Cheap Carpet Cleaning

Below are four ways to get cheap carpet cleaning. Following those there are two other ways to save money on keeping your carpets clean. If you want to also save money on the carpet itself, see the page where I spell out how I carpeted a room for $12 (it can still be done for less than $50). You'll find that one here: A Cheap Carpet Secret.

Clean it Yourself

This is the most common way people get their carpet cleaning done cheap. Even the smallest towns have a few places where you can rent a portable machine. Expect to pay around $25 per day for the rental, and a few dollars more for the cleaning solvents. If your carpeting is not too dirty, go light on the solvents, since they sometimes do not get rinsed out of the fibers completely. That residue which is left behind can attract dirt.

Although it is better than nothing, a portable do-it-yourself unit will never clean as deeply as a professional cleaning company can. If you have some areas that are really dirty, and especially if they have not been cleaned in a while, you might want to consider calling in the professionals. If you do get help, hire a company that uses a truck-mount (in a van usually) hot water extraction unit. The process is commonly called steam cleaning, and I explain why it is best on this page: Best Way to Clean Carpet.

Get a Deal on Carpet Cleaning

You can often find cheap carpet cleaning deals if you watch the newspaper ads. Specials are common during the slow times of the year (winter in most places). As long as you hire a reputable company with a good machine you should get the same job as you would when paying full price.

Make Your Deal

If the carpet cleaner you call is not too busy, he or she may be open to doing a special deal for you on "traffic areas." Often the carpet is only really dirty where people's feet contact it. These are called traffic areas, and cleaning them may be sufficient. In other words, the cleaner will not move any furniture and not clean under anything that is not fairly open, which makes the job much easier and faster for him. You can vacuum under furniture to get the dust, and just have traffic areas done to get a discount--if you ask.

Trade for Service

When I was cleaning carpets I did not own the company, but I did know what deal the owner made, and they included trades at times. In one case he did over $2,000 worth of cleaning for a radio station, in exchange for an equally-valued number of radio ads. If you have anything that your carpet cleaner might want, consider offering a trade.

Keep it Cleaner

One way to save on professional cleaning costs is to have it done less often. To prolong the time between visits from the professionals, keep the carpeting cleaner for longer. There are three basic ways to do this. The first is to simply vacuum more often. The second is to have mats outside the home entrances and small rugs just inside them, to catch the dirt that comes in on shoes. The third is to have a policy of no shoes in the house.

Replace Your Carpet

Instead of looking for cheap carpet cleaning, you might eliminate the expense altogether. It might be too expensive to rip out perfectly good carpet and replace it with tile, hardwood, or laminate flooring, but it is something to consider if you are getting ready to replace the carpet anyhow.