10 Effective Ways to Get Rid of Cockroaches from Your Home

If you come across pests like cockroaches in your house, you are probably going to have a tough time getting rid of them. Cockroaches can be a menace. They can cause health hazards and diseases like E-coli and Salmonella. So how do you make your home and surroundings a cockroach-free zone? Here is an article to give you some great tips to get rid of this vermin.

What Causes Cockroach Infestation?

A common cause for a cockroach-infested house is a dirty house with unclean surroundings. Cockroaches also thrive on hot and humid climates. An old house with old, rotten wooden doors and windows are also breeding grounds for cockroaches since they eat them. The cracks and openings in the old houses also give them easy access to the insides of the house.

How to Get Rid of Cockroaches in Your Home

Cockroaches are creatures who scurry around or fly and can thus reach every nook and cranny of the house. Since they thrive on dirt and rotten things, they can spread diseases. Are you wondering how to get rid of cockroaches using home remedies? A roach-free home, especially the kitchen, is what everybody wants. So how to get rid of cockroaches in the kitchen naturally? Listed below are ten effective ways to get rid of these pests:

1. Baking Soda and Sugar

This is a cost-effective way of eliminating cockroaches from your home. Sugar acts as bait, and the baking powder kills the pest slowly.

What You Will Need

• Baking powder
• Sugar

How to Do

• Take equal quantity of sugar and baking powder.
• Mix both the ingredients together.
• Spread it all around the place where you see cockroaches.

2. Boric Acid

It is poisonous and therefore should be tried as the last resort if all the other methods fail to keep cockroaches away from your house. However, it is a sure shot way of getting rid of the pests from your house.

What You Will Need

• Boric powder

How to Do

• Take a bottle of boric powder and dust it in areas where cockroaches are often seen.

Precautionary Tips

• Since boric acid is poisonous, it should be kept away from pets and small children.
• Do not dust boric powder on wet areas as it loses its effectiveness when wet.
• Remember to wash your hands with soap immediately after you have used boric acid.
• Use gloves while dusting boric acid, and wash them with soap after use.

3. Bay Leaves

Bay leaves do not kill cockroaches but keep them away from entering the area where it has been stored since they cannot stand the smell. Bay leaf is readily available in every Indian kitchen and is non-poisonous too.

What You Will Need

• Bay leaves

How to Do

• Take a few bay leaves and grind them roughly in a grinder or with a mortar and pestle.
• Then place them in small bowls around the places where cockroaches enter from or thrive.

4. Pepper, Garlic, and Onion

The concoction of these three ingredients gives out a very deadly smell which cockroaches cannot stand.

What You Will Need

• Black pepper
• An onion
• Garlic cloves
• Liquid soap
• Water

How to Do

• Grind one onion and a few cloves of garlic together.
• Add 2-3 spoons of black pepper powder to it.
• Take a water bottle (preferably 1-litre bottle), mix the above ingredients in it along with a few spoons of liquid soap.
• Wherever you see cockroaches, you may spray a little of the solution on them.
• After finishing work in the kitchen, mop the floors, the countertop, and the stove top with the solution.

Precautionary Tips

• Wash your hands thoroughly after using this solution. Otherwise, it can leave a burning sensation in your hands. Your eyes may also burn if your hands come in contact with your eyes.
• Be careful and protect your eyes while spraying the solution.

5. Lemon

The citrus smell of lemons stops the cockroaches from entering the house.

What You Will Need

• A bucket of water
• Lemon juice
• A mop

How to Do

• Mop the entire house with this solution to keep cockroaches at bay.
• You may also spray the solution in the areas where you see cockroaches often.

6. Mint Spray

This is an efficient and easy way to get rid of cockroaches from your house. Mint is non-toxic and also readily available in everyone’s kitchen, so use it without worries.

What You Will Need

• Mint leaves
• Water
• A water spray

How to Do

• Heat some water.
• Roughly crush mint leaves and add them in the water.
• Then put a lid on it.
• Once it cools down properly, with the help of a water spray, spray it in all the nook and corners of your house that are breeding grounds for cockroaches.

7. Fabric Softener Solution

Using a fabric softener solution can also help you get rid of cockroaches instantly from your house. Spraying the solution on the cockroaches will suffocate them and you will have a pest-free home.

What You Will Need

• A fabric softener
• Water
• A spray bottle

How to Do

• Mix 3 parts of the fabric softener with 2 parts of water.
• With a spray bottle, spray the solution on the cockroaches – targeting their head and their lower body.
• You may also spray the solution on cracks, openings, holes and, in the areas where cockroaches thrive.

8. Ammonia with Water

Ammonia is an excellent cockroach repellent. It also cleans the floors and the corners of the house, and due to its pungent smell, cockroaches stay away from home.

What You Will Need

• Ammonia
• Water
• A bucket
• A mop

How to Do

• Take a bucket of water.
• Add 2 cups of ammonia to it.
• Pour this solution on the bathroom floors, and mop your kitchen floor and other areas in your house with this solution.
• Use this solution at least once in ten days.

9. Mouthwash and Water Solution

A mixture of mouthwash and water can also help you get rid of cockroaches from your house. The essential oils in a mouthwash, like menthol, thymol, and eucalyptol helps repels cockroach effectively and also keeps the house smelling fresh.

What You Will Need

• A mouth wash
• Water
• A water spray

How to Do

• In a gallon of water, mix about 4 ounces of mouthwash.
• Spray the solution in the cockroach-infested zones like the bathroom, kitchen, or wherever you may find them.
• You can also directly spray this solution directly on to the cockroaches.

10. Coffee

The smell of coffee brings the cockroach to the bowl or jar of water. If they are trapped in it, they die. However, you have to check the water jar every morning to look for dead cockroaches. In case you see dead cockroaches inside the jar, throw the water along with the cockroaches. Then again fill half the container with water and place the cup with coffee grinds inside it.

What You Will Need

• Wet coffee grind
• A jar or bowl of water
• Petroleum jelly
• A small bowl or cup

How to Do

• Apply petroleum jelly inside the bowl or jar so that the cockroaches slip into the water if they try to escape out of the water.
• Fill half a jar or bowl with water.
• Put wet coffee grinds in a small bowl or cup.
• Place it inside the jar or bowl with water.
• Place such containers in the cockroach-infested areas of the house.
• The smell of coffee will bring them to bowl. And once they enter it, they will die.

The most effective way to keep roaches away from your house is to keep your house clean and clutter-free. Never leave food out in the open and fix leaky taps to cut their food and water supply.

Vacuum clean your house often and mop the floors with disinfectants daily to keep them away. Seal the cracks in your house since roaches enter the house through them. And try out the methods mentioned above to get rid of cockroaches from your beautiful home.

Also Read:

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies at Home
Effective Ways to Clean Daily Household Things