Previously I borrowed my friend's carpet cleaner to spot clean a soap spill using no cleaning solution and only borrowing for my weekend. I thanked them but did not offer money to them. This time I borrowed the carpet cleaner for a week to carpet clean 3 small rooms using their solution ( I offered to buy my own but they said the kind they use with their carpet cleaner is not available in our town so then I offered to pay for solution used). Not sure how much money to offer them as I very much appreciate being able to borrow it instead of renting one but think that if I offer to much money they won't accept it (was going to give cash but could Etransfer). I did not use much solution as the jug was low and was told to let them know if I needed more as they were going to buy more in a few days (there is still a little bit left). If I hadn't offered to pay for solution they probably wouldn't have asked me to but we are not close friends so I don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of their kindness.

Hi wrestling97girl,

I'm not sure whether you still have the carpet cleaner or if you've already given it back to your friend, but if you really want to pay them back, you could try and pay by the number of fluid ounces you used? You'd need to know the number of fluid ounces you originally had, the amount leftover, and the original price though.

If you can estimate all those things, you could then subtract the difference between the original number of fluid ounces and the fluid ounces left once you were done cleaning (e.g., 20 original fl. oz. - 15 remaining fl. oz. = 5 used fl. oz.) to get the amount you used. You could then divide the original price of the solution by the total number of fluid ounces (e.g., $5 divided by 20 fl. oz. = 25 cents) to get the price per fluid ounce. Finally, you could multiply that price by the number of fluid ounces you used to get the total cost you could pay (e.g., 0.25 x 5 fl. oz. used = $1.25 total to pay back what you used).

By what you said in your post though, your friend sounds simply generous and isn't expecting to be paid back, especially since they were just going to buy more anyway. So if you didn't know the original numbers, a genuine "thank you" could suffice, or maybe whenever your friend needs a favor in the future you can help them out in return to be even. Either way, I hope this answer can help; have a nice day!

To pay them back, I'd very likely make cookies or some kind of dessert or treat. Since you don't know about their allergies or preferences, maybe giving them a gift certificate to a bakery or grocery store would be a nice thank you..