- Lure ants with sugar
Trap ants by giving them what they want: sugar. Add 2-3 teaspoons sugar to 1 cup (250ml) water, moisten a few paper towels or old kitchen sponges in the solution and put the traps in spots where you have seen ants. Leave them overnight and check them in the morning. If they’re crawling with ants (almost a certainty), sweep the traps into an empty dustpan and pour a kettle of hot water over them. Repeat the process until there are no ants left to lure.
- Repel ants with vinegar
If ants love sugar, it only makes sense that they hate vinegar. To get rid of these unwelcome visitors, mix equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle and squirt it onto benchtops, windowsills, kickboards and anywhere else ants are to be found wandering.
- Spiced-out silverfish
These wingless insects enjoy munching on, among other things, paper, glue and starch. But they don’t like herbs. Leave sachets or tea bags of dried lavender, mint, sage or bay leaves in bathroom and kitchen cupboards, where silverfish typically congregate. Wiping down surfaces with lavender oil or a similarly potent herbal solution should also encourage silverfish to go somewhere else.
- A lethal treat for cockroaches
Ingesting bicarbonate of soda will kill roaches, but the trick is to make it palatable. Bait them by mixing bicarb with equal parts of icing sugar and sprinkling the mixture inside cabinets and other potential cockroach hidey-holes.
- Minty mouse repellent
Whip up a batch of peppermint tea — not for your morning cuppa but to repel any mice that may be scurrying about at night. Boil 2 cups (500ml) water, turn off the heat and add 4-6 peppermint tea bags and let the tea steep for 6-8 hours. Now stir in 2 teaspoons washing-up liquid to make the super-strong solution stick to surfaces for longer. Fill a spray bottle with the tea and coat kickboards and any areas where you suspect mice may be getting into the house.
- Ground flying insects
As much as you may enjoy the aromas of basil, oranges and cloves, flies and other flying insects are repelled by them — one whiff and they’ll wing their way elsewhere. So chase them off while treating yourself to some delightful scents.
- Put dried basil in organza and muslin sachets (sold at craft and kitchenware shops). Hang the bags in the kitchen and anywhere else flies and other winged pests like to buzz around and they’ll quickly stop dropping by.
- Make a pomander — a whole orange stuck with cloves. Hang it from a light fixture or hook and you’ll enjoy pest-free air and a fruity scent as well.
Credit: Reader’s Digest
Picture Credit: Google
