There’s nothing worse than looking around your home only to find evidence of pests. It fills you with dread immediately. Battling bugs inside your house can be a real pain. What’s more, if you have small children or pets, you’d have to be careful about setting out insect traps since they contain harmful chemicals if ingested.
Thankfully, there are plenty of natural ways to get rid of a bug infestation. These include using natural ingredients that kill them from sealing up entry points. There are dozens of options for tackling pests simply by using the contents of your pantry.
The good news — even if you don’t have success with natural remedies, you can opt for commercial insect traps and baits that don’t cause harm to humans or animals. But it’s always best to take the natural route first. You may discover it’s all you need.
So, the next time you see a little black line marching across your kitchen countertop — or a cockroach skittering across your floor — don’t despair. Just grab a couple of lemons and a bottle of dish soap and get ready to fight the good fight. Here are 70 natural ways to eliminate pests without putting family members or pets at risk.
1. Repel dust mites
To get rid of dust mites, mix water with a strongly-scented essential oil like peppermint, eucalyptus, or rosemary. Spray liberally. Just be careful if you have pets or children, as these oils can be toxic to them.
These scents are supposedly repellent to fleas and lice. It won’t hurt to add them to your repertoire around the house, but again, be careful when using it around animals and children.
Certain garden pests hate hot peppers. You can make homemade hot pepper spray by boiling a gallon of water with three tablespoons of cayenne pepper flakes. Add a couple of drops of dish soap and spray around your garden.
When ants travel, they leave trails of pheromones to help guide their friends. Getting rid of these will help cut off their route. Mix white vinegar and water and spray liberally.
Fruit flies are annoying pests, but they’re not too hard to catch. Just put out a container of apple cider vinegar. Use a bottle with a nozzle or cover with plastic so flies can get in, but can’t get out.
When ants come into the house, that usually means they have a nest nearby outside. Tackling the nests in your yard can be the key to stopping these pests from coming inside.
If aphids are eating your garden, cut up some banana peels and drop them in the dirt around your plants. Not only do the bugs dislike them, but they also add vitamins to the soil.
Pests thrive in long grass and thick bushes, so keeping your lawn in check is important. Make sure to mow your lawn and trim any overgrown bushes, especially those close to the house.
If you have garden beds near your house, dig small trenches in the soil. That way, it doesn’t touch your home’s foundation. After all, dirt can provide an entryway for pests to get inside your house.
If you’re a coffee drinker, make use of the grounds by sprinkling them wherever you think pests are entering. Most critters dislike the smell of coffee, and if they do ingest it, they’ll die.
Ants love eating cornmeal, but they can’t process it. So, sprinkle it around your kitchen or wherever you suspect they’re coming in. They’ll carry it back to their nest, where the colony will die.
If you have Borax in your laundry room, use it for insect bait. Mix a half a cup of sugar and two tablespoons of Borax in a cup of hot water. Then pour it in the ants’ trail.
If aphids are munching on your plants, wrap a small amount of aluminum foil around the stems. This will reflect light onto the bottom of the plants, which the critters dislike. Just don’t use too much or it could burn your plants.
When you put the sugar away, make sure it’s properly sealed. Even for honey and syrup, snap the lid closed and clean the outside of the bottle to make sure there are no drips.
Spraying a mixture of lemon juice and water around your kitchen discourages ants. Not only do they dislike citrus scents, but the spray also hides their trails.
Experts aren’t sure why ants dislike walking across anything powdery. But these insects go out of their way to avoid powders that cling to their legs, making baby powder a perfect remedy.
Sometimes, you need to tackle the problem directly. If you have an anthill in your yard, mix warm water with liquid dish soap and pour it in any entryways. If the water doesn’t drown them the soap will suffocate them.
Boric acid is essentially harmless to humans but toxic to many types of pests, including cockroaches and ants. Sprinkle it around inside or outside so it sticks to their legs.
Diatomaceous earth is finely-ground seashells. It’s harmless to humans, but the microscopic sharp pieces slice bugs’ exoskeletons, killing them. It’s effective for ants, fleas, and a host of other pests.
Another effective way to kill an ant colony is to pour a kettle of boiling water over the anthill. However, some people feel this method is a little too cruel for their taste.
Neem comes from an evergreen found in India. Mixed with water, it dissolves insects with soft exoskeletons, like mites and aphids. Just be careful using it around children and pets.
Pyrethrum is a natural spray made from chrysanthemums. When mixed with water and dish soap, it’s a great way to get rid of mosquitos and other buzzing insects, killing them instantly.
We’re not sure why ants won’t cross a chalk line, but something about it is distressing to them. You can draw a line in front of your home to cut off at least one entry point.
Put a couple of tablespoons of vodka in a spray bottle. If preferred, you can add in other scents or essential oils. Spray around your home to erase ant trails.
Believe it or not, snails and slugs like beer. This makes it a perfect trap for your yard or garden, especially if they’ve been feasting on your plants.
This is a slight variation of the Borax and sugar water method mentioned above. For this, mix equal parts Borax and powdered sugar, making sure it’s well combined. Set out near ant entry points.
