FlyLady Helps You Clean Your House and Your Life While You're At It

I've posted here about how to clean house, periodically sharing tips I've learned.  I get how frustrating this can be for many of us.

It's hard for me.  Just plain hard.  In fact, housekeeping can be flat out overwhelming sometimes.  Especially when I'm on a deadline.  I just don't see the mess, really I don't, because my head is filled with the research or the writing or the editing.  I just don't SEE it.  Then the deadline is met and I relax and suddenly I look around, and wow.  I need a break and I'm surrounded by mess.

I hate this.

I remember reading on The Bloggess about how she suffers from mental illness and one of her red flags that she may be about to have a bad episode (here in the South, we call them a "spell"), is that her vision narrows.  Like she has blinders on her eyes.

What I experience is something like that -- I'm busy, I'm buzzing along and my head is happy with thinking, and I don't register that the dishes need washing or that the porch needs sweeping.  It's just not there for me.

However, living in mess is definitely real and I hate it.  It's major no fun to come out of the waters of creating something good, all ready to wallow and relax, only to find that you're in a messy environment.

Growing Plants to Clean The Air Inside Your Home

Dr. Garrett Wdowin has written a great article for HealthierTalk.com where he not only discusses the impact of air quality on your health, but he provides a simple solution to combating the high levels of toxic fumes permeating our dwellings: houseplants.

That's right: a number of plants, grown indoors, act as automatic air purifiers.  Wow. 

In his article, Dr. Wdowin references studies done by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) on the impact of growing plants upon chemicals, and has included the NASA list of plants proven to remove toxic chemicals (formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene) from the air. 

The NASA List of House Plants That Purify the Air: Natural Air Filters

To read the NASA research report, check out the pdf version available for download. According to the NASA report, the scientists studied the following plants - most of which are easy enough to find in your local nursery.

Their Common Names:

Bamboo palm
Chinese evergreen
English ivy
Ficus
Gerbera daisy
Janet Craig
Marginata
Mass cane/Corn cane
Mother-in-law's tongue
Peace lily
Pot mum
Warneckei

Their Scientific Names:
Chamaedorea seifritzii
Aglaonema modestum
Hedera helix
Ficus benjamina
Gerbera jamesonii
Dracaena deremensis "'Janet Craig"
Dracaena marginata
Dracaena massangeana
Sansevieria laurentii
Spathiphyllum "'Mauna Loa'"
Chrysanthemum morifolium
Dracaena deremensis "'Warneckei'"

If you're really interested in this - and want a longer list of air-cleaning house plants, check out B.C. Wolverton's book How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants That Purify Your Home.

Cleaning House - Some are Better than Others

I firmly believe that true housecleaning is a talent. One that I don't have. Some folk have a Green Thumb in the garden, and some have a Clean Thumb in the house. I have neither. I have to work at it.

And, here it is: Spring Cleaning Time.

So, it being April and all, I've made my list of chores for my annual Spring Clean. In doing so, I've gone to the web for help. Making this list just doesn't come naturally to me; luckily, there are lots of bloggers out there who have tips and hints for people like me. And maybe you, Dear Reader.

Here's some of the great things I found:

All About Home is just loaded with cleaning tips, in a nicely organized site. Something I learned here: rubbing alcohol will take out those stains on the window sill (which are really bothering me, now that I've got the blinds up and the curtains pulled back, airing out the house with the nice Spring breezes).

How to Clean Anything has a great collection of Spring Cleaning articles. Very informative - and they cover a nice spectrum of topics, including your car (and the leather car seats -- cool hint, leather is a skin. Treat it accordingly).

Robbie Haf's got a lot of great info. Lots here, things like an easy way to clean a George Foreman grill (where the plates aren't removable) -- and here's a great one: when you move furniture and the carpet is pushed down, put an ice cube there. As the ice melts, the carpet fibers will bounce back. Wow, gotta try that one!

And, of course, there are commercial web sites with lots of tips, too. Mr. Clean, LYSOL, Windex -- they've all got helpful info (if you're willing to work around the fact that in giving advice, they're busy promoting their product).


And, just in case you're interested - today, I got an advertising message from a local cleaning service. When I look at their price list, silly as it may be, it really helps me to put a value on all that I'm doing (and have done) every week, much less in this month's Spring Clean.

House Smell Like Dog? How to Get Rid of Dog Scent - OdoBan

I've owned dogs for years, and there's always that worry that you've become accustomed to the dog smell in your house, but that anyone visiting your home will feel they're entering a kennel.  Not good.

