How To Keep Your Home Bug Free
Although mostly harmless, bugs can become quite a nuisance when whizzing around your home like they own the place. Whether you’ve left a window open for too long or a certain piece of food is attracting these bugs, hearing and seeing them can be enough to disrupt any attempt at a relaxing day. But fear not – within this guide, we will be sharing some top tips for keeping your home bug free.
1. Keep The Air Fresh
As gross as it sounds, bugs and other animals tend to find themselves attracted to a place that has an obvious stench. Whether it be from rotting food or a super sweet flower, bugs, in particular, will do all that they can to locate the smell and hang around it.
While it’s not always easy to keep your house smelling super fresh every minute of the day, it is worth trying out an air purifier to remove smells that won’t budge. Air purifiers are excellent at improving the air quality in your home; they not only help to make it smell better, but the air will feel cleaner and you may even be able to breathe easier, too.
2. Take The Trash Out Often
Moving on from the previous point, bugs love to fester around rotting food. This means that, if you frequently let your kitchen trash can overflow, you’re practically inviting bugs to live in your home rent-free. To prevent this from happening, recycle your trash properly and empty the bin whenever it gets too full. Never let food or junk sit around in your bin for over a week as this is when it starts looking and smelling a bit funky.
3. Don’t Leave Food Sitting Around
Dirty plates and opened foods also invite bugs into your home – they can smell that stuff from a mile off! Try to get into the habit of washing your plates or putting them in the dishwasher as soon as you’re done with them. You don’t need to turn the dishwasher on just to wash one plate (wait until the load is full!), but by storing it in the closed dishwasher, the bugs won’t be able to access it.
The same applies to open food. If you intend on having some more and don’t want to throw it away, store it in the fridge or a cool dry place that bugs can’t reach. We highly doubt that you’ll want to eat the food once it’s been taken over by a swarm of hungry bugs.
4. Use Window Screens
Bugs commonly make their way into your home through windows. This is why you tend to find more bugs in your home in the summer than in the winter. While open windows are a must when the sun is shining, it’s worth installing some window screens so that bugs cannot enter your property. These screens are perfect for night time when you need your windows open but have trouble with bugs getting attracted to the light indoors.
Bug screens aren’t obnoxious, meaning their appearance won’t ruin the look of your home. Simply keep them down when your windows are open to prevent them from coming in. Some bug screens are transparent so you can continue to bask in the sunlight as it shines into your home.
5. Zap The Bugs Away
If you have tried every tip under the sun but your bug infestation continues to grow, it’s time to show them who’s boss. You’ve been nice for long enough but it’s time to zap those flies into another realm.
An indoor bug zapper is a perfect size for dealing with those pesky bugs inside the home. Simply turn it on and work it like a tennis racquet; the bugs will soon stop in their tracks and fall to the ground. You can also get an outdoor bug zapper if the bug infestation is just as bad in your yard. Outdoor bug zappers tend to be slightly bigger, giving you more freedom to zap as many bugs as possible in one swing.
While zapping bugs may sound savage, this last resort option is usually the most effective. This will also stop the flies from returning to your home at any given opportunity, allowing you to finally relax in peace.
It’s Time To Relax
Bugs are such a burden in the home, especially when they’re feeling brave and don’t stop whizzing around your head. Not to mention land on your plate of food! With the top tips mentioned in this guide, you now have everything it takes to win back control and deal with bugs for good. You will finally be able to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet which comes from having a bug free home. Bye-bye bugs!
Sources:
- Protecting Your Home from Bed Bugs – EPA
- How to Pest-Proof Your Home – Entomology
- 7 Surprising Hacks for a Bug-Free Kitchen – AARP