My first time buying my own bed after college, I decided that it was really worth it, despite how much room it takes up and the additional cost, to get a queen sized bed. If you’re six feet tall (or more) like me, the extra 6” in length is really, really worth it. And if you’re sharing your bed with someone else and you’re a larger person, the extra 6” in width over a full is also nice. I took the approach of buying a very nice bed now with the idea of keeping it for years and years, but that’s because I happened to have a bit of money lying around, not sure if that’s a great approach for everyone, or if my bed will really last that along, although supposedly it has some kind of great warranty.

My bed is pretty firm, and for a while I’ve been worrying I might have made the wrong decision, but I’m getting more used to it over time.

Another thing to keep in mind…if you have a somewhat narrow staircase and are getting a larger bed, you can get a “split” boxspring (2 half-size ones), since the boxspring is rigid and often cannot be fit around corners.