And, over the years, I've tried lots and lots of remedies for this problem - because no, I will not go with the easy alternative of moving the dogs outside.  I LIKE having the pups inside with me.  They do play outside, they have a nice yard.  But at night, or now, while I'm working, they are nearby.  It's comforting, it's fun. 

Dog lovers totally get this. 

Plus, as pack animals, you'll get a lot better results in training your dog by maintaining that Pack Persona.  Leave your dogs alone and away from you, and they'll form their own mini-pack bond, and you'll lose some Pack Leader Power.  They don't have to be your shadow, but especially at night, it's a big pack thing to be near each other. 

However, there are always negatives with the positives and, well, they are dogs.  And dogs will leave a scent, no matter how much you bathe them.  What to do?  I have the answer.

1.  Air out your house often.  This is just good for you anyway, get fresh air circulating inside.
2.  Use OdoBan DAILY.  It's cheap, it's used in nursing homes and day care centers all over the place because it really, really works.  Doesn't cost that much either.

Me, I have OdoBan spray bottles scattered throughout the house (the big gallon bottle at Sam's comes with a quart size sprayer), hidden in cabinets, underneath the desk, etc.  I buy the big gallon bottle at Sam's Club - it comes undiluted, then replishish my stash bottles as often as needed.

OdoBan smells nice.  A little eucalyptus-y.  And it kills the odors.  You can spray it EVERYWHERE.  Sofas, rugs, doggie beds, never stains. 

What all does OdoBan do?  From the OdoBan site:

1. Deodorizer… eliminates unpleasant odors on washable surfaces such as upholstery, carpets, bedding, showers, walls and floors while leaving a fresh scent.  
2. Sanitizer… kills 99.99% of germs such as †Streptococcus pyogenes (Strep), Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (E.coli)(pathogenic strain), Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) and Klebsiella pneumoniae on hard, nonporous, nonfood contact surfaces in 60 seconds. 
3. Disinfectant… fungicidal against germs ‡such as Trichophyton mentagrophyte (the athlete's foot fungus), when used on surfaces in areas such as locker rooms, dressing rooms, shower and bath areas and exercise facilities.  
4. Mildewstat… effectively controls and inhibits the growth of mold and mildew. 
5. Virucide*… kills *HIV-1 (AIDS Virus), Influenza A/Hong Kong and Herpes Simplex type 2 in 60 seconds.

I've just discovered that OdoBan has an entire line of pet-related products.  I'll be investigating them, but I don't know how they could surpass my current basic OdoBan stuff.  It's just fabulous.  Maybe the pet urine product would be good for my friends that just got the new puppy .... 

Getting Urine Smell Out of Carpet - Works for Kids and Puppies

My best friend S and my other best friend, her hubby E, had their eyes set on a miniature Austrian Shephard puppy all the way to their visit to a breeder last Saturday, where they came home with a 7 week old GoldenDoodle. Their kiddos are still bouncing like SuperBalls (remember them?) and they've named the puppy "Lucky."

E can't bear to crate the baby.  Lucky might get scared, it's mean, says the Tenderhearted E.  And, E is the pack leader here, so he's calling the shots and S is readying herself for the 1,304,356 pee-pee spots that are going to hit their carpet before Lucky is housebroken. 

Meanwhile, my pups are so well-trained that they'll go pee-pee in the pouring rain during a thunderstorm. (Dear Reader, do I sound proud?  Fine.  I am.  Disgustingly so.)   So the new parents asked my tricks of the trade to handle Lucky's leaks over the next few months, as well as how to limit this training period.

As for housebreaking a dog, I'll leave that to another post.  For the immediate issue of urine in the carpets, here's what worked for me:

1.  The smell comes from the urine crystalizing once it's dried.  You want to break up those crystals, get them to dissolve and go away.  There's the goal.

2.  Cheap and easy way to break the urine crystals up is plain old white vinegar.  Yep, that miracle stuff.  Don't be dainty here, pour that vinegar onto the carpet spot -- depending on the size of the spot, this could be up to half a gallon.  Yes, that much.  You want to make sure you're putting enough in there so it soaks down to the urine crystals that have formed in the padding.  Go crazy with the vinegar.  Crazy!!

3.  Be patient.  Leave that vinegar alone for 2 or 3 days.  If this bothers you, don't invite Prince Charles over for dinner till this process is done.  You're cleaning carpets here, it's a process.  That vinegar WILL work, but it needs time to do its job. 

