How have you gotten rid of bedbugs?

I hired a professional exterminator and then he helped me. He advised that the best way was to throw away any padded furniture. He also had me bag up all clothing and material; take it down to the laundromat and dry it for 20 minutes. The dryers will kill any in the material and kill the eggs. I dried while he sprayed. I could not go home that night, so needed another place to stay. He ended up coming back one more time and we went through the whole thing again. It was exhausting and ended up being very expensive, but not as bad as having the bedbugs. We decided not to replace the furniture until they were all gone, so we slept on the floor and used the patio chairs that did not have cushions for two months. It was so nice to get rid of them. My husband was paranoid for a couple of years after that. He always gets bit by any bugs, I do not.