Get rid of bugs the cheap green way!

Katya here, making my debut post on the Mean Green Girl. Huzzah!

I live in an apartment so I have a bug problem. Some of the bugs are ok. The pillbugs are annoying to step on but otherwise harmless. The spiders are not poisonous and can live here as long as they stay out of my personal space. The ants and roaches are very unwelcome. But so is the bug spray man. He keeps telling me that the stuff he sprays is completely safe for me and the kitties, but then says he needs to know if I'm pregnant so he knows not to spray certain things. So I decided to tackle the problem myself.

First off, since I'm lazy, I double up. I took the vinegar/water cleaning solution mentioned in an earlier post and modified it. Most icky bugs (fleas, flies, spiders, ants etc) dont like peppermint oil. So I add essential peppermint oil to 1 part vinegar/3 parts water. I like to use 10 or 11 drops for every cup of cleaning solution. Now I have a fantastic all-purpose cleaner that is so safe I can even use it on the wooden cutting board. The peppermint oil helps dull the vinegar smell and the bugs dont like it, so they wont get into my kitchen. If I see an undesirable bug, I just grab my squirt bottle and attack them.

Another neat trick I learned is that ants hate cucumber peel. Every time I get a cucumber I save the peel. You can cut it into tiny pieces and put it into cracks where ants usually crawl in. This makes me really happy because I dont have to put anything extra on my shopping list.

I also read recently that roaches hate catnip. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm planning on making catnip sachets to put in cupboards. I've also heard that you can make a catnip tea, put it in a spray bottle and spray it into cracks or wherever your roaches are coming from. The kitties eagerly await the catnip spray.