Thousands of college students across the country are graduating this month, preparing to move into new apartments and set up house for the first time. Many of them are shopping on a tight budget, looking for used furniture online and in thrift stores. While buying an inexpensive coffee table on Craigslist is a great way to save money, there are some items you should never purchase used, including a mattress. Bring an old mattress into your home, and you risk a bed bug infestation, according to Missy Henriksen, vice president of Public Affairs at the National Pest Management Association (NPMA).
"[You] have to be very careful that people haven't discarded an item because of bed bugs—either knowingly or unknowingly," Henriksen told Fox Business. "It's just too risky to take in a mattress that has been in anyone else's home. Even if there are no live bugs in the mattress, there can be dead ones, and dead bed bugs do emit an odor."
She says getting rid of bed bugs could cost between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars. Other unsavory discoveries in used mattresses: bacteria, hair, bodily fluids and dust mites. Dust mites are microscopic bugs that are closely related to ticks and spiders. They thrive in warm, humid environments and feed off of skin cells that settle in mattresses over time. The mites and their feces irritate many people's allergy and asthma symptoms.
While you should never buy a used mattress, you should also take precautions with new models by purchasing allergen mattress covers and allergy bedding. These items can help prevent exposure to dust mites. Shop available options on the Allergy Be Gone website.
