10 Homemade Remedies for Bug Prevention 

 

 

Written by Lydia Lee Posted On Friday, 02 June 2023 00:00

 

Unwanted pesky bugs and pests can put a dent on the delight you should get from your home. Surprisingly, there are common household products you can use to get rid of flies, ants, aphids, spiders, and other insects you want to steer away from your space. Try mixing some of these natural ingredients and make your own bug prevention solution. These are some helpful homemade remedies to keep your house free of unwanted visitors.

#1 Citrus

Orange and lemon essential oils are great in discouraging bugs away. Create a natural spray that can repel those itsy bitsy spiders by mixing 5 drops essential oil, 5 drops biodegradable dish soap with 4 cups of water. If you have 100% undiluted lemon juice, you can it mist around cracks in your home. Then, place orange or lemon peels on bookshelves, cupboards, and other locations where spiders and other bugs like to stay. Lemon peels are also found to be efficient against moths lurking in closets, same with cedar.

#2 Peppermint

If you are battling with pesky ants, dried mint leaves and essential oil can be your best allies. Add 8-15 drops of peppermint essential oil in one cup of water and put it in a spray bottle. Shake the container well and spritz along cracks or areas where ants are seen. Adding a few drops of biodegradable dish soap to the mixture can be great as it would kill ants on contact. Mint can also help deter flies away.

#3 Garlic Oil Spray

Garlic Oil Spray is perhaps one of the safest and effective natural insect repellents. Just add three to four cloves of chopped garlic into two teaspoons of mineral oil. Allow it to sit for 8-12 hours and then, remove the garlic out of the oil through a strainer. Mix two tablespoon of the oil with one pint of water and put a teaspoon of biodegradable dish soap. You can store the garlic oil mixture in a separate jar and dilute it with water whenever needed.

What works magic for this mixture is the compounds in garlic called diallyl disulfide and diallyl trisulfide. These two are irritating and fatal to most insects. The oil and soap allow the mix to stick on stems and plant leaves. If you are looking to repel aphids, beetles, and whiteflies, this spray will keep them away. Be cautious, though. Don't spritz the mixture on a hot sunny day as the oil may cause the leaves to burn quickly.

#4 Lavender and Eucalyptus Essential Oil

Mosquitoes are undoubtedly irritating and can carry viruses that can jeopardize your family's health. It's great that you can avoid them from sucking your blood off by using a mix of lavender and eucalyptus oils. Moreover, the blend helps heal any existing bites you got. The mixture has a natural fragrant odor which you can adore, but, on the other hand, mosquitoes don't find appealing. Lavender oil is one of the few essential oils you can apply directly to your skin. It is advisable, however, to consult with your doctor first for any allergy concerns.

#5 Coffee Grounds

Bug and other pests don't like coffee the way you do - they actually hate it. You may use recycle leftover coffee grounds and sprinkle them around in areas outside your home where you think critters are emerging. For ants, coffee is fatal, while other pests can't endure the odor of the ground and will steer away.

#6 White Vinegar

Vinegar might be the most versatile ingredient from your kitchen. Not only it pickles your cucumbers, clean your windows, or remove stains from your clothes, it's also efficient in avoiding ants and other pests from meddling in your space. Half of the white vinegar mixed with half water in a spray container works much in repelling annoying critters. You can spritz the mixture in the perimeter of your house, around a tent or a screen house or on the legs of tables where you place food to get rid of flies. Just reapply the concoction as it wears off or when necessary.

#7 Banana Peel and Tin Foil

Don't throw those banana peels away. You can chop them and place them on the soil around the stems of your plants. While it steers aphids and others pests away, it also adds nutrients to the ground. Another trick to deter aphids is by placing foil on the base of your plants. Sun rays will bounce from the foil onto the bottom side of the foliage. Be wary enough, though. Too much sunlight might burn your plant.

#8 Apple Cider Vinegar Fruit Fly Trap

Another way to get rid of flies is by creating this fruit fly trap. Get a bottle or other container with funnel-shaped opening, choosing such will allow flies to get in but not out. Put apple cider vinegar and any chopped fruit pieces, you no longer have to endure that buzzing sound in your ear.

