We need our basement carpets cleaned in a bad way. They have been trampled on for two full seasons here and that means 6 solid months of fall and winter. Leaves, dirt, snow, slush, ice, and salt have all had their turn sinking into our family’s carpet over this time. So I talked to my wife about it and since we are on a tight budget lately, I decided to investigate renting a carpet shampooer this time instead of hiring our usual carpet steam cleaning service.
Freshly Cleaned Carpet
photo credit: A.K. Photography
We have thought about the dilema of renting vs. buying our own carpet cleaning machines for a long time now and quite honestly I never sat down to run the numbers of what the total costs or savings could be if we stuck to our 2 a year cleaning schedules. I decided to visit our local hardware store and investigate renting one of their machines for the day. All told with rental and the detergents that they sell you, it was going to cost close to 80 dollars. I took a look at our bills from our local cleaning service over the past few years and those cost 175 dollars each time. The total cost for the year’s bill for cleaning our carpets was 350 dollars. That meant that we could rent about 4 times in a year for the same cost as having someone else do it.
Now one factor I didn’t add into the equation was the value of my time. Going to the store, hauling the equipment back and forth, setting it up and then actually cleaning the carpets was essentially an all day affair the first time I did it. I imagine that it will get easier the more you work with the equipment, but I’m not so sure I would be as eager to do it myself again…even though it is significantly cheaper.
The final option of course is one that I haven’t discussed and that is the purchase of our own carpet cleaning machine. I personally looked at a few consumers magazines and picked out the best buys from those articles and then priced the machines online. The best price including shipping was just under 400 dollars for a good model. The nice thing about this choice is that unit is essentially just like a vacuum cleaner in that I only need to fill up the water basin and make sure the detergent is in the container. Then I just need to “vacuum” my carpet with the steam cleaner and go back and forth over the rug. Pretty simple really.
For now, we decided to rent a cleaner. Since it is the cheapest option…it is the one that is best for us at this moment. If and when our economic condition improves, I seriously think I’m going to buy our own carpet shampooer and skip the renting hassle in the future. It would be nice to just pull our own machine out of our closet instead of going through all the other motions. Hopefully you will find the right choice for your budget and your family’s situation.
Tags: carpet cleaning, carpet machine, carpet shampooer, cleaning carpets