A lot of people think that it can be difficult to have a completely green home. They think that you can’t clean your home properly if you don’t use chemicals. It is presumed that your laundry won’t be clean if you don’t use chemicals. But there are some natural things that you can use around your home. They are antibacterial, clean the home, as well as your laundry. Now, what are they? Essential oils, of course! They have such a multitude of uses and are really effective around the home.
One of the many uses that they have is that you can use them to control pests. Throughout different seasons we might more of one pest over another. But at some point in our life, we will experience some sort of pest in our home. It could be rodents, cockroaches or getting a wasp nest on the roof. Whatever pests you might get, there are safe ways to control them. You don’t need to use chemicals that are harmful to you, as well as the pests. So I’ll explain in a little detail the best oils to use for pest control.
First of all, you need to know how to use the oils. Some can be used neat, but some need to be diluted. One of the best things to do is to dilute a few drops in a water spray bottle. Then you can use them in your everyday cleaning. Some you can add to baking soda for use when cleaning, or to make a paste. You can also use borax or coconut oil if you need to rub the cleaner on flooring or a wall, for instance.
Rodents
A lot of people have a bit of a fear or mice or rats. They can move very fast and give you a bit of a fright if they just appear. They can also cause quite a bit of damage to your home. The can chew through food boxes, carpet, and even electrical wires. They can also leave droppings around the home. And you won’t want little ones going near them and picking them up! Rodents can be controlled naturally, though. First of all, making sure your home is clean is the best way to repel rodents. A rodent intruder will like that there are crumbs and scraps on offer. So the kitchen and dining rooms are the best to keep clean. Then they have no reason to want to be in your home.
If you find that you have a rodent problem, then there are options. One of the things that rodents dislike is peppermint. So peppermint essential oil is superb at repelling rodents from entering your home. If that is sprayed around doorways, it is a good way to repel them. Spray wherever you find them entering from. If you don’t have any peppermint oil, you could always use peppermint leaves. They work just as well, if not better.
If you find that you just can’t shift the rodent visitors in your home, then you could think about getting pest control in. There are lots of different ones available, so check the right one for you. You could look at 24 Hourly Pest, for example.
Spiders
Peppermint is also a great oil to use to repel spiders. You could add around ten drops of peppermint oil to some liquid soap, or even just to water in a spray bottle. Then you can spray in the areas that you might find spiders hanging out in. You could have a separate bottle for a spider repellant. You could also include peppermint oil in your normal everyday cleaner. Then you can clean the house, as well as repelling any spiders. Eucalyptus and spearmint oils will also work well. So the house will smell great too!
Roaches and Silverfish
If you find that your home becomes overrun with cockroaches and silverfish, then there are natural ways to repel them too. The best oils to use are lemon, lavender, and eucalyptus. It is good to make up a mixture and store it in a spray bottle. Use around a cup of water, with five drops of each of those oils. It is a good idea to use around half a cup of white vinegar in the mixture too (you can add a spoonful or two if rubbing alcohol if you’d like to). Then all you need to do is to spray the areas that you find the bugs are. No need to wipe or anything, just leave to air dry. It might be quite a strong smelling concoction, so don’t use as an everyday cleaner.
Borax is a great weapon in your fight against keeping roaches out of your home. It is most commonly used to make a natural laundry cleaner. So it is totally harmless to humans. It is completely natural too, which makes it a really good option for pest control. You could use some small jars and put the borax in them. You could also sprinkle it in the back of drawers or cupboards if the pests are getting in there. Mixing it with an essential oil of choice will make the power of it more effective at repelling.
Another option to naturally repel bugs is to have your home be a certain scent. If you mix up around ten drops of your favorite essential oil with some baking soda, it makes a great air freshener and repellant. Mix it all up in a large bowl and then leave under a table or by your desk, for example. It will create a certain scent in the home, that will naturally absorb odors, as well as repel. So it has got to be worth a try.
Ants
There are a few ways to deter ants from getting in your home. One of the first things that you could try is using baking soda. Find where they are coming in and then make a circle or line of baking soda around it. You’d be surprised just how much ants don’t want to go over something. So just make a thin line, and it will confuse them and put them off. Just make sure that you don’t have any breaks in the line. Otherwise, they will still be able to get through.
If you find ants are a massive problem in your yard, you can use a similar trick there too. You could create a thin baking soda line to stop them from coming towards your home. Sometimes it is best to stop them from coming in in the first place, than deal with them when they’re there.
Wasps
Using a mix of apple cider vinegar and lemon essential oil can work as a great general bug repellant too. It would be a good one to use outside. Which is why it works well as a repellent for wasps and flies too. If you are in the garden, just spray it around yourself to keep them away. Peppermint is another fantastic oil for repelling wasps. If you have a nest in a tree or the roof, it is great to use, mixed with a little water. You can always use lavender if you get any stings, as it will take the itch right away.
Have you had any experience with pests in the home? If so, how did you deal with it? While we don’t want to harm them, they can be harmful to us and our families. So it is best if we can deal with them in a natural way. Then it is better for all of us.
