Did you have bedbugs? How did it affect your life? How did you get rid of them?

Happened in a house I lived in during college but luckily did not impact me directly.

Everyone in the house put all their fabrics in plastic bags and dried them on high heat in the dryer, then put them back in clean plastic bags. We then used these plastic bags as our closets for two weeks. Nobody was allowed to sit on the soft furniture (recliner, sofa, etc) during these two weeks.

In the end, we had to hire an exterminator.