Have you ever wondered how to get rid of the annoying bugs that live in your house? We all want to keep our houses pest-free, but the chemical pesticides we can get from stores are way too toxic and harmful to use anywhere near your home, family, and pets. If these chemicals can kill insects, surely they cannot be good for us, and it’s better to use something natural and safe to repel bugs and insects whenever possible.

Our Bright Side team wants to show you these simple, easy, safe, and effective tricks to get these household insects and bugs out of your home once and for all.

1. Cockroaches

Cockroaches are not only disgusting insects to see in your house, but they can also carry very harmful diseases like E.coli and trigger asthma and allergic reactions. It is believed that this bug can survive just about anything, and if we don’t exterminate them from our homes, it can rapidly become a pest.

These insects are very adaptable and manage to survive in extreme situations, such as temperatures of 32°F, they can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes, and they can live without their heads until they die of thirst. It’s no wonder why most humans fear them, so to get rid of them, there are many products you can buy from the store but they are usually highly toxic. We found some ways you can use to prevent them from coming into your home without having to use harmful products.

• Seal small holes and keep your home clean. Cockroaches may enter your house through cracks and drains; they can also enter whenever they smell crumbs of food you left on the floor or any part of the kitchen. That’s why sealing any cracks and cleanliness are very important to try to keep them away.

• If you already have some of these bugs in your home, this trick is very cheap and safe, and most importantly, it works to get rid of them. Chop one onion and add one tsp of baking soda, and put this mixture in the corners of your house. Reapply it daily and your home should be roach-free very soon.

2. Ticks

Ticks can be very different in size and color. It is very important to protect yourself, your family, and your pets from these little nasties, as they may be very harmful and sometimes even deadly. If you are not very keen on applying chemical pesticides to your skin or on your pets’ fur, try these natural and safe mixtures to prevent these annoying creatures from getting into your home.

• Tick repellent for humans

Mix 20 drops of rose geranium essential oil, 10 drops of sweetgrass essential oil, 5 drops of lavender essential oil, 5 drops of citronella or lemon essential oil, and one tbsp of rubbing alcohol, and dilute it to 100 ml with vinegar or water. Then transfer it into a spray bottle. Shake well and spray it on your clothes before leaving your house.

• Tick repellent for dogs

Dogs seem to always be targeted by ticks, so check your furry friend frequently, especially after walks at the park. You don’t want any of these bugs invading your home.

Mix 20 drops of rose geranium and pennyroyal essential oil with 2 tbsp of almond oil, and place a few drops of it on your dog or on their collar.

Do not use it on cats or pregnant animals.

3. Garden pests

Imagine putting so much effort into planting a garden at your house and some bugs ruin it in the blink of an eye. Certainly, there are many pesticides available to keep the cultivated area in your home intact, but the use of them can make fruits and vegetables inedible.

There are many different types of garden pests out there, so it’s better to do some research on the most common ones to be prepared for when they come for your produce. We have some tips for when you decide to start your own garden.

• Mix 1/2 a cup of hot peppers with 1/2 a cup of garlic or onion, then blend it until it turns into a paste. Mix the paste with 500 ml of warm water. Let it sit for 24 hours in a warm place, strain it, and spray your plants with this liquid to keep unpleasant bugs away.

• Inspect your garden regularly and build a natural bug-predator habitat. Using nature in your favor is the best thing you can do. That being said, take note of the natural food chain and keep pests’ predators, like frogs, snakes, birds, toads, etc., close to your crops. Also, scraping off any “bad bugs” or eggs can stop new insects from appearing.

4. Spiders

Even if you don’t get poisonous spiders in your area, you most likely would still appreciate knowing that they can’t come into your house. They can get absolutely anywhere, and even the smallest ones are really scary. Although, it’s important to know that spiders are natural predators of insects, so maybe having some in your house or garden can be beneficial to you and your plants.

Most spiders are not a threat to humans since their bite equates to the bite of a mosquito, but in real life, if we are bitten by a spider, we wouldn’t turn into a superhero. Dying from a spider bite is a very rare occurrence, but if you want to keep them away from you, there are nontoxic tricks we can use to prevent these 8-legged friends from entering and living in our homes.

