A Homemade Laundry Additive For Your Bed Linens For Bed Bug Prevention And Treatment

If you have noticed a few bed bugs in your sheets, you may be wondering if there is anything you can do to kill them and keep more from invading your bed. If so, use the following homemade laundry additive whenever you wash your bed linens.

What You Will Need

Before you begin, gather the ingredients and supplies below.

  • Large plastic container with a lid
  • Two cups of borax laundry booster
  • Two cups hot tap water
  • 20 drops of lavender essential oil
  • 20 drops of eucalyptus essential oil

The borax in this treatment not only thoroughly cleans your linens, but it also kills any bed bugs caught in the fibers. It works by drying out the bugs from the inside out when they ingest it. However, use care when handling borax, as it can also irritate your skin. Wear gloves while mixing the treatment, and run your bed linens through two hot water rinses.

While the smell of the lavender and eucalyptus oils may be pleasant to you, they are repugnant to bed bugs. As your linens are washed with the additive, the oils are infused into the fibers. The smells then remain there to keep any bed bugs away from your bed. 

Directions

Once you have everything you need, use the directions that follow to make and use your homemade bed bug laundry additive.

  1. In the plastic container, thoroughly mix the water and borax powder, and let the mixture sit until the borax is completely dissolved.
  2. Add the oils, mixing completely. Let the additive sit for 24 hours.
  3. Before you use the additive each time, stir the additive a few times to evenly distribute the oils, since they may rise to the top of the liquid.
  4. As you are filling your washing machine with hot water, add a half of a cup of the additive. Then, add your linens.
  5. After the washing machine fills, let it agitate the clothes for a few minutes, then stop the machine to let the load soak for about 10 to 15 minutes.
  6. Restart the washer, and wash as usual. After the load is done, run it through another rinse cycle.
  7. Dry the linens on high heat. When completely dry, place them on your bed.

Using the above additive every time you wash your sheets and blankets can help kill small numbers of bed bugs and prevent others from moving in. However, if you have a large infestation or notice the appearance of more bugs, you may want to speak to a pest control company like Arab Termite and Pest Control about your options for professional bed bug treatment.


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