Cleaning fan shares simple trick to banish spiders from your home and a 35p Tesco buy is key
THE summer heat might be something to look forward to, but with the higher temperatures comes some unwanted creepy crawlies sneaking into your home.
Spiders can hide in homes and come out during mating season, which is usually from September, but that doesn’t mean they’re not also around before then.
Luckily, one savvy woman has shared a simple trick to get rid of them for good – and you won’t have to break the bank of posh traps and gadgets to do it.
Anna Louisa took to Instagram to share her top tips, which include mixing together water and 20 drops of peppermint oil.
Poured into a spray bottle – you can reuse an old cleaning bottle – the trick will deter spiders from lingering in your home.
However, pet owners should note that this method won’t be suitable for them, as peppermint oil can be harmful to some animals.
Instead, the mum suggested another trick to keep spiders and pther pests at bay.
“Fruit flies dislike the smell of white vinegar so put a small bowl of it near your fruit to keep them away,” she explained.
“I add a few drops of eucalyptus oil to mask the smell of white vinegar but this isn’t necessary.”
Other cleaning fans loved the idea and couldn’t wait to try it out.
“Will be trying these this week. We’ve had them coming in through a gap in the skirting board at the back door and now coming through the front door,” one commented on the viral clip.
A second agreed: “Yes love this trick, I tried it last year and it worked for me.”
The best part about this trick is if you don’t already have vinegar a home, you can pick some up for as little as 35p in shops including Tesco, making the trick a total bargain.
And another added: “Lavender also works with ants too and spiders.”
Other tricks to banish spiders
Get a pet
There’s one sure fire way of getting rid of spiders in your home and that is to introduce a pet to your family.
In particular cats are the perfect animals to get rid of unwanted spiders, as they chase away unwanted bugs from your home.
Use eucalyptus
As well as peppermint, spiders are repelled by the smell of this plant.
So you can either grow it as a houseplant, or place some around your bathrooms and wardrobes to help make it a less appealing home for the insects.
Plus it make your home smell wonderful, so it’s a win-win.
Move the bins outside
Pest control expert Paul Blackhurst says start with your bins.
He told the Express: “As with most pests, the best way to control spiders is to limit their food source.”
There’s a big chance that you will see more spiders situated around the bin in your home. That’s because your waste attracts flies – which are food for spiders.
To eradicate this issue, one thing that you can do it try moving your bins outside or as far away as possible, while also ensuring that you keep the lids closed whenever you’re not using them.
Another tip is to keep the bins clear from any doorways and windows that lead into your house.
Common garden pests
Common pests in the garden don’t need to be a cause for alarm. If you can identify them, you can work on getting rid of them and preventing them from returning.
Aphids (Greenfly, Blackfly)
Aphids are extremely common and can impact plant growth. They have tiny soft pear-shaped bodies, and are usually green or black. You may spot them clustered on the stem of soft shoots – look under leaves in particular – or may find a sticky substance on your plants that gives away aphids have been there sucking at the sap.
Whitefly
These small white-winged insects are related to aphids, at just 1 or 2 mm in length, and look very much like white moths as adults. They can be found on the underside of leaves, preferring younger, fresher leaves. They fly in clusters when you disturb them. Their lifecycle is only three weeks long, which means an infestation can occur very rapidly.
Slugs
An unmissable, squashy-looking body plus small sensory tentacles on its head. Slugs move along on one muscular foot. They range in scale from surprisingly small to terrifyingly large; limax cinereoniger species can grow comfortably beyond 20 cm in length.
Cabbage Moth Caterpillar
Cabbage moth caterpillars happily make their way into the heart of the vegetables, The caterpillars are distinguished in shades of yellow or browny green with no hair.
Mealy Bug
Mealybugs are tiny oval-shaped insects that have a white, powdery wax coating. There are several different species, many of which have what looks like legs coming from their sides and back end. In their earliest stage of life, it’s entirely possible to mistake them for fungus and not recognise them as insects at all.