• This natural repellent won’t kill the spiders but it will keep them away since these terrifying insects don’t like strong smells. Add 5-10 drops of peppermint oil into a mix of 200 ml of water and 1/4 tsp of liquid detergent, shake it well, and spray the affected areas once a week until you get rid of all the spiders. The peppermint oil can be substituted with eucalyptus, citronella, lavender, or tea tree oil.

5. Ants

Ants can be very annoying and can suddenly appear from out of nowhere, oftentimes sneaking into places in your kitchen or pantry by leaving a path for their friends into your home. Although ants don’t present a serious threat to humans, they can contaminate food and damage property, and depending on the species, their bites can cause allergic reactions.

If ants are attracted to your beautiful kitchen, there is a way to make it less appealing to them so that there aren’t any ants partying in your household.

Apparently, ants absolutely hate the smell of cinnamon. Put some cinnamon powder in the areas of your house where you think the ants enter from. For more effective results, you can get some essential oil and add it to the cinnamon powder. As a side effect, you’ll get a very nice earthy smell in the air.

If you don’t feel like throwing cinnamon powder and making a mess on the floor, using a cotton swap to mark a straight line or using a cinnamon stick can help too.

6. Dust mites

These bugs are so tiny that we can’t even see them with the naked eye, but unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that these tiny insects are not in your house. They live in household dust, prefer warmer places, and their favorite food is skin flakes. So guess where they like to be? That’s right, on your bed!

Although dust mites don’t bite, many specialists believe that they can cause allergic reactions and skin irritations. Even if you are not allergic to them, you most likely would prefer not to share your house with these little bugs.

Mix 6 tsp of eucalyptus oil with 1.5 tsp of liquid laundry detergent in 1 bucket of water and soak the washable items, then wash it as normal. For anything unwashable, just spray and wipe it with a clean cloth. If you don’t like the smell of eucalyptus oil, you can substitute it with tea tree oil, which is just as effective at getting rid of the pest.

7. Weevils

If you leave flour, cereal, or rice unsealed in the pantry, you might end up with these unwanted bugs in your food. Weevils prefer grains and seeds but can also appear in flour or even pancake mix. Sometimes you can’t even tell if you have a weevil pest because they mostly hide within the seeds — the females hide their eggs inside and when the insects are old enough, they eat their way out of the seed.

You certainly don’t want chemical pesticides anywhere near your food, but these tricks can be good solutions to keep these insects away.

• Apparently, weevils really don’t like the smell of bay leaves or cloves. Drop a clove or a bay leaf on the top of your food and around containers to keep these things away from your home.

• Freezing or heating stored foods can also be effective. If you suspect that your food is falling victim to weevils and you want to kill the insects, you can heat the food up to 140°F, or you can put the infested food in the freezer for 3 days, and that should do it.

8. Drain flies

As their name suggests, these flies live in drains, and they mostly live in our bathrooms or kitchens. Some people think these little fellas are very cute, and that might be because of their size and fur, but they can be pretty annoying to live with.

These insects feed off of bacteria and normally live in wet or humid areas. Many people don’t know, but these animals can help in the water cleaning process at sewage treatment plants. There are natural ways in which you can get them out of your house.

• To get rid of them and prevent them from reappearing, you have to clean and sanitize your sinks first. Mix 1/2 a cup of baking soda and salt with 1 cup of vinegar, and use warm water to flush the mixture.

• Now to trap and kill the older moths that are flying or jumping in your bath, you can use apple cider vinegar. Fill a bowl with vinegar and cover it with plastic wrap. Poke some holes into the plastic cover with a toothpick. Leave the trap in the room where the moths are — they will enter through the holes and won’t be able to scape.

Which one of these tricks did you find most useful to keep bugs out of your home? Or maybe you have your own bug-repelling secret. Tell us about it in the comments below and share this article with your friends and family.

Please note: This article was updated in June 2022 to correct source material and factual inaccuracies.

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