They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky, they’re... SPIDERS!
Depending on where you live, this uncharacteristically wet Fall (coupled for us having an older house), may have led to more than a few creepy crawlers taking up residence in your home.
How could that be?! I dust, vacuum and mop at least three times a month! Well, no matter how neat and tidy we keep our homes, the uninvited visitor from outdoors is inevitable from time to time. And once they’re inside, they tend to find the space amicable, and can be hard to kick out. That was certainly true for us, until I added a few key oils to my cleaning routine and sent our eight-legged guests packing in less than 5 minutes...
Let’s be honest: who doesn’t get a little spooked when they see a spider dangling from their ceiling fan, or making webs in their windows? Especially when it’s one of the “bite so venomous it causes your arm to rot and fall off” spiders... you know the ones I’m talking, about?
I actually don’t mind spiders at all, and even insist on them being trapped and then released outside instead of being squashed. (Cockroaches are a COMPLETELY different story, as I’m sure you’ll agree.) But this changed somewhat after I noticed a spider had made himself particularly comfortable underneath our bathrooms cabinets. I was tired of vacuuming up his web time after time, and even more tired of having to tell my 10-month-old not to pick up the dead insects the spider was leaving on the floor after its nighttime meal.
It was time to send that spider packing. And because I had a curious 10-month-old crawler, and don’t like to use toxic chemicals to clean our home anyway, I wanted to avoid any kind of insecticide that would leave a harmful residue. So I turned to my oils.
Essential oils do not kill spiders, but there are some oils that spiders find very unappealing by nature. The scent of peppermint oil is particularly unattractive to spiders and ants and adding the oil to your regular cleaning routine will ensure that no spider will want to make a home anywhere close. Other oils known to repel spiders, ants and other bugs are lemongrass (flies, mosquitoes, fleas) and eucalyptus (spiders, roaches). Add any of these oils to a spray bottle of water and spray around your baseboards to keep your house smelling fresh and keep the unwanted pests at bay.
To get rid of my unwelcome guest, I added 10 drops of peppermint and 10 drops of eucalyptus oils to a mixture of hot water and vinegar then began to mop as usual. Less than five minutes later, I peeked my head into the bathroom where the floor was drying and… there was the spider! In the middle of the floor! He had been forced out from hiding under the cabinet by the unpleasant (to him!) smell of the oils (I, on the other hand, find them delightful!). I quickly grabbed a clear cup, slammed it on top of him, and immediately turned the flashlight feature on my phone to maximum brightness. Inspecting my prey, my burst of pride turned in an instant to horror. The spider was one of the ones with the venomous bite that causes your arm to rot and fall off… a brown recluse.
Especially after this experience, I will never NOT clean with essential oils. I can’t even bring myself to imagine what could have happened if my baby girl had encountered that brown recluse before I had. I’m so thankful for powerful and effective oils that clean my home safely and protect it from unwanted visitors. And now, I’m on the prowl more than ever. Not for spiders, but for new ways to make essential oils an even more essential part of cleaning, maintaining, and protecting our home.
Contact Libby Coker and learn more!
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