5 Homemade Bug Killers That Work

Photo: Etsy

My New York City apartment spoils me! I don’t have a bug problem. But when I visit the suburbs -- a house with side-and-back-yards and a garage -- I notice all kinds of critters try to move into the house! Recently I learned how to kill some of them:

1) Ants - Mix 1/2 teaspoon borax with 8 teaspoons of powdered sugar and enough water to dissolve and turn it into a paste. Repurpose empty yogurt cups or any empty container about the size of a cup, leaving the solution in the rooms where ants are spotted (usually in a kitchen or bathroom). The worker ants will take the bait back to the Queen of the colony. Pow, dead!💥🔫💨 I had no idea ants came into a house!

2) Wasps and hornets - They try to build nests on porch ceilings and structures. Vinegar and water chases them away, only to return. Wasps are very persistent. Spray those unwelcome pests with a mix of dish soap and water. The soap disrupts a wasp’s exoskeleton. Pow, gone!💥🔫💨

3) Lizards, spiders, and mice - While a family member’s garage door was up, I saw a lazard run inside and hide! We left the garage door partially open for a couple of hours hoping Mr. Lizard would try to escape back outside, but we didn’t see it. Next we sprayed clean rags with undiluted peppermint essential oil to leave inside the garage. What’s more, according to Home Depot and Reader’s Digest, you can mix 20 drops of peppermint essential oil into a 32-ounce spray bottle filled with water to deter spiders by spraying around your house in corners, near entrances, and along floorboards. Mice I hope never to see but the remedy to deter them from entering a garage is the same as lizards and spiders. Pow, no trespassing!💥🔫💨

4) Weevils - I read that sometimes weevils are already in the flour, rice and pasta we bring home from the supermarket. I aways put these foods in my freezer for several days to kill their eggs or lava before putting them in airtight containers in my cupboard. I toss in bay leaves for good measure. Pow, no worries!💥🔫💨

5) In Manhattan, our building has an exterminator come in every week to spray areas or apartments where roaches are seen. If a tenant sees a roach, we let the super know and the exterminator sets traps and monitors the area.

According to Lowe’s, baking soda mixed with sugar or baking soda sprinkled over an onion left out overnight for roaches to ingest produces carbon dioxide gas that builds up in their digestive tract to kill them. In an emergency, it’s good to know, however a roach infestation calls for a professional treatment. Pow, slain!💥🔫💨

In Manhattan I’m mostly spared from encounters with critters who have 8 legs and an attitude! The city sprays parks. Our building is proactive with pest control visits. Also, there is more concrete than grass, trees and plants. A trip to the suburbs reminds me how I like being spoiled! Out in the burbs residents must become highly effective killing machines to survive! Warning: Stay out of the house vermin🕷🐜🐁 or pow!!!💥🔫💨 

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