I have noticed that my readership has gone down since I started blogging about choosing linens, but I just can't get a grip on which to purchase for my son (who can sleep ANYWHERE and could care less). 

I understand the XL sheet concept and now know that a regular length twin duvet and cover will work with an extra-long bed.  Have even conquered the percale vs. sateen decision.  Whether CJ, who I can't imagine using a top sheet, will ever launder the duvet cover is another question.

But now after a trip to BB&B where he actually selected underbed storage bins and hand towels, many decisions loom. 

- Should he get a "memory foam" pad? (Cons: Retains heat; chemical odor)

- An egg shell pad? (Cons: Out-dated, now replaced by memory foam)

- A zoned Isotonic mattress enhancer or 400 TC Egyptian cotton "overstuffed" mattress pad…or BOTH?

- A bed bug protector?

- A feather bed or hypoallergenic fiber bed?

The most challenging part of this decision-making process is that these items are not mutally exclusive.  For example, if you get the memory foam, you still need the mattress pad – and how can the foam remember anything if it's squished by overstuffed pad by Laura Ashley?

I have come to the conclusion that the best idea would be to purchase a brand new comfortable mattress rather than try to enhance a 50-year old sucky one.  I'm sure we could pick one up in CJ's college town for $79, a lot less than the cost of the layered system that we will have to put together.  BTW, there are numerous threads on College Confidential about this…including a query from a Stanford-bound coed whose SATs had to be a lot higher than her Bedding Quotient.