We spend hundreds of dollars for a wool mattress cover...and then cover it with a waterproof mattress protector.

We spend hundreds of dollars for ultra lightweight German Batiste fabric on a down comforter...and then put it inside a duvet cover.

Obviously there are trade-offs, but does this make any sense?  It seems to me only two choices make sense - use "protection" but don't bother spending extra for the wool and exotic fabric because it's just a waste of money, or take our chances with stains and sleep next to that for which we paid a lot of money. The irony is, if we're just going to buy something cheap because we can't feel it anyway, why spend hundreds of dollars to protect it?

The first duvet cover I bought cost almost as much as the down comforter...and was so heavy and thick that it made me hot and defeated one of the desirable qualities of the down comforter - its light weight. The mattress protector I bought is, I think, making me hot. How can it not? How can it distinguish between coffee and perspiration?

I think I'm just going to take my chances with an unprotected mattress. The top is removable and can be washed, and practically speaking I have no warranty on anything anyway.

For the comforter, when it gets a bit cooler I'm going to try a cover made of cotton sheeting and forgo the fancy cover, and perhaps even the top sheet. Why do I need two sheets between me and the down? For now it has no cover, but I have cats and I need something I can take off and throw in the washer and dry in a dryer. [Wish I had thought this far ahead before I "invested" in the fancy duvet cover.]

I would like to hear others thoughts on this. Am I missing something?