4.  Okay, after the 2 or 3 days, spread a big, old towel down there over the wet spot and do the Mexican Hat Dance on it.  Go crazy with your bad self.  Use another towel if the first one gets really soaked.  Put on Beyonce, Single Lady, and stomp all over that second towel, tell it all about putting a ring on it. 

5.  After two towels, then rest yourself.  Next, it's time to clean the carpet.  I know, I know, this is a Big Enterprise.  You need it to be a Big Enterprise, because the puppy will come back and pee where it smells urine.  Dogs have an ability to smell that's like 45 times as great as ours.  Hence, Big Enterprise.

Me?  I use an OxyClean product with a Hoover Steam Vac with Clean Surge, model F5914-900.  You can get one for around $100 at Amazon.Com.

6. Now, here's the good news.  This process really DOES WORK.  It's worth your efforts here, and they aren't really all that harsh.  Dancing on the towel is fun.  However, getting the puppy not to pee-pee in the house, or the toddler not to wee-wee on the rug ... that's a different story. 

How to Do Laundry: Save Money and Energy By Washing in Cold Water

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, around 90% of the energy costs in doing laundry in your washing machine comes from heating up the water, and twice as much is used for hot water as is for warm. 

So, you save a lot of energy (and therefore, help your monthly budget) by washing your clothes in cold water.

But will they get clean?  Sure.  If you've got some stains with oil in them, they may need some special treatment (rub your laundry soap into them directly before putting the item in the washer).  And, you'll be wise to use those cold-water detergents that are made for cold water laundry. 

January is National Radon Action Month. Check Your Home! 1 in 15 Homes Have Too Much Radon

January is National Radon Action Month.  Radon is a gas that you cannot feel, smell, taste, or see -- but it can be present in your home, condo, or apartment and is a lot more common than most folks realize.

Radon kills people. It is a cancer-causing radioactive gas. According to the Surgeon General, RADON is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States today. Who knew, right?  

So where does it come from? Radon comes into your dwelling via the ground underneath your home; or through the groundwater (waterwells can be a source of radon), or via building materials. Radon decays over time.

How to Painlessly Declutter Your Home - Reba's 10 Steps to Declutter Success and Downsizing the Stuff Your Life

Awhile back, I provided my system of streamlining stuff - aka declutter, downsize -- and I've had lots of nice feedback on how this system really works for others.  So, I'm providing the info again, in its own streamlined form:

Reba's 10 Step Declutter System for Stripping Away the Excess Stuff in Your Life That Really Works

Preliminary Advice:  Be patient with yourself. Task by task, step by step, you'll get it all done.  The Queen of England is NOT visiting this weekend. 

1.  Buy four large laundry baskets (different colors is great, but not absolutely necessary) - the bigger the better, I found some huge ones at Dollar Tree back in 2005 that I'm still using.  Baskets? Yes.  Their handles can be very useful, so I don't recommend boxes or bags here. 

2.  Take your laundry baskets and label them (yep, somehow this is important) KEEP, TOSS, GIVE, and PUT-AWAY.   I find masking tape wrapped around the basket handles with Sharpie marker labelling works just fine.  No matter how full the basket, you can see its label on the handles. 


3.  Give yourself a time limit. You can be sentimental later, you're just sorting right now.  And if you only have ten minutes today, that's okay.  Sort for ten minutes then. 

4. Start with a room, or a section of a room.

ARE CLOTHESLINES ILLEGAL IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?

When I was a newlywed, we lived in an old duplex and I remember hanging the sheets out on the ancient clothesline out back ... I think back to how sweet and soft those cotton sheets were, and how homey it made things. I have fond memories of that clothesline.

Today, I might be breaking the law for using it.

Apparently, all over the U.S. and elsewhere (Canada, for example) legislation as well as homeowner's association regulations, etc., have been implemented to purportedly protect property values. The Kansas City Star quotes one Baltimore, Maryland, resident complaining that a neighbor's use of a backyard clothesline "makes our community look like Dundalk."

Apparently, having to see your neighbor's clean laundry on the line quietly became unacceptable in modern society. Until now.

Slowly, communities are taking back their right to dry their clothes on a line in the back yard. Just last week, the New York Times reported on Southampton Town Board member Anne Throne-Holst, who successfully spearheaded a campaign to rescind the "anti-clothesline" legislation that had been on the books for six years.

In Colorado, the state legislature passed a new law that allows backyard clotheslines, effective this month (August 2008), as long as they meet homeowner associations' aesthetic guidelines.

