years, and a cheap one goes flat in the places that matter.
Buy two cheap sets rather than one good one
For sheets and covers, two inexpensive sets beat one expensive set almost every time. The bed can always be made, each set is washed half as often, and both last longer for it. This is the single most effective thing anyone on a budget can do.
Where cheap shows up fastest
- Fitted sheets, at the corners and in the elastic. A sheet with corner-only elastic is the first thing to annoy you.
- Towels, in absorbency. A very light towel moves water around rather than taking it up — see quality towels for the GSM bands.
- Pillows, in a matter of months. A pillow is the cheapest thing on the bed and the one that is felt in your neck.
Where cheap is simply fine
Flat sheets, pillowcases bought in pairs, throws, and anything in a spare room that is slept in a dozen nights a year. Plain percale pillowcases in a mid colour are near-indestructible and cost very little.
The quantity trick
Per-item prices fall with pack size, which is why bales and multipacks exist. If you are furnishing more than one bed — or a holiday let — the same budget goes considerably further bought in quantity, and at that point a trade account is worth looking at: it is the difference between retail and wholesale beddings pricing, and the terms are on that page.
