How to Get Rid of Common Apartment Pests

Your apartment is your safe space — your place of refuge at the end of a long day. So nothing’s worse than when an invasion of creepy crawlies hits your apartment, keeping you up all night in fear of being bitten. While a few bugs may not be anything to get nervous about, having the same kind of bug in your home for a long period of time might mean it’s time to take action.

Whether it’s spiders, silverfish, ants, or worst of all, the dreaded cockroach, here are some foolproof ways to help you get rid of all the pests in your apartment.

Clean Everything from Top to Bottom

When you notice an uptick in bugs in your apartment, the first thing to do is to analyze how clean your apartment actually is. If it seems like your place could use a good sprucing up, that might be what’s attracting the bugs inside.

Start the cleaning process in the kitchen by taking care of any dirty dishes and properly storing all your food. Crumbs and sticky surfaces are especially appetizing to ants and roaches, so cleaning off the surfaces in your kitchen is probably a good way to make it less of a place they want to be.

You might also want to invest in some airtight food containers for any leftovers or pantry staples like flour or sugar. Store fruit in the refrigerator to keep it out of a pest’s path.

Lastly, it’s important to keep a regular sweeping and mopping schedule around your home. Dust particles and debris can make comfy spaces for bugs to lay eggs in‚ which you definitely don’t want.

Seal It Off

Bugs may be invading your apartment, but they have to be coming in from somewhere. Look around your place and see if you can find any holes that are allowing the bugs to come in from outside. Once you locate a crack or a hole in one of the baseboards or walls, use some caulk to seal it off.

Find a gaping hole in your apartment? Call your landlord to take care of it. While you can certainly patch up a few minor cracks or holes, your landlord should be responsible for taking care of any heavy-duty repairs.

Keep It Dry

Bugs are attracted to environments with lots of water, so it’s crucial to keep your apartment as dry as you possibly can. Check for any standing water in your bathtub or sink, and look under your faucets for any signs of dripping or leakage.

Getting Rid of Pests Once and For All

Once you’ve cleaned everything in your apartment and sealed off any pest-sized entrances and exits, you’ll need to get rid of the critters who have already made your place their home.

There are different approaches you should take for each kind of pest, so we’ll go over some strategies for dealing with the top offenders.

Roaches

Is there anything more terrifying than spotting a roach in your bathroom or kitchen? The good news is that getting rid of these pests is simple as long as you go after their weakness: sugar

Mix one part powdered sugar and three parts boric acid together, and sprinkle a small amount in the lid of a jar. The sugar will attract the roach, and the boric acid will kill them (bonus: this is a nontoxic, kid and pet-friendly way to get rid of roaches). Place several of these lids throughout the house: under the refrigerator, under the sink, by the dishwasher, and near any cracks along the pantry.

Ants

Ants are particularly troublesome because of their exceptional organization skills, which they can and will use to wreak havoc on your kitchen.

To get rid of ants naturally, try cleaning your kitchen with lemon-scented cleaner or placing lemon peels in front of the place where the ants are entering. Ants (supposedly) aren’t big fans of the way that lemons smell, and that alone should be enough to drive them away.

It turns out that ants also hate pepper, so try sprinkling some by the areas where the ants are entering. After that, they’ll likely think twice about coming inside again.

Additionally, you can get rid of ants by using the same mixture you’d use to get rid of roaches (one part powdered sugar and three parts boric acid).

Silverfish

Silverfish are pretty harmless little creatures, but the sight of them can make some people a little jumpy — not to mention the fact that they love to gnaw on books and wallpaper.

There are a couple of methods for getting rid of silverfish, one of which includes spraying a lavender oil mixture around the house. Not only will your apartment smell great, but it’ll also make those silverfish turn right back around when trying to crawl into your apartment at night.

Another way to get rid of silverfish is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth (DE) on the baseboards of your home. DE is a white crumbly powder made of algae and when silverfish walk on it or ingest it, it destroys their outer coating and causes them to die.