The worst kind of guests aren’t just the uninvited ones, they’re also the unwanted ones. Nobody likes the thought of creepy crawlers invading their home, especially since our homes are supposed to be the places we feel the safest and most secured in. However, this does happen more often than we’d like — ants find their way into our kitchens, flies disturb our sleep in our bedrooms, and cockroaches make a home in our garbage.
Thankfully, with a little elbow grease and a careful cleaning routine, we can make sure that these critters don’t just get out of our homes, they stay out as well. Here are our tips for how to rid your home of roaches, ants, and insects, for good:
KEEP INVADERS OUTSIDE
These creatures didn’t just come from out of nowhere — they made their way into your house from the outside. Because of that, the absolute best thing you can do to keep your house insect-free is getting rid of the entry points for these insects.
Inspect your homes for possible entry points. Maybe these bugs are entering your home through your pet door or that window that won’t properly close. Repair anything that could potentially be an entry point, like holes in your window screens or gaps between your door and your door frame.
Even if you think these gaps or holes are too small, remember that roaches can slip through holes and cracks that are as small as 3 millimeters high or one-twelfth of an inch.
We also recommend you install a door sweep for your front and back doors. A door sweep seals the gap between the bottom of your door and the threshold. Not to mention, they’ll keep the entrances to your home neat and tidy, which is great for reasons we’ll mention later in this article.
There could also be cracks in your vents, pipes, and roof shingles, all of which you’ll need to repair quickly — especially the pipes which attract waterbugs most of all. We recommend you make it a point to inspect these areas at least once a year. If there are cracks and holes, be sure to seal them. You can use caulk to seal small ones, while steel wool and foam are best to fill larger gaps, especially around pipes.
KEEP YOUR HOME CLEAN AND MESS-FREE
If there’s one thing that these bugs and insects share in common, it’s that they gravitate toward messes. Ants look for fallen pieces of food, waterbugs love living in wet spaces, and roaches use items such as cardboard and paper for shelter. By keeping your house clean and mess-free, you’re keeping it insect-free as well.
When it comes to cleaning your home, the keyword to remember here is REGULARLY. Here are the three things you should be doing regularly when cleaning:
- Sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping. Your floor has fallen hair, food crumbs, and even pet food if you’re living with a pet. Sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping eliminate the food supply for insects as well as get rid of roach feces, body parts, and egg sacs. These contain pheromones that attract other roaches into your home.
- Emptying your trash. Plenty of insects (especially roaches) make your garbage their hideaway, so emptying your trash regularly ensures that these invaders have no place to hide. On days where you don’t empty your trash, make sure your bins are tightly covered or even sealed to ensure creepy crawlers can’t make their way inside.
- Washing your dishes. Dirty dishes should never be left in the sink the whole day unless you’re asking for waterbugs. After every meal, wash your dishes immediately.
FOCUS ON YOUR KITCHEN
Bugs and insects make their way into your home because they’re hungry and looking for things to eat. Keeping that in mind, the room in your house you should be focusing the most on is your kitchen. We’ve already covered washing dirty dishes daily, but that shouldn’t be the only you’re attending to in your kitchen.
Sanitize tables, countertops, appliances, cupboards, and shelves frequently. Insects love to feast on grease and spilled food, so frequent wiping and sanitizing will prevent this from happening. Ants, in particular, hate certain smells: try cleaning your cupboards with vinegar. Not only does it disinfect, but ants can’t stand it.
Don’t leave food out overnight. Keep them in the fridge or seal them tightly in a container so critters don’t smell them and go looking for them. The last thing you need is to open your box of cereal in the morning, only to find it’s already being enjoyed by a colony of ants or a pesky little cockroach. Don’t forget about pet food if you have a pet, either — pet food bowls and containers should be emptied every night.
And as much as possible, keep your food inside the kitchen and dining room. This limits the possibility of food falling onto multiple parts of your house. If you’re fond of the occasional Doritos bag in the living room while watching the latest Netflix series, remember that food crumbs are prone to falling on your floors and under your couches, so don’t forget to inspect and clean those on a frequent basis.
PRO-TIP: HIRE A PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
If you really want to rid your home of insect invaders, there’s no better method than relying on professional services. If you suspect a roach infestation, contact an exterminator. They’ll be able to determine if your house really does have a pest problem and what you can do specifically for your home. A pest control professional can do a thorough evaluation and set you up with a comprehensive treatment plan.
However, if your home is lucky enough that insects haven’t infested it yet and you want to keep it that way, why not rely on a cleaning service? Cleaning Lady knows what clean is, not just the clean that makes your home look good but the clean that keeps your home free from bugs and insects. It’s not enough that your home looks spotless — it also has to be spotless, meaning there aren’t even greases and spills that bugs and insects can see but we can’t.
Just because you’re a busy somebody doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a safe and secure home. Whether it’s a condominium or a two-story house, you deserve to come home to a place you’re sure is safe to rest in.
CONCLUSION
Nobody likes it when their home has guests they’d much rather do without. Every single person who owns a home will have to deal with insect problems because these creepy crawlers just love to invade our spaces.
However, if we remember to keep our homes clean, keep our food secured, cut off food sources for bugs and insects, and block off holes and gaps where these critters can enter our homes, we will be able to rid your home of roaches, ants, and insects, for good.