Unlike some other fly species, fruit flies seem to be very harmless. Their size and the fact that they can’t bite is a good cover. Frankly, most people get rid of them just because they are a nuisance. They seem to materialize out of thin air and beat you to the fruit bowl. But that is just considering their numbers, their association with rotten food exposes them to various bacteria and viruses. In return, they can spread them throughout your home. Additionally, they are extremely fertile and breed so fast by laying many eggs that eliminating them might seem impossible. Fruit flies fly and land on any surface in your home—including things that get into your mouth. Consequently, these places become a possible site for bacteria to breed, hence increasing your chances of infection. Therefore, it is important to know how to get rid of the little devils.
On the other hand, it is one thing to know how to kill fruit flies, yet what is more important is knowing how to prevent them in the first place. Honestly, fruit flies are not things you’d like spending your time dealing with. Save yourself the trouble by cleaning your counter to prevent them from turning into a snack bar for the pests. You should also cover up or store your fruits and food properly. Dealing with odor immediately by cleaning drains and garbage bin will play a big role in cutting the crap. Otherwise, if they have already infested your home, there are various ways you can eliminate them. But before that, it is worth mentioning that a lazy approach to their control will not help. Consistency is key in pest control. Here are clever ways you can use to totally eliminate fruit flies from your home.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is a great household product to have around the house. It works miracles in your home, including killing fruit flies. Simply take a bowl and pour some apple cider vinegar in it. Next, wrap the bowl tightly with a plastic cover. Using fork tines make holes on it, you want to make a way for them to come in and not get out. Therefore, do not make them too big. Then set the trap where the flies gather and when you come back, you’ll find some of them trapped. Apple cider vinegar is irresistible to fruit flies. Apparently, they love the smell of fermentation and the vinegar imitates that.
Use Traps
There are several traps you can easily make with things you already have at home. One of the traps is using a bottle with a funnel on top. You can use your kitchen funnel, or if the thought doesn’t sit well with you, roll out a piece of paper. If you don’t know how to make a funnel, you can easily check for tutorials. Fruit flies will have a hard time getting out of the bottle since it is half empty. You can either have vinegar or spoilt fruit that you already have in the bottle. Better still, if you are near the end of your balsamic vinegar you can use too. Balsamic vinegar can be expensive, therefore, just a bit of it would do.
Clean The Drain
If you’ve been wondering where fruit flies appear from, one of the places is your drain. They like congregating and breeding there. What better way to deal with them than destroying their breeding site? Not that it’s the only place but the war is won by half. However you can’t just go round it blindly, you need to be sure the eggs are destroyed. Therefore, boil a mixture of equal parts of vinegar and water. Then slowly pour the mixture down the drain ensuring it passes through the sides. Repeat the same process for a week to ensure you destroy them completely. Unlike what most people think, fruit flies have a longer lifespan. They can exist for over a week.
Dishwashing Soap and Vinegar
A mixture of vinegar and soap also gets the job done. Vinegar is what attracts them. Then the soap breaks the surface tension of the vinegar in which the flies might use to get out of the trap. Therefore, making them drown in the solution. If you lack vinegar for whatever reason, you can also use beer. When the soap dish is added, the flies won’t be able to detect it. Then place the trap where flies are dominant.
Use Wine
If you think you are the only one who loves wine, try forgetting your bottle open. Fruit flies love wine too. To be specific, red wine cuts the deal. It only gets better; you don’t have to add anything else to it. You will, of course, have to make a trap. The bottle funnel trap will work perfectly.
Spray Essential Oil
There are various natural essential oils that are offensive to fruit flies. They will not lead them to their death but will keep them away. Plus you will be killing two birds with one stone since some of these essential oils have a pleasant scent. Some of the essential oil to try is lavender, cinnamon, or lemongrass. Simply fill a spray bottle with hot water and around ten drops essential oil of your choice. Shake the bottle well and spray in areas infested by the pests. If the spray bottle doesn’t cut it for you, you can use a diffuser. Use it to waft the fragrance in your home and instantly drive away the flies.
Sugar, Milk, and Pepper
You can also get rid of the annoying flies by making a concoction of milk, sugar, and pepper. Simply combine some milk, with 2 ounces of ground pepper and 4 ounces of raw sugar, and then stir for a few minutes. Cover it with a plastic bag and punch some holes on it.
With these clever tips, you can take back control of your kitchen. Remember to be patient and consistent since it may take more than one try to eradicate them completely.
The way we clean, cook and decorate our homes has changed a lot over the decades. Improvements in home technology have made housekeeping a breeze and not the hard work that homeowners of the past had to endure through manual means. However, there are still some things that never change and have been done in homes for over a century now. Technology hasn’t quite managed to do away with some old-fashioned housekeeping methods.
