For about a week or two, I noticed insect bites, mostly on my legs but also on my hands and one or two on my thighs, but I have animals and we just had a little flea problem, so I decided that's what it was and acted accordingly.
Just last night, I noticed a lone (unfed) bug on the couch where I usually sleep. I immediately killed him and grabbed a spray bottle that I keep with alcohol rubbed into it (70%). I know that if you spray them directly, it kills them, so my goal was to spray and pray essentially. With this, I killed another adult who didn't get food. I sprayed in the cracks and mostly under the pillows, not very thoroughly, but quite a lot. At night, I kept waking up with new itchy spots on my leg and arm that were closest to the back of the sofa, so I checked the sofa again in the morning. I found one bug that looked like it had just been fed, and two or three tiny baby bugs.
I sprayed all over the place where the fed bug was, so I hope I managed to hit it before it had time to hide somewhere. I tore the sofa apart basically and sprayed everything down, into all the cracks, under each pillow, on the undersides and edges of the pillows, and between the back cushions. I also sprayed the upper back and all the dolls that were sitting on it.
Right now I have sheets and blankets in the dryer on hot, and I have a bunch of clothes that were on the couch and next to it in the washing machine (I can't wash them on hot, but I will dry them on hot, I hope just dipping them in water will help at least a little). My next step is to clean up all the clutter I have next to the sofa, and probably clear out the next chair to give the bugs fewer places to hide.
I'm a teenager and I don't make as much money as I need to hire exterminators, and I don't want to scare my grandmother because as far as I know, bed bugs are currently isolated from my sleeping area. I also don't have a vacuum cleaner since we ripped out all our carpet years ago, but I've been sweeping as much as I can, and as soon as I clean up the mess, I plan to clean up the entire floor in this room. Is it a good idea to pack the things I keep to put them away?
As I sprayed the sofa, I looked for clusters of bedbugs, but I didn't see any, nor did I see any eggs. I know that doesn't mean there aren't any, but I looked all over the couch with a flashlight while I was spraying and I didn't see more than one bug at a time. I hope this means that the problem isn't too big yet? In total, I only saw six or seven bugs.
Sorry for the length, but I feel I should give all the details before asking for advice. I've been reading about some ways to deal with them all morning, but it seems to me that this forum can help more than a General web page. So if you know anything to help get rid of these errors, please let me know.