Meanwhile, up north, those crazy Canadians are actually risking it -- it's being reported that they are just blatantly breaking the law, using their backyard clotheslines with pride.

Apparently, clotheslines are extremely controversial. So much so that an actual movement has been growing -- the 'Right to Dry' movement, where neighborhood by neighborhood, folks are standing up for their right to have and use clotheslines in their backyard in lieu of their electric or gas dryers.

So, are clotheslines okay in your neighborhood? Check with your homeowner's association, as well as your local representatives. Maybe you're forbidden to have one right now.

How to Clean 3: Cooking Grease

Apparently, lots of folk are flummoxed by the grease that's left after frying or roasting or broiling or whatever ... so much so, that here in San Antonio, the water company has posted billboards and notices asking that grease not be poured down pipes. I'm guessing lots of folks were never taught how to deal with the messy stuff.

Grease isn't that hard to deal with -- here's a couple of tips:

1. Pour the hot grease into leftover metal cans (think coffee cans or tin cans) or milk cartons. Let it cool, and toss. Used coffee cans are good, because they have plastic lids. You can fill these over time, storing the sealed can under the sink, and when the can is full, you toss it. No, there's not a bad smell. Put it in the fridge or freezer if you're really worried about a stench.

2. If the pan has sat around so the grease (e.g., fat) is not in liquid form any longer, the easiest thing to do is put the pan in the oven at 250 until it becomes liquid again, and do the pour thing.

You want to avoid getting grease into the sink, or the pipes -- and it's much easier to deal with the grease as a liquid than in its gel form.

3. Now, bacon grease is different. It's special. Keep it separate and make sure your container has a lid. When I was little, my mother would store bacon fat left over from breakfast on the stove top, because she used it as a flavoring -- she would fry onions and garlic in the bacon fat as a basis for lots of things, to fry potatoes, pinto beans, beef tips, even green beans. She'd use it to make cornbread. She'd make a roux with it for gravy, put a tad of it in mashed potatoes, well - you get the idea.


For a nice trip down Bacon Grease Lane, check out this list of comments at Gather.com.

FYI, did you know that in WWII, housewives were asked to save their cooking grease and turn it in to their local grocery stores, where it was collected to be used in making explosives?

Homemade Laundry Soap

There are several sites with lots of recipe lists for homemade laundry soap. Why bother?

It's cheaper. Lots cheaper. The Simple Dollar reports a $70.00 savings and provides a per load savings comparison to bulk buys at Sams and Costco here.

Another factor is that making your own laundry soap means you know what's going into it, which can really help with skin allergies, eczema, and the like. Artificial fragrances alone are the source of many skin irritations.


For recipes, check out:
The Frugal Shopper
The Family Homestead
Christian Mommies

Using Your Dishwasher? TANG and More

Okay, using a dishwasher may not be the simplest of things. You're using electricity and water that washing by hand avoids.

However, simplicity is a continuum -- we are all on different points on the line. And, for those still using their dishwasher, here are some handy hints:

1. Don't pre-rinse the dishes with a running tap. Take a bowl; fill it with hot, soapy water; use a sponge and wipe the dishes using this water. Tell yourself you're being European if this helps. Studies show that running a tap to pre-rinse the dishes uses 25 gallons per meal. Appliance manufacturers suggest that you just scrape and load: as we all know, this doesn't work well - which is why pre-rinsing continues.

2. If the dishes come out spotted, or worse yet, with a soap film - try Tang. There are those vinegar stories out there, but a half-container of Tang run thru a full cycle in an empty dishwasher gives a better result. (It's the citric acid in the Tang that helps to clean the dishwasher itself.) For a really good cleaning, after the Tang run, try a run of vinegar and baking-soda combo -- the dishwasher will run as good as new.

3. Run the hot water in the tap till it's hot, before you turn on the dishwasher. Hot water is essential for a good dishwasher result. Hey, and use the water you ran for something: make tea, water a plant, refill the dog bowl.

4. Always run the dishwasher when the load is full.

5. Don't use the dishwasher's "dry" function. Once the rinse is done, let the machine's work be done. Crack the door open, and air dry.

Homemade Dishwasher Soap Recipes

There are several recipes for homemade dishwasher soap. Why bother? It's much more economical than buying the stuff, even if you're at DollarTree -- plus you know what you're using here, chemically.

For each load:
1 Tablespoon Borax
1 Tablespoon Baking soda
or
2 Tablespoons of the following - 1 cup baking soda combined with 1 cup borax, and 2-3 tablespoons Fruit Fresh

For the rinse:
1 cup white vinegar, either poured into the JetDry vessel or placed into a cup securely placed into the top rack.

