This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to yourself.
I’m here to tell you that sometimes doing it yourself does not pay off.
My family and I spent the past weekend cleaning our carpets. My husband rented a carpet cleaning machine from Home Depot for 2 days.
Along with the cost of the cleaning solution ($108.27 with tax) and the carpet cleaning machine itself, my husband, my son and I spent the better part of 2 days moving furniture, setting up fans, and using this behemoth of a machine to get our carpets clean.
As a result of our 2-day carpet cleaning experience, I have a sore ankle and back. My husband has a sore back, too. And my son is avoiding us, for fear that we will ask him to do something else.
I have to admit that it’s wonderful to have our carpets so clean, but I’m realizing that I could have had a professional carpet cleaning service do the work for just a little more money, and I could’ve been more productive elsewhere.
For instance, while my husband did this work in his spare time, I took time off from my work for this DIY project. I’m realizing now that I could have just as easily worked for those 2 days and used that money to pay a professional carpet cleaner — and still had a bit left over.
And we all would have probably been much happier in the end.
When To Let The Professionals Clean Your Carpets
But if you sit down and do the math before going out and renting expensive tools and instruction booklets, you may find that someone can do it for you in less time, with greater expertise, and often for a lower price — especially if you take into account the cost of mistakes that are likely to be made by amateurs.
For example, my husband started our carpet cleaning project by flooding the kitchen with water when he walked away while filling the reservoir bucket on the carpet cleaning machine. He not only left the water running to answer the door, but went across the street and helped a neighbor with a gardening project.
This is why our project took 2 days. The first day was spent cleaning up the mess.
RELATED:
- Wet vs Dry Carpet Cleaners: Which Is Best?
- Residential Carpet Cleaning Services: Tips For Selecting A Professional
- Consumer Search: Best Carpet Cleaners
- DIY vs Professional Carpet Cleaning Services
- Pro’s & Con’s of DIY vs Hiring A Professional Carpet Cleaning Service
I have been a certified tightwad since I became pregnant with my first child and decided to find a way to stay home with him. I enjoy sharing my experiences in my journey back to financial health and planning for a future — which will include sending 2 kids to college and early retirement.
Well, it depends on the situation and your needs. If you’re running out of time in cleaning the carpet or you do everything but in vain; maybe, that’s enough reason to hire a cleaner. It would be good that you assess first your needs before hiring a carpet cleaning service.
Well it cost about 3-400 to clean my entire house once using a service, and I can purchase the machine and pay the same and use it as much as I would like (4 times a year) and save quite a bit. So not sure where you got your info from. If you are talking about cleaning the carpet once, then sure, but if you clean it even yearly (I would say every 6 months is minimum) then you are paying double over a 1 year time span. That’s not a good investment. You could also buy the machine and pay a family member if you have health issues, most of us have kids that are teens somewhere in the family that we can coach thru it and they can make some money, learn what to do, and save you money too.