It’s proven and it also makes a lot of sense that if you don’t want to deal with an insect infestation, you should do your best to prevent it from happening in the first place. There are two ways to do this – make sure that they don’t have access to the things that attract them in your home and find natural repellents that would make the insects give up on trying to become your roommates.
In this article, we will tell you about both. Whether you want to make sure no insects enter your house or you have pests you want to get rid of, these methods will surely prove to be quite effective.
Actions to prevent insects from entering your home
Just like any other living creature, insects like cockroaches, centipedes, ants, etc, are in the search of the most basic life sustainers such as food, shelter and water. Of course, you can’t completely get rid of those factors but you can do your best to limit the insects’ access to them.
Here is what you can do:
Don’t leave food outside.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? If you don’t have leftovers on your counters or pieces of crisps underneath your bed after a long weekend of binging shows on Netflix, insects wouldn’t even bother going there. Our advice is to clean up crumbs and leftover food after each meal or a midnight snack, no matter how lazy you might be in the moment. Insects are a lot faster than you think.
Store your food in plastic or metal containers.
Everything that you have in your cupboards or basically anything that is not inside your fridge, should be stored in metal or plastic containers so that even the most stubborn ants or cockroaches couldn’t penetrate it. Take care of your oatmeals.
Empty your bin regularly.
It’s not the most pleasant thing to do, we get it, but overflowing bins, outside and inside, are one of the worst things you can have if you don’t want swarms of insects invading your home. It provides them with endless supplies of food, so logically, a full bin will attract a bunch of unwanted guests.
Tidy up your storage rooms and attics.
Messy storages with lots of wood and cardboard are heaven on earth for termites and many other pests, even rodents. The thing with pests is that many times one leads to the other. The cardboard boxes you used five years ago to bring your Yu-Gi-Oh or Bratz collection are actually the perfect meal for a colony of termites and the perfect nesting material for mice and rats. So clean up and tidy your closets, basements and attics, and make sure that they are not too moist (another thing that attracts insects). And remember that proper ventilation can do wonders!
Install fly screens if you don’t have any.
You may be saying to yourself, who, in the name of everything that is holy, doesn’t have fly screens on their doors and windows. Well, you will be surprised by how big that number is. Many times people just don’t bother unless they have any specific allergies. So if you’ve moved into a new place or you just had enough of dealing with insects – fly screens will do wonders. Who knew that if you block the entries, flies and cockroaches can’t actually get in? Amazing, we know.
Seal gaps in your house.
Well, we lied. They can still get in. Blocking the human entrances will often not be enough, because insects can fit in the smallest of crevices. Check your house for leaks around electrical sockets and fixtures, light switches, around the doors and windows, in recessed lighting, holes made for wires and ducts that lead to the outside of your home. Sealing those gaps will also improve the insulation of your property and save you a ton of money from heating and cooling bills.
Leave the tough work to the professionals.
And in this case, we actually mean spiders. Daddy Long Legs and Huntsmans are great at hunting mosquitoes, flies and other small insects. Those spiders are also quite harmless and don’t really do much besides eat and hang around (get it). Point is, in most cases, it’s a lot wiser to leave those little webmasters to do their job instead of chasing them away or killing them.
Natural insect repellents
Okay, so you’ve completed all the steps above but those little crawlies keep invading your precious home. Well, then it’s time to show them who’s the boss! If you’re not a big fan of chemicals, we can recommend the following natural repellents that would help you in your quest of keeping insects away from your house.
White vinegar.
Is anyone really surprised? The only thing white vinegar can’t do is probably go to work in our place and look after the kids. In any other case, it’s almost irreplaceable. It’s an expert in cleaning greasy ovens and countertops, removing stains from your clothes, softening the fabric when washing, cleaning glass and at least a hundred more applications. One of them is destroying the chemical trail many insects leave behind after scouting for food and shelter. For example, if you see ants and get rid of them, clean up whatever they were eating, the chemical trail will still be there and the others will find it. If you clean it with white vinegar, though, the acidic nature of this amazing liquid will completely destroy the trail and confuse the ants.
Diatomaceous earth.
DE is certainly the coolest and most hardcore way of getting rid of insects. It’s made of the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton which are extremely sharp for all insects. It doesn’t poison or deter them, it straight up tears their bodies and exoskeletons, killing them almost instantly. However, even if it’s not as deadly to humans, remember to wear a mask every time you use it because if you inhale it and it gets in your lungs, it could cause problems.
Cinnamon.
Cinnamon to pests is like salt to demons. And it even works in a similar way. Just sprinkle a bit at the entrances, on the outside of your windows and areas where you’ve seen active insects and trails, and the many other pests won’t dare cross it.
Essential oils.
This is not a joke, we promise! Some essential oils actually do a pretty good job at keeping insects away because of the strong scent that they emit. Most spiders hate peppermint and would do anything to avoid it while flies run away in horror at the smell of eucalyptus oil. So the only thing you have to do is mix a little bit of whatever essential oil you will need with a bit of water and spray the most affected areas.