Many critters dislike the smell of cinnamon. So, some people swear by putting cinnamon sticks near windows and entry points. You can add cinnamon essential oil to increase the smell.
Ants often make a rush for potted plants inside a home, but they can’t cross over water very well. Place your houseplants in bowls of water to keep them safe.
As we’ve said, citrus scents make excellent ant repellents. Thankfully, there are plenty of lemon-scented cleaners available. If you prefer, you can mix fresh lemon juice with water.
Tansy is a yellow herb that’s discouraging to ants. Plant some in your garden or place it on your window sills. You can even sprinkle the dried flowers around your kitchen.
If you have a wood-burning stove, you might store the wood in your basement or at the back door. It’s even better to keep it outside since bugs love building nests in woodpiles.
To kill ants in just a few seconds, mix one-part of rubbing alcohol to three parts of water. Then, add a couple of drops of dish soap. Spray it directly on the ants.
Isopropyl alcohol will help keep insects off your house plants. Just mix a cup or two with a quart of water and spray the mixture on your plants liberally.
Nicotine is highly toxic to many types of insects. You can make a natural insecticide by soaking loose leaf tobacco in warm water and adding some dish soap to help it cling to the houseplants.
Ammonia might not be the greatest smell, but it works great at erasing ant pheromone trails. And that smell doesn’t linger too long, so it’s worth a shot.
Many bugs aren’t fans of pepper, which is something we all have in our pantries. Just sprinkle it wherever you notice pests coming in to stop them in their tracks.
If your house is attracting flies, get out the basil. Flies hate the smell. You can either put a potted basil leaf in your kitchen or sprinkle dried leaves around the countertops.
Ants hate dry powder that coats their legs, and flour qualifies. It won’t hurt you to sprinkle it around your kitchen, forcing these pests to look elsewhere for food.
Keeping your floor clean is important during an ant infestation. Lemon juice and water is a great way to do this since it erases pheromone trails and increases citrus smells. Citrus is also a good deterrent for spiders.
If wasps have turned your porch into their haven, put in a fake nest. These territorial insects avoid other colonies, so this acts similarly to how a scarecrow works.
Despite the similar names, Borax and boric acid aren’t the same. But they’re both toxic to ants. Mix half a teaspoon of boric acid with a cup of hot water and eight teaspoons of sugar.
Cinnamon oil mixed with alcohol and water is a great way to get rid of dust mites in floors and bedding. Just tread carefully around pets and children.
Pests hate the smell of garlic, and fresh garlic is about as pungent as you can get. All you have to do is peel a couple of cloves and place them on window sills or kitchen counters.
Cockroaches can stand almost anything, except spices, which are painful. Combine five tablespoons of Tabasco sauce with a quarter-cup of water and spray carefully along baseboards.
White vinegar is full of acetic acid, which is toxic to spiders. If you hate seeing those creepy-crawlies come into your house, give your floors a spritz with some vinegar.
Believe it or not, Cream of Wheat can be deadly to ants. They’re attracted to the grain, which then expands in their stomachs, cracking their exoskeleton. Who knew breakfast could be so violent?
Sugar substitutes are also deadly to ants. While the sweetness attracts them, the chemicals in aspartame and other sugar substitutes act as neurotoxins, killing these pests.
Ants love peanut butter — it’s full of sugar and protein that makes it highly attractive to their needs. But it’s also a great bait, especially if you mix it with Borax.
Salting your carpet can get rid of flea eggs. But it’s a bit of a process — you’ll need to salt the carpet every day for nine days, vacuuming every third day to make sure you get them all at the right spot in their reproduction cycle.
Soap is highly damaging to many pests as it dissolves their exoskeletons. You don’t even need much to do a number on them — a quarter of a cup in a spray bottle is perfect.
When you’re on the front lines of a battle with house pests, a clean home is the key to winning. Sweep and mop as often as you can to control spills and food messes.
Whenever you have a spill, don’t let it sit — grab a cloth or some paper towels and clean it up right away. That cuts back on the amount of time it’s enticing local ants and other pests.
Make sure the food in your kitchen is stored properly so that ants can’t smell it. Airtight containers are best, as they snap or screw tightly closed and cut off scent trails.
70 natural ways to eliminate ants and other pests in your home that won’t hurt you
Cedric Jackson
02.25.20
There’s nothing worse than looking around your home only to find evidence of pests. It fills you with dread immediately. Battling bugs inside your house can be a real pain. What’s more, if you have small children or pets, you’d have to be careful about setting out insect traps since they contain harmful chemicals if ingested.
Thankfully, there are plenty of natural ways to get rid of a bug infestation. These include using natural ingredients that kill them from sealing up entry points. There are dozens of options for tackling pests simply by using the contents of your pantry.
The good news — even if you don’t have success with natural remedies, you can opt for commercial insect traps and baits that don’t cause harm to humans or animals. But it’s always best to take the natural route first. You may discover it’s all you need.
So, the next time you see a little black line marching across your kitchen countertop — or a cockroach skittering across your floor — don’t despair. Just grab a couple of lemons and a bottle of dish soap and get ready to fight the good fight. Here are 70 natural ways to eliminate pests without putting family members or pets at risk.