What's borax? It's a salt, naturally occurring in some parts of the USA as well as China, and it's used not only as a cleansing agent but also as a water softener and a preservative. Remember Twenty Mule Team Borax? It sponsored quite a few TV Westerns in the 1960s.


Sources: thriftyfun.com, naturalhomemadecleaners.com, answers.com.

Great Site: The Happy Slob

For those that love or hate to clean house, the Happy Slob has a great site. Here's just an example of all she offers, on her page discussing the many uses of baking soda - and this is only a portion of her advice regarding baking soda:

"Using Baking Soda for FOOD & COOKING and IN THE KITCHEN
1. Scrub Chopping Boards Use baking soda to clean off chopping boards. It's great at removing garlicky and onion smells.
2. Clean Plastic Containers Use as a scrub to get out nasty stains from your Tupperware or other plastic storage containers.
3. Absorb Fridge Odors Everyone knows this one, but it's because it really works! Put an opened box of baking soda in the fridge and freezer to help absorb nasty fridge odors.
4. Shine Toasters (Submitted by Jude) Sprinkle baking soda on damp cloth (a mild abrasive) and shine the outside of that toaster, toaster oven, etc.
5. Clean Coated Pans (Submitted by Jude) Sprinkle baking soda on damp cloth (a mild abrasive) and use to remove brown grease spots from pots and pans - great for those coated pans.
6. Cleaning Tea Stains (Submitted by Mary Lou) Baking soda is the best for cleaning tea stains out of plastic pitchers.
7. Grease Remover (Submitted by Mary Lou) Baking soda is the best for cleaning grease off your stove top and out of greasy dishes.
8. Add to dishwasher AND good for pipes (Submitted by Mary Lou) When added to your dish water it makes more suds and good for cleaning the pipes out when it goes into septic or sewer system."

There's a blog and newsletter, too.

How to Clean -2

Part of simplifying life means keeping up your property boundaries: just because the thrift store has a fabulous collection of Hello Kitty collectibles doesn't mean that you need to buy them all. It's a good deal - but maybe it's someone else's good deal, not yours. That means thinking about what comes into your home. Enforce your boundaries with yourself.

Before that becomes your focus, however, you've got to conquer the excess you already have. Odds are, if you're new to simplicity you've got lots of stuff. Lots.
The collection of surplus material goods has, unfortunately, become The American Way.

Stuff means maintenance, even if it's just storing it in the backroom closet. Simple living is clean, efficient: if you have stuff stored in the backroom closet, it's for a reason and it serves a purpose. No? It needs to go.

Simplifying Your Stuff: the Courage to Toss

There are reasons you keep this stuff, and avoid culling. Some have gone so far as delineating between different "personalities" - dividing folk by motivation: procrastination, sentimentality, perfectionism. Whatever your hurdle, jump it - it takes courage to change the way you think, and the way you live.

Stripping Away the Excess

You're changing your world by reorganizing your environment: these things take time, be patient with yourself. Task by task, step by step, you'll get it all done.

Start with a room, or a section of a room. Take your laundry baskets (see How to Clean 1) and begin sorting. Give yourself a time limit. You can be sentimental later, you're just sorting right now. Fill the baskets: keep, toss, give, put-away.

When they are full, toss the toss pile first. Don't reevaluate your decisions here. Same for the give pile: put it in bags, label them for charity, and put them in the trunk of the car, or outside the door for pick up. Get them out of sight, it will keep everyone from rummaging through them later.

Take the put-away stuff and put this stuff up. Where it should be, in a perfect world. Not in another pile, in another room. Keep gets stored.

Now, check your time. If you've got it, do another round. If not, that's okay. You'll get there. This is part of the simple life, right now: these simple steps will get you where you need to be. Drop that pressure, don't stress over this. Keep it simple as you're simplifying.

For other methods on simplifying your stuff, see: organizedhome.com, thenewhomemaker.com.

Vinegar's Unbelievable Variety of Uses

That plain, white, cheap vinegar you can pick up at the grocery has an unbelievable amount of uses around the home. Why? Vinegar is a natural germ-killer. The Heinz Company has produced research studies showing that white vinegar will kill 99% of the bacteria, 82% of the mold, and 80% of the germs it contacts. And, it's natural, biodegradeable, and safe for kids and pets.

How to use it? Use it straight to clean toilet bowls as well as kitchen cutting boards and countertops (let all set for 30 minutes, then rinse). Put a bottle into the washer and let a cycle run. Clean windows with a spray bottle filled with a dollop of vinegar to a bunch of water (10% vinegar, 90% water).

