8 Steps To Get Rid of Bed Bugs Naturally

by | Lifestyle Advice

I thought long and hard whether I should make a video on this topic – partly because I didn’t want to admit it happened to me!

But after much deliberation, I decided it was important to share because it can easily happen to you, especially if you LOVE traveling.

We picked up a few unwanted travelers on our way home from Central America a few months ago (bed bugs!!) Rather than hiring a pest guy to come use bad chemicals and leave a hefty bill, we decided to get rid of the problem ourselves – naturally.

In this week’s video I’m showing you just exactly what we did – all for $100.

Check it out!

Links from the video:


Transcript

Hey everyone, Lindsey Victoria here from A Life Well-Balanced, where this channel is all about how we can be a tiny bit better at this thing we call life in a more balanced and positive way.

If that sounds like something that interests you, please go ahead and hit the subscribe button so I can notify you every time I release a new video you. I would appreciate it!

I thought long and hard about whether I was going to do a video on this topic, but then I thought, “Nope, I think everybody needs to know about this” because it could happen if you like to travel.

Recently, we went on a trip to Nicaragua, and when we came back, we brought back some unwanted travelers with us. Yes, we brought back bed bugs.

We did so much research to determine how we could get rid of bed bugs naturally.

Bed bugs are actually more common than you think. I’ve actually was reading about bed bugs and they’re more becoming more common because people are using less harsh chemicals.

Naturally, when you think bed bugs, you think I’m going to call the pest control guy, he’ll come and use a bunch of chemicals and then they’ll be gone.

But, we didn’t want to go down that route so we decided that we wanted to figure it out ourselves.

Side note – if you have a massive infestation of bed bugs, then you should probably think about it, but we only had a couple.

You know you have bed bugs when you’re waking up the next day with bites on your body and you’re not sure where they’re coming from.

The main thing with bed bugs is that you need to isolate the problem in your house so the problem doesn’t spread.

There are a couple of facts about bed bugs.

  • They cannot fly.
  • They cannot jump.
  • They can only crawl.
  • They’re very hard to see.
  • They actually only really come out at night.
  • They are attracted to Carbon dioxide, so they’re attracted to our breathing.

These are the exact steps that we did to get rid of the bed bugs

Step 1. We vacuumed. You’ll need to vacuum everything! If you have enough time and patience, you literally need to take the stick of the vacuum and vacuum all around of the seams of the bed.

Step 2. If you have a carpet, I suggest removing everything from underneath your bed. Make sure to check if there is anything in the boxes underneath your bed.

We had stuff underneath our bed so we had to throw away the boxes. I highly recommend throwing those away if you have any because bed bugs can lay eggs in there.

Step 3. Then you need to buy bed covers. They’re actually quite nice and you just need to make sure they fit your bed quite snuggly. Once you do all the cleaning, cover your bed with these cloths and make sure there are no holes or anything because basically what you’re doing is you’re now isolating any bugs that could be on the bed.

Step 4. Once I vacuumed, I used essential oils. I vacuumed the bed and sprayed down the bed with Eucalyptus and Lemongrass, which are natural bug repellents.

Step 5. I also took very hot soapy water and wiped down everything around us.

Step 6. Then we took the bed linens and washed them on the hot cycle.  Bed bugs can’t survive anything hot, so wash your linens with hot, soapy water, and dry it on hot.

Just make sure when you’re moving anything from your room, you’re not transporting the bugs anywhere else because that’s where the problem can get bigger. We took the linens off our bed and we stuck them in bags and then we washed them.

Step 7. We also bought these bed bug traps. You have to get these and put them under all of the legs of your bed. I recommend removing any bed skirts too. You can’t have anything touching the floor because once you vacuum, wipe everything, and cover the bed, you have to make sure nothing is in the floor and nothing’s going to get back onto the bed.

These bed bug traps work really well because they have a slippery base that the bed bugs can’t escape. If any bed bugs end up in this trap, then you’ll know that there could have been eggs left in the carpet and you need to keep vacuuming.

The life cycle of a bed bug is 6 weeks, so you have 6 weeks to make sure that there are no eggs hatching and you don’t keep getting bitten.

If you’ve done all of that, and you’re still getting bitten, then you have a problem and should call the pest control guy.

So here are few tips for you in case bed bugs have an issue.

  1. I recommend, after you’ve done traveling, don’t put your suitcases or anything straight on your bed. Keep them always on the floor.
  2. Check your bags for eggs. Now I’ll be checking all of my bags, anywhere that I’ve come from. It doesn’t matter if it’s Central America, South America, Europe. I’ve found out this is not as uncommon as you think.

If you’re having bed bug trouble, check the links I put below the video for all the things that we bought. We only spent about $100 to get rid of the problem and we avoided putting chemicals in our place because we didn’t want that.

So if you have any questions, leave a comment below and I can help you out.

I hope you guys have a good one and I’ll see you next time.

 


Lindsey Victoria

Lindsey Victoria

Lindsey is the author of A Life Well-Balanced, a lifestyle blog dedicated to helping people live a more balanced life – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

5 Comments

  1. Bert

    Hi Lindsey,
    Thanks for sharing these great tips. For those with more serious problems it helps to have professional pest control services to eliminate infestations.

    Reply
  2. John

    Great read.

    Reply
  3. MBBS

    Good read! Bed bug infestation is a serious problem and it’s important to find an effective solution as soon as possible. Thanks for sharing these great tips!

    Reply
    • Lindsey Victoria

      Yea – especially now that there is a surge in hotels around the world!

      Reply

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