#9 Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne Pepper is another valuable ant deterrent. If you sprinkle it in areas where ants usually gather, like locations near sugar or crumbs, they will steer away. What pepper's spice does is that it tricks the ants by signaling to them that none of their favorite sweet stuff is there. It can be quite messy, though, to spatter cayenne pepper in locations that aren't utilized often. Make sure to use it in your discretion, most likely on areas that have sweet goods or baking supplies.

#10 Basil

While it works magnificently on our dishes, sweet basil can also be useful if you want to get rid of flies. Just plant one in your patio and place it in a sunny area next to your frequently used door. Flies won't be wandering in your home anymore.

It's essential to feel comfortable in your beloved home and not be bugged by those pesky critters. Try the following home remedies about to ensure that you always at ease, or visit Pestwiki's site to get more tricks in getting rid of flies, ants, aphids, spiders and other uninvited visitors.

 

 

 

Understanding Squatter's Rights 

 

Written by Ashley Sutphin Posted On Wednesday, 31 May 2023 00:00 

 

If you're a landlord, you only want people living in your property who are paying rent. Unfortunately, this isn’t always what you’re dealing with.  

An unauthorized tenant is also known as a squatter, referring to any individual or group of people staying in a property they aren't paying to rent.

Squatter's rights are also known as adverse possession, allowing squatters to continue to use or occupy a property if the owner or landlord doesn't take any action within a certain window.

So why would squatters have rights, and what should you know if you're a landlord?

Why Would a Squatter Have Rights?

The objective of putting adverse possession or squatter's rights in place is to prevent vigilante justice from happening. If the person who owns the property was allowed to use violence to evict a squatter, the thought behind these laws is that the situation could get dangerous. It could also reduce the general safety of society.

The idea isn't to give people property rights when they shouldn't have them. Instead, it's encouraging landlords and property owners to use appropriate channels to deal with the situation. It's similar to tenants' rights to protect renters from a landlord in certain scenarios.

While squatting might sound a lot like trespassing, there are some distinctions, at least regarding the law.

Trespassing refers to a situation where someone unlawfully enters a property. That can mean they do so for just a brief moment of time, or they enter intending to stay.

Squatting is a form of trespassing technically, but squatters intend to make the property their permanent residence or make an ownership claim.

If a building is vacant, a squatter might take possession. A vacant building can be somewhat easy to take possession of through squatting, plus there may be minimal monitoring of the property.

Most of the time, properties occupied by an owner don't fall into the realm of squatter's rights because the owner wouldn't have to go through the eviction process to remove a trespasser.

A trespasser can be a squatter, but a squatter isn't automatically a trespasser. Some squatters may have had permission to come into the property or stay there at some point.

What is a Holdover Tenant?

There's another subcategory worth mentioning when talking about squatters: the holdover tenant. Their lease has ended, but the person doesn't leave the property. Whether or not this person would be technically characterized as a squatter can depend on the landlord's actions. For example, if the landlord doesn't tell the tenant to leave, then the holdover tenant still has the right to stay.  

In some states, under the law, a tenancy can convert into a tenancy at will, or the lease renews automatically week-to-week or month-to-month.

If the landlord explicitly asks the tenant to leave, they become a squatter because they are there without the permission of the person who owns the property.

The issue with squatters is that they might present a situation that makes them look like tenants, creating a civil issue.

Squatters can do this in any number of ways, like creating fake documents that show them as owners or tenants of the property or putting the utilities into their name. Squatters might make repairs and maintain the property to show that they were giving these services as rent, or they could furnish the property to make it appear they live there as a regular tenant.

Adverse Possession

The concept of adverse possession is one way to acquire property legally. You have to be in adverse possession for a certain time, and this legal concept is typically what’s actually also known as squatter's rights.

It's not easy to establish ownership through adverse possession. To claim adverse possession successfully, a person would have to use the property as a real owner would. For example, if it's a residential piece of property, the claimant would have to build a home on it and live in it.

The possession has to be exclusive, which means the person claiming the property has to defend their rights like an owner would, and there has to be continuous, uninterrupted possession.

Squatter's rights vary depending on the state, and the required period for adverse possession also does.

If you're a landlord or property owner, it's important to understand so-called squatter's rights in your state and what you can and can't do. Property owners, especially when they have a vacant property, must also monitor it carefully. If you don't want someone using it for any purpose, you have to make sure that you're explicit and clear in letting them know that.

Of course, this doesn't mean that someone can come into your home and say they own it, but there are legal paths where people can take possession of property that belonged to another person, meaning understanding the law is critical.