Keep Your Home Bug Free During the Summer Months

7 Time-Tested Tricks to Keep Your Home Bug-Free During the Summer Months (& All Year Too)

Pesky insects can happen anytime of the year but during the hot summer months, they can be out-of-control annoying. They infest your yard and then have the audacity to invade your “happy place” – your home! Here are 7 pro tips that will help keep your yard AND your home bug-free this summer!

Standing Water – Public Enemy #1

There is almost nothing bugs love more than water – especially standing, dirty water. Mosquitos come out like CRAZY, breed like CRAZY, and let us be honest – drives us CRAZY. Make sure your gutters are clear of debris and there are no areas in your yard that has standing water. If you have a birdbath, that water should also be cleaned out regularly.

Remove (or Move) Attractants

Your garbage is a feast-for-all when it comes to insects – mainly flies & ants. Trash can be a breeding ground for flies & if there is anything sweet & sticky in there, ants will come to feast. Cover your trash & recycling and make sure to move them away from main entrances to your home.

Bring Birds Home to Roost

Birds love to eat bugs, so it just makes sense to install a birdbath or birdfeeder in your yard to encourage our feathered pals to take up residence or visit often. Birds can reduce the number of bugs in your home’s general vicinity.

Treat Your Yard

We discovered OFF! Bug Control Backyard Pretreatment to treat both our front & backyards. This wonderful invention hooks up to a regular garden hose and can cover up to a 16,000 sq. ft. area. It will kill AND repel bugs for up to 8 whole weeks! This stuff is MAGIC and costs around $15 – making it a super affordable solution to keeping your yard insect-free. No insects in your yard means – WAY less insects creeping into your home!

Is Your Food (and Pet’s Food) Covered?

Do not leave food uncovered for any extended periods of time… this attracts ants and those annoying little fruit flies. Your pets should have a designated eating area where their food is up off the floor and on a plastic mat. Make sure to sweep up bits of food after your pets eat (we all know they can eat like slobs and get kibble everywhere). Pet food on the ground is a common reason for ant infestations. Hey, the more you know!

Keep Your Yard Kempt

Trim, mow, cut & keep your yard tidy! Tall grass, weeds, brush, etc. are great places for insects of all kinds to create habitats & plan how they will rule your yard & house (hostile take-over of course). Keeping your yard neat (& pretreated with OFF!) will go a long way in preventing a home invasion.

Check Your Doors & Windows

If your doors are not closing all the way or have gaps anywhere, flying pests could be getting in that way. If your door has a gap at the bottom, bottom door seals are cheap & will also help to eliminate drafts. As a matter of fact, doors & windows are the most overlooked areas in your house. Check your window screens to make sure there are not larger holes or tears. A replacement window is not awfully expensive and easy to install if you do find holes or tears.