Never thought of  "life expectancy" for a waterbed. Same one for 18 years and no leaks. Wait, were the leaks from cats on the bed??? We finally gave it up because we wanted to change a bedroom.
And finish painting behind it. One things fer sure, you don't just move 'em on a whim. On the other hand I didn't have to re-arrange the bedroom when she took a notion to change something. But other than the kids we sorta out grew the mindless material goods trip for ourselves and the landfill is less full for it. If we need it, we'll get it when we need it. We were/are real bad about guessing  what the other wanted so we quit going into debt over it. A car made in this century would be cool, think I'll wait for a "bankruptcy" sale.....and pay cash.......