Spring = bugs

Its almost springtime, which means BUGS! What I want to do is share with you the non-obvious ways to get rid of bugs! The obvious being bug sprays, and traps. I do not have any kids, but if you have kids, using chemicals might not be something you want to do. So here are some other options for getting rid of bugs.

Ants
Ants do not like lavender. My apartment has a horrible ant problem during the spring and summer months, and they are mostly in my bathroom. What they find so interesting in my bathroom I have no idea. I am just grateful they aren't in my kitchen. I spray lavender oil all over my carpets about once a week, sometimes more if I feel it is necessary. I have a 12oz spray bottle that I put 10 drops of lavender oil in, and fill the rest of the way with water. Lavender oil can be found at any organic or health food store in your area, or also online. I also use raid ant traps, one taped to the wall above the shower in the bathroom, one underneath my bed, one in the kitchen, and one in the living room by the window. Between these two things, the ants usually stay away. Since the bathroom is such a problem area for me, occasionally I will use some chemical spray in the bathroom, but lavender oil is what I use on a regular basis. Ants also do not like bay leaves. Growing up, mom always had bay leaves laying around the house, and that seemed to keep the ants away as far as I can tell.

Fleas
Fleas also do not like lavender. In my attempt to get rid of ants, I am also driving fleas away! (Lice are another thing that do not like lavender, so hopefully they stay far, far away from me!) I have outdoor carpet on my porch, which is also open, and there are a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood that come up on the porch. In the summer there are LOTS of fleas! So gross. I am a bug hater! One night last summer I was about to go crazy with the flea problem I had. I was so sick of fleas being all over my apartment, and I hadn't had a chance to go to the store. So I got on google. I found that if you have a really bad problem, like I did, get a pan of soapy water (lots of soap, because the soap traps the fleas so they can't jump back out of the water), and leave it in front of some kind of heat and/or, light. A heater, the TV, a nightlight. Fleas are attracted to heat and light, so they will jump into the pan of water that is underneath that heat and light. Then they will be trapped! This worked wonders for me. The other thing I did was sprinkle salt all over my carpets. Google said to vacuum a day or so after you salted the carpet. I don't, I just leave it (mostly because I don't own a vacuum!) But either way, the salt dries out any flea eggs that are in the carpet, keeping them away.

Mosquitoes/Moths
I have a fly strip outside my door in the summer because there are so many moths on my porch. Lavender, again is helpful. Bay leaves I have heard are something else moths don't like, I recently bought some so I will be trying this out. For mosquitoes, citronella (an essential oil that is also found in health food stores) works very well. I'm sure you have seen citronella candles in the outdoor section at the grocery store. Try a mixture of lavender and citronella, and maybe even lay a few bay leaves around your door.

So to summarize what I just said, between lavender, salt, citronella and bay leaves, you can keep your house relatively bug free without using chemicals. You can even take it one step further, and use lavender scented laundry soap, and dryer sheets. I am also going to buy a lavender plant next time I go to Wal-Mart, because I like the way lavender smells!
Happy de-bugging! =)