In gardening, vinegar is amazing. Put it out in a jar top, and the bugs run. Put a teaspoon in the vase water, cut flowers last longer.

There's lots more at about.com, 131 Uses for Vinegar.

How to Clean - 1

Keeping a house clean and neat is easier for some than others. Living the simple life means maintaining control of the house, as opposed to managing its chaos, in order to maximize your time and energy for other things.

For those new to living simply, cleaning can be overwhelming. Some may be new to doing it themselves: in their old life, they hired someone to do it for them.

Therefore, in tandem with the How to Cook series, this series of posts will deal with various aspects of housekeeping.

Simplifying Your Stuff, Organizing the Home

First, remember Rome wasn't built in a day, and the Queen of England isn't visiting tomorrow. A home isn't going to be 100% at any time, there's always going to be something on the task list. Your goal isn't a lab, it's a pleasant living environment. Check those expectations.

Second, stop and consider your rooms. They have a purpose - maybe more than one. Is one bedroom serving as a guest room and an office? Okay, two purposes. Kitchen, where you prepare and store food. Bathroom, well -- you get the idea.

Each room should not contain anything outside its purpose. The office/guest room shouldn't have your kids' sporting goods thrown about it. The bedroom shouldn't have dishes. You get the idea. What if they do? You're simplifying your life: decluttering is part of that. Anything that isn't a part of that room's purpose shouldn't be in that room.

Third, find your storage area if you don't have one. Consider the temperature and light: those food bargains from Costco need to be kept in cool, dry places. Plan and create storage shelves if you need them. At Lowe's, you can get metal shelf holders for about a buck and scrap lumber for the shelf itself. Get your storage area ready for work.

Fourth, get your storage containers ready. Dollar Tree, garage sales, and those BankerBoxes from Office Depot (6 for $6.00) are all good storage containers that will stack. (I like the clear plastic ones because I can see what's inside.) Heck, those free cardboard boxes left behind the liquor store are great, too. You want lots of places to put the excess stuff coming out of those rooms you're organizing.

Fifth, spurge on several big plastic laundry baskets. They're great. Easy to carry, and you can take them through the house: e.g., toss all the excess from the den into the basket, then distribute as part of daily pick-up.

In your big simplicity push, you can use several of these to sort a messy room: throw away basket, give to charity basket, goes someplace else basket. I like the basket approach because it keeps the overwhelming feeling at bay: a basket a day, and before you know it, the office is an office again. Like magic.

Next post: you've got to throw away stuff when you're simplifying. Every house has a limit on what it will hold. What to keep, what to let go of painlessly ...

Give Cockroaches a Natural Death

The University of Nevada has a great .pdf file that provides lots of ways to win the war against cockroaches using natural methods. Safer and cheaper than calling the Man with a Truck ....

Written by Dr. Robert H. Stauffer, Area Extension Specialist, the tips include:

1. Sprays - such as 2 oz of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap per gallon of water, or 3 ounces of rosemary oil per gallon of water. (Dr.Bronner sells his peppermint soap for $1/oz at his site. You can make your own rosemary oil, an online recipe appears at RecipeSource.)

2. Repellants - roaches apparently hate okra, so putting raw or stewed okra around will repel them, as will stewed cucumber peel or crushed bay leaves.

3. Dusts -- boric acid kills those suckers though it may take 10 days for them to die. Good news - if the boric acid powder stays dry, it remains effective for years. Don't pile it, layer it. The Doc recommends mixing it with food the roaches like: he reports that "they are especially fond of beer" and are quite fond of sweets, grease, and the like. (He provides a long list here.)

Boric acid takes no prisoners: it also kills termites, carpenter ants, palmetto bugs, waterbugs, ants, fleas, and silverfish. For more info on boric acid, Al's Home Improvement Center has lots of detail. There, 2 gallons of boric acid are sold for $16.50.

(I've been told that Boric Acid is essentially what the expensive Sears treatment involves, where they take off all the light switch covers, etc., and spray a white powder behind the walls -- but I don't have confirmation of that.)

4. Baits -- recipes provided include a bowl of epsom salts: once consumed, the roach's digestive system is impacted and it dies. Other baits are provided, they include boric acid and a cute one where you get the roaches drunk on beer and then stomp them to death.

5. Traps -- good one with a greased Gatorade jar filled with temptation for the roaches, others with shaving cream or electrical tape.