Ways To Kill It As You Clean: The Bug Edition
You stretch and wipe the sweat from your brow. The pleasant burn of your muscles a reminder of what you have just accomplished. You look around the room and smile as you exhale softly; you’re finally finished cleaning for the day. Suddenly, there is a flicker of movement from the side. You swallow harshly; Your eyes blown wide. Across from you scuttles every home-owners nightmare: a cockroach. All your hard work seems wasted now as the cockroach carries on his merry way, ignorant to your dilemma. As you grab the bug spray, you wonder: how can I stop this from happening again?
You are not alone. Many ask themselves this very question. As they should, because sadly that one bug is not alone either. In 2016, a team of entomologists did a study where they searched 50 homes throughout Raleigh, North Carolina. “Room to room, floor to ceiling, under shelves and behind knick-knacks, they grabbed every arthropod they could find…” What they found was shocking. Each home had between 32 and 211 species of bugs residing in them. The good news is that most were not pest species. Most were even invisible to the naked eye and can continue to live amongst us peacefully. As for the others, here are some ways you can barricade your home from these unwanted guests. (1)
Starting outside, the biggest repellent for mosquitoes is to make sure they don’t have anywhere to breed. Mosquitoes like standing water, so you need to drain places like your gutters, birdbaths and swimming pools. I have found that sometimes even trees can have patches of standing water among their above-ground roots. Wasps are repelled by the scent of fresh-cut herbs such as rosemary or mint. Hang tiny clusters of them where wasps tend to nest outside your home, and then hang some more in your families more high-traffic areas outside to prevent them from moving there instead. (2)
Moving into the home, to prevent flies, make sure your trashcans are tightly covered. Wash them occasionally, not just when a garbage bag leaks, and sprinkle a little borax on the inside, to keep the flies outside. For ants, sprinkle ground cinnamon or cloves around where you have found them coming in. In case some still manage to get in, use a mixture of white vinegar and water to frequently erase any trails they may leave for other ants to follow on your home’s floors and other surfaces. Silverfish are attracted to water. So, to get rid of them you need to fix any water leaks you have, and to seal all the openings around pipes, and holes in the walls you can find. Vacuum around the treated areas to get rid of any silverfish eggs that might have been laid. (2)
Like ants, spiders are repelled by strong scents. Make a mix of essential oil, water and liquid detergent in a spray bottle and apply weekly at your spider hot spots. Peppermint oil is the most suggested, but you can also use eucalyptus, citronella, lavender or tea tree oil. Weevils love to get into your pantry-stored foods. Rice and flour are some of their favorites. To keep them from spoiling your goods, place a bay leaf or a clove inside your storage containers and on the shelf around them. This is the safer way to protect your food from bugs instead of accidentally contaminating them with bug sprays. (3)
After all that cleaning and laying down bug barricades, you head off to bed. But before you do, just remember that dust mites are a thing; they like to eat skin flakes. Unfortunately, that means they are probably in your bedding. If you have a suspicion you have some unwanted bedmates, get ready to do some laundry. Mixing a little eucalyptus oil, or tea tree oil, with some laundry detergent in a bucket of water, soak the items before washing as usual. Anything unwashable, spray with the mixture and wipe clean. Now, your home should be mostly bug free. Stay diligent with these bug repellents, and clean regularly, and your home will surely sparkle.
Stay Sparklin’
Gwen
