Don’t panic, but your home may be the site of a silent invasion taking place right this moment. If not now, it might just be a matter of time before the attack begins.
That’s right: we’re talking about ants, spiders, and other unwelcome pests.
If you’ve already spied some little invaders in your space, or wish to prevent such eww-filled sights proactively, don’t feel like you have to turn to potentially unsafe solutions. Here are several natural ways to get rid of five common pests.
1. Natural Ant Repellents
Some people can’t live without coffee. They need it to begin their day, tackle their studies, or wrap up the big work project before tomorrow’s presentation.
Ants, however, hate coffee. That makes coffee grounds an excellent all-natural repellent for the king of all common household bugs when you spread it outside around your home.
If coffee isn’t your thing — and you, therefore, don’t have any coffee grounds available — consider mixing water with vinegar and wiping the areas in which you’ve seen ants. This obliterates the scent trails ants follow to move around your place.
2. Natural Spider Repellents
Despite how much ants hate coffee, spiders may hate citrus even more. Here’s how you can use that to shoo spiders off naturally:
- Mix water and unsweetened lemon juice into a spray bottle.
- Spray and wipe the mixture around the areas where spiders are most likely to enter, including room corners, windows, and doorways and any openings around pipes and cables/wiring.
In a pinch, rubbing citrus peels onto surfaces in those areas is also effective.
3. Natural Fly Repellent
If flies annoy you — and who DON’T they annoy? — basil is soon to become your new favorite herb. That’s because flies hate its smell. Potted basil on windowsills and basil-scented kitchen candles can therefore be easy natural remedies to keep flies away.
Don’t have the greenest thumb in the world and would prefer a non-plant solution? Put some eucalyptus oil on a piece of cloth that you can place in the problem area.
Additionally, keeping your home as clean as possible to discourage flies from zeroing in on your snacks and overripe fruit in the first place is a great green solution.
4. Natural Mosquito Repellent
So, the basil you pressed into service to combat unwelcome ants? You may want to consider adding two more herbs to the party: rosemary and sage. These common kitchen spices double as natural mosquito deterrents — especially if you burn them or use essential herb oils to spritz mosquito-prone areas.
There’s another way to keep mosquitos off of you, but it may attract a different type of animal — cats! If you’re ready to be done with mosquitos, and don’t mind becoming popular with your local feline population, catnip essential oil applied topically to your skin may help repel skeeters.
5. Natural Mice Repellent
There’s a reason people equate silence as being “quiet as a mouse” — mice make their way around our homes and yards almost invisibly. Often, we know they’re around only when they dig into food packages or leave behind their waste.
Keeping these quiet critters away from our spaces may require support from some winged friends familiar to Harry Potter fans. That’s right: we’re talking about owls. Owls are natural mouse hunters and can thin out thousands of the disease carriers per nesting season.
However, if you’re not a wizard about owl care, you may be wondering, “how the heck do I find an owl to scare the mice away from my home?” All you’ll need is an owl box in the yard. If your pest prevention needs extend outside your home, owls are among the most natural ways to get rid of pests in the garden, too.
For a natural mouse disincentive inside your home, use mint. Many prevalent pests dislike mint. That list includes mice, which will avoid areas where you place crushed mint inside small bags, specifically sachet bags.
Bonus Pest Prevention Tips!
You can take some simple actions to minimize pest populations in your home that won’t require implementing any all-natural solutions at all:
- Store firewood and keep recycling bins away from the house
- Weatherproof your place to prevent pests from getting cozy
- Minimize your carbon footprint by making greener choices so that more of our natural world is available to insects, rodents, and other pests
Expanding Your Eco-Friendliness
Knowing how to get rid of insects naturally is not just a boon to your comfort level. It’s also a boon to the planet we share!
Looking for more ways to be eco-friendly? Shop pre-inspected used furniture at your local CORT Furniture Outlet. Keep furniture out of landfills by giving gently-used pieces a second life in your home.
