Dealing with pests at home can be exhausting. Not only can they be persistent, but dealing with certain critters becomes a war of attrition. However, there are ways to defend your home from unwanted visitors using nothing more than homemade solutions. Here’s how!

The Ultimate Fly Trap

Flies can be the most annoying critters to deal with during the summer. The level of annoyance grows exponentially if you have a farm nearby, or if you have farm animals yourself. Instead of paying crazy amounts for artificial fly traps, you can make your own using nothing more than some fruit and vinegar.

You’ll want to find a glass bottle that has a narrow neck, that way the flies will have a difficult time escaping. The fruit will get them in, while the vinegar takes care of the rest. It’s a simple yet effective solution.

Dealing with Ants

There’s nothing worse than waking up one day only to find a steady line of ants making their way across your kitchen. Figuring out how to get rid of carpenter ants is an issue many homeowners deal with every year. One of the solutions is to use sugar and borax to let the ants know they’re not welcome at your house.

To make the deadly concoction, you’ll need half a cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of Borax or a similar product, and a cup of water. Combine these ingredients until you get a uniform mixture, then serve it to your little home invaders.

Wine Bottle Cockroach Trap

Cockroaches are a common sight in many apartment buildings, especially older ones. There are multiple ways to deal with cockroaches depending on how big of an issue they pose. Severe infestations of cockroaches require professional pest control solutions, but if you’re only dealing with a few of these critters every now and then, you can use the old wine bottle trap trick.

Here’s what you’ll need — an empty wine bottle, a bit of peanut butter, and some cooking oil. To make the trap, place the peanut butter inside the bottle so it sits at the very bottom. Then, take your cooking oil and cover the inside of the neck while being extra careful not to cover the outside of the bottleneck.

The idea is to attract the cockroaches using peanut butter, then have them enter the bottle. When they try to get out, the oil should make their escape impossible. Once you get rid of the existing cockroaches, you can keep any new ones away by placing small baggies of catnip around the apartment. Cockroaches absolutely hate catnip.

Know When to Ask For Help

Dealing with pests in your home can be overwhelming at times. The solutions listed above work in many cases, but they won’t stop a severe infestation. You should always know where to draw the line and call in the professionals. Sometimes the only way to get rid of your problem is to use industrial-grade solutions, especially if a larger colony of critters has decided to make your home their own.