Among the pests at home that could elicit a lot of groan in any homemaker is the presence of cockroaches. Aside from the fact that having this pest at home is a sign of uncleanliness and disorder, roaches are known to be dirty and could carry disease wherever they go.
They spread germs and ruin your home when they feed on your own food and munch on your books, walls and even your clothes. Cockroaches are one of the worst pests to ever inhabit anyone’s home.
But if your home seems to be a haven for these filthy (and flying) cockroaches, do not despair. While it might seem that all hope has been lost to ward them off, there are always new things you could do to be rid of them the natural way. The key is to know what ticks them off and to eliminate things that could potentially attract them to your place and turn it into Joe’s Apartment.
Remove Clutter In Your Home
The first thing to do to ward off cockroaches is to clean and organize your home. These pests are attracted with so many things, clutter and dirt included. So make sure that your trash bins don’t go overflowing or that your keep one that has a lid on so that the odor of the trash doesn’t reach the roaches. Always empty your bin inside the home and throw the trash in designated garbage bins outside. After eating, make sure that you do not leave your dishes sitting on the sink. Wash them immediately so the roaches would not be attracted to it.
Cockroaches are also known to enjoy the scent of paper. Where there is plenty of paper, an army of roaches is surely nearby. One roach is enough to send a pheromone to its neighbor to inform of the location of its “paper prey” and you’d get an infestation.
To avoid this, stack your old newspapers and magazines properly. If you do not have further need of them, you could donate it to a recycling center. The same would go for the brown grocery bag and unused cardboard boxes you have at home. Always reuse and recycle.
Keep Off Potential Cockroach Food
Cockroaches enjoy eating and they seem to eat pretty much anything. So to keep them off your home, starve them to death by removing the things that they could happily snack on.
If you have leftovers from dinner, do not leave it sitting out on the kitchen counter. Get an airtight sealed container to transfer the food to and store it in the refrigerator or microwave. Never ever leave any kind of food on the table. This includes fruit bowls.
After eating, ensure that your table is wiped clean so that no spills or scent of any food remain. If there is nothing in the area to attract the roaches, then they would not take the time to stay and camp there.
There might be times when you would not be able to avoid leaving used bottles and cans on top of the counter and that’s fine provided you rinse these first to remove any traces of its former contents that could attract the cockroaches.
Clean Regularly
Of course, you might be doing all these tips but nothing beats cleaning your home at least once a week to remove possible camping places for the cockroaches in your house. Here are things you must do to keep these pests away:
• Sweep your floors every day so that crumbs that might have fallen when you had lunch would be removed.
• Clean the interior of your refrigerator. Just because it’s cold inside does not mean they cannot get it infested
• Wipe spills after every meal
• Mop your floor, especially the one in your kitchen, to remove traces of food
• Clean the area around your stove
• Do not let your laundry pile up as dirty clothes could be a good hiding place for roaches too
• For a DIY cleanse and disinfectant, mix equal parts of water and vinegar in a bowl to use as a wipe all over your kitchen and dining area
It might not be easy, but it is possible to say sayonara to your pest boarders. Just be patient and maintain the tidiness in your home.
