Vinegar
Vinegar is a natural deterrent for ants. A combination of half apple cider vinegar and half water in a spray bottle works perfectly to repel those pests. This concoction can be sprayed around the perimeter of your home, on the legs of tables that have food served on them. While vinegar is an effective item you can use to get rid of ants, you will need to reapply, as it wears off.
Cayenne Pepper
Another useful ant deterrent is cayenne pepper. When sprinkled in places where ants tend to gather, like areas near sugar and places where crumbs linger, they stay away.
Peppermint Oil
Not only does peppermint oil repel ants, it also repels spiders, aphids, beetles, caterpillars, fleas, flies, lice, mice and moths, it also keeps many other pests away not listed.
There are three ways to effectively apply this oil: soaking cotton balls in the oil and hiding them where the insects gather, applying the oil directly to the affected areas, or diluting it with water and spraying the perimeter of areas you’re trying to protect. If you’re diluting the oil, mix 10 drops of peppermint essential oil and 16 oz. of water and then transfer to a spray bottle. Peppermint oil can also keep some of the spiders out of the areas of the home where they frequent most, in addition to making the house smell wonderful.
While this appears to be a simple solution you need to make sure you put the oil in locations where you suspect pests are entering.
Lavender and Eucalyptus Essential Oil
Finding natural solutions for keeping away mosquitos is always a challenging process. Using a mixture of lavender oil and eucalyptus oil can help prevent them and heal any existing bites. The mixture has a nice fragrant smell compared to most cans of spray you can buy in the store, and it’s as affordable as a bottle of DEET. Lavender oil is one of the only essential oils you don’t have to dilute with water to use on the body, although it’s recommended that you speak with your doctor first. Even better, a recent Harvard University study found any fragrance that has a pleasant and calming smell works well in calming highly argumentative people when you say something like “I joined the NRA today”.
All in all, these bug deterrents all do their jobs well, and finding some natural options for your household is something we all need to do because we only have one planet.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. – Gandhi