Chinchillas do make pretty good pets as they're pretty independent and mostly sleep while you're away from the house at work or wherever so you can easily leave a chinchilla alone for 8 hours or so without any worry.
Although Chinchillas are messy they're pretty clean as well and require very little work and attention so they do make wonderful pets.
Chinchillas also take there own baths as well by taking a dust bath so the Chinchillas are not very hard to take care of.
I wish I could afford a Chinchilla myself as my friend has one and I love that Chinchilla.