A cleaning guru has shared her top tips on how to repel spiders and insects from your home without using harsh chemicals.
Chantel Mila is an Australian TikTok influencer with over 1.5 million followers who often shares videos explaining her go-to cleaning and home organisaion hacks that helps make your house look cleaner without any added effort.
As Australia is known for having some large and dangerous spiders, Chantel knows what she’s doing when it comes to getting rid of bugs has shared her top tips on how to prevent the spiders and insects from wanting to enter her home – and her tips work just as well for in the UK.
“Five hacks to keep bugs and spiders away from your home,” she began her video before jumping in to her list of hacks.
Soak cotton buds in peppermint oil
The first tip Chantel brought up was to put some peppermint oil on cotton balls and place them under your bin liner as a way to repel bugs from your bins.
Put soaked cotton balls in your vacuum cleaner
She also said putting these soaked cotton balls into your vacuum cleaner will also make your whole house smell like peppermint – which insects will hate.
Peppermint oil can be used as a natural repellent against various insects, like ants, spiders, fleas, and even bed bugs, due to its strong scent which most bugs find unpleasant and can deter them from entering an area, making it act like a natural bug repeller.
Use rosemary water
She went on to say that filling a spray bottle with water and some rosemary to make rosemary infused water also can be used as an insect repeller. Just spray it around any door or windows and they’ll make sure to stay away.
Use boiling water to banish fruit flies
As for fruit flies, Chantel said: “Pour boiling water down your drains to keep fruit flies and their eggs away.” As fruit flies often like to lay their eggs and live in any drains, pouring boiling water down the drain will make sure you’ll get them away from your home.
Use citrus to clean
Finally, Chantel said to use citrus when cleaning your home, saying: “Spiders hate citrus, so wipe down your walls and floors with citrus oil or citrus peels.”
You can either use citrus-scented cleaning producs for this, or add citrus oil to water when wiping down your home. However, just wiping citrus peels on windowsills, door frames, and other entry points in your home will also make them stay away.
While people loved the hacks, some viewers took to the comment section to warn any pet owners to do their research before adding these scents to your home.
“Instead of peppermint use lavender, its safe for dogs,” one person said, while a second user asked: “are these safe for cats to be in the house with?” to which other people said both peppermint and citrus are toxic to cats.