Some of these ancient housekeeping methods that still work and why they work are as follows:-
The Use Of Baking Soda
For centuries nothing could beat baking soda for gentle cleaning, odor removal, and baking. This powder is not expensive and you can find it in the baking and cleaning section of your grocery store. Baking cannot be complete without baking soda and the cookies and cakes won’t look so yummy and soft without it. When it comes to removing stains from coffee mugs, making glassware brighter, removing stains from the sink, bathtub and oven, the baking soda rules and has been doing so for more than a century to date.
To remove odors, all you need to do is sprinkle some on your carpeting or inside your dishwasher to remove odors. You could also place an open jar of baking soda in your freezer, refrigerator or closet to absorb any unpleasant odors.
The Use Of Lemons
The origin of the lemon plant isn’t exactly clear but it is well known for its medicinal value and has been known to treat conditions like scurvy. For decades now the lemon has been used in cooking, baking, and cleaning. The lemon peels can be grated and used to add lemon flavor in cakes. You can also use the lemon peel as an odor sapper in your garbage disposal can, and you will feel a better refreshing lemon scent in the place of the garbage smell.
Lemon can also be used to brighten kitchen pots and remove stains. It can also be used to deodorize the inside of a microwave and remove caked-on spills. Greasy pots shouldn’t worry you if you have no detergent; squeezed lemon juice will do the magic. The juice has also been used as wood furniture polish thanks to its antibacterial and insecticide qualities. To keep your kitchen counters sanitized you can also consider running a cloth dipped in lemon juice over them.
Use of Vinegar
Vinegar has been used in homes throughout history dating back 3000BCE. It was mainly used to fight bacteria and therefore mainly for food preservation, cleaning, food enhancer and for medicinal purposes. There are many varieties of vinegar, fruit, rice, cane, wine and many others. Most people use it to sanitize kitchens and dining areas, remove odors and any oily or sticky residues in kitchen utensils and surfaces around the home including floors. Since vinegar is acidic and has been known to leave marks on a surface like marble it is, therefore, advisable to use distilled white vinegar for cleaning surfaces.
The Use of Salt
Sodium chloride which is known as salt was in ancient times used as the main method of food preservation. It has been a prized possession for centuries and there was a time that even that soldiers in ancient Rome were paid in salt. There are many expressions surrounding the word salt such as “salt of the earth”, “worth your weight in salt”, “take it with a pinch of salt” and many others, which goes to show just how popular the salt was and still is today as one of those timeless old-fashioned housekeeping ingredients.
At home, salt has for centuries been used to battle grime or grease and stains. It is naturally absorbent which is why it has been used to clean stains on fabrics. Today people use it to melt ice, remove perspiration stains in the wash load, remove lime buildup in the sink area. Copper pots can also sparkle thanks to salt and half a lemon.
It has also been used to deter ants and it does its job perfectly especially when a home has been infested with ants. Lastly, salt has been used to add taste in food since forever and today, it is a major ingredient in most cooked foods.
Recycling & Reusing
Recycling and reusing leftovers hasn’t started today. Today we are lucky to have the refrigerator to help us store leftovers. The people of the past used natural food preservation methods to store leftovers. The meat was dried in the sun or sprinkled with salt. Victorian households surprisingly had no food wastage. The household bought only what it needed and most people worked with their hands when it came to cooking, cleaning, sewing and mending. Clothes were repurposed and an adult outfit could be trimmed down to make a child’s outfit. People possessed only what they needed and hardly had extras, except maybe the aristocrats.
People saved old linens, towels, and clothing for use as cleaning rags. Today some people use old toothbrushes to clean the difficult-to-reach areas of the home and newspapers to clean windows. There is now no doubt that this recycling and reusing didn’t just begin today.
6. The Use Of Oils And Fats
Our ancestors used animal parts for all sorts of household uses. Animal fat was used to light homes until when natural gas and then electricity came. Animal fat was used to seal containers, make soap and protect clothing from water among many other uses. Olive oil and coconut oil was also used then to smoothen the hair, cook and for medicinal purposes.
Today we use oils and fats for cooking, baking, lubricating hinges and other places that require it, cleaning sticky surfaces and a lot more. Oils and fats have also been used as ingredients in major store-bought household substances that we use daily at home.
Sewing
In the past sewing was popular and people actually learned to do so at an early age. A little girl could sew her own button when it came off because she learned. Today many people dispose of their clothes when they get damaged and a majority don’t know how to sew. However, there is still a good number of households where sewing takes place. Others would love to do it by hand, while others do it using sewing machines. With portable sewing machines available, sewing has become easier and more people are beginning to do minor repairs on their clothing.
Old-fashioned housekeeping practices still continue to this day as seen above. Some of these practices will never die out even when home technologies continue advancing because they are very effective.
