Dealing with pests can be a challenge for homeowners in southern Oregon. With the ability to get through tiny holes and chomp through boxes and containers, it can be difficult to protect your home from the large number of insects that will target your home during the summer. In order to prevent an onslaught of annoying critters from infiltrating your home, take a look at the following tips:
1. Clean Up After Cooking
Begin preventing indoor pests this season by cleaning up every time you prepare food or have something to eat. That may sound like a simple tip but cleaning up each time is one of the most effective ways to keep kitchen pests at bay. In addition to making sure your kitchen is spotlessly clean, take out your garbage every couple of days. When your trash is more than a couple of days old, the rotting food starts making an odor that’s like perfume to insects and other kitchen pests. Use a trash can with a lid to reduce odors indoors. Rinse out any empty food containers before tossing them in the trash.
2. Fix Leaky Faucets
Pests require water to survive, which makes your leaky faucet very attractive to the insects you would rather stay away. Fix dripping faucets in your kitchen, the bathrooms. Deprive them of water that keeps them alive and your home will be a lot less attractive to insects in your area.
3. Clean your Cabinets
If you’re like many homeowners across southern Oregon, you might keep food in your cupboards without realizing it has passed its expiration date. Old flour, pancake mix, or other baking mixes might have come into your house with insects already living inside the containers. Cleaning out the cabinets and tossing the outdated canned goods and expired baking products can prevent a population of insects from growing in your cabinets while you’re not watching. While you’re in there, wash out the interior of the cabinets and the doors, then lay down a light-colored shelf liner before putting your food back inside the cabinet.
Keep your kitchen clean and dry, and you should be able to have a pest-free summer.
