Could have been worse...
In one of my old flats, when I was living on 70 hour weeks, and weekends, and so couldn't be arsed tidying up, my carpet was fine.
Because it was covered in detritus, pizza boxes, clothes etc, from where I basically came in the house at 11pm, had a takeaway, crashed to bed, then at 6:30am had a shower and left the house again. The place did end up looking a bit, er, shameful.
In the end, I decided the best thing to do was to call up a clearance company to help clear out the crap, and then a cleaner to tickle the place over. The advantage of working stupid hours - you never have any one round to see the mess (because you're never at home) and you have plenty of disposable income to pay for cleaners.
£60 later, you'd never even have known I had lived there, apart from the lingering smell of cigarette smoke and a slightly grubby oven, which I had the moral fibre to deal with myself.
Repeat every six months or so - professional cleaning services for the win!
Anon, to save my own shame, as I live a little better now...
PS: If your dyson seems a little light on suckage, pull the bottom off and clean out the passages, makes a massive difference, if your hoover is treated with as much disdain as your flat ;-)
PPS: I have now decided that a barber chair would be an excellent idea for my room, but why is everyone suggesting it's pervy? I've always found barbers chairs quite comfy, where's the perv appeal?