So you’ve finally bought your first home, and can’t wait to move in! Owning a home is a huge milestone in life, but one should take care that this investment is well taken care of to serve you for a long time.

One important aspect of taking care of your home is to keep it pest-free. You don’t want to have pests entering your hard-earned home and wreaking havoc on your belongings and your health. Common examples of pests include cockroaches, rats, termites, mosquitoes, and bed bugs. While it will be difficult to keep your home a hundred per cent immune from these unwanted visitors, you can do your best to keep them away.

Here are some steps you can take to minimise the occurrence of pests in your home:

Guard the openings

Pests can enter your home through openings in your door, windows, or even the sewage system. While it may not be practical to seal off every inch that leads to your home, you can try your best to block off the main points of access to your home. For example, you can install mesh screens on your windows and doors to keep flying bugs such as mosquitoes from entering your home. Drain openings should also have drain covers installed so as to prevent pests from entering or breeding in the pipes. If you have a rubbish chute, do invest in a good cover for it so that cockroaches and rodents cannot get into your home through the gaps of the chute opening.

Use natural ingredients

Some kinds of plants and common kitchen ingredients are natural repellents for pests. Use this to your advantage to make your home as unattractive to pests as possible. For example, ants dislike coffee grounds, so you can make use of used coffee grounds or coffee bags to deter ants at spots where they commonly appear. Other herbs and ingredients that are known to be great pest deterrents include garlic, lemon, lavender, vinegar, eucalyptus, and cayenne pepper. Most of these can be applied by sprinkling or leaving them at strategic locations like entry points and pests’ popular hangouts. Essential oils are also a good alternative, as they make your home smell good as well.

Keep food covered

Undeniably, food is the main attraction for pests. Thus, you should never leave food in the open if you don’t want your home to be a popular destination for pests and bugs. This means that half-eaten food should always be packed up in sealed containers or bags, so that no scent of it escapes. Food remainders should also be disposed of properly into a sealed bin or tied-up garbage bag. As far as possible, you should clear out your food trash so that you don’t accumulate decaying food matter in your home.

Keep your home well-ventilated

This piece of advice is especially relevant for the washrooms. Pests typically enjoy hanging out in moist areas, meaning that bathrooms and sewage pipes are their preferred habitats. To reduce the chances of them making their home in your bathroom, you should keep the bathroom as dry as possible when not in use. You can do this by installing a ventilator fan, and leaving it on during and after showers. In addition, the rest of your home should also be kept well-ventilated to prevent excess moisture buildup in wooden furniture. Moisture is detrimental to the quality of wood, promotes mould growth, and is an attractive meal for some kinds of termites – which you probably don’t want to have in your home.

These tips will help you reduce the chances of pests entering your home. However, none of these methods is foolproof, so sometimes pests still enter your home despite all your efforts. Although it is frustrating, you can take comfort in knowing that there are professional pest control services out there to help you with this. Whether you need the help of bed bug control in Singapore to get rid of the pesky critters annoying you at night, or you need termite control services to fight the white ants in your furniture, an experienced pest control company will be able to find the right method to resolve your woes.