4 Easy Ways Illinois Residents Can Keep Spiders Out of Their Homes

Fall is a great time to live in Illinois for more reasons than I can count on two hands, but there's only one reason I dislike fall in Illinois...SPIDERS.

Big Spider Problems

Full disclosure, I am 100 percent the person who has spider decorations all over my home for Halloween but HATES finding a real spider in the house.

I don't like it, but I can deal with the small spiders I find in my home during the summer months, but when those big, disgusting wolf spiders start making their way indoors I absolutely lose my mind. I've squashed one too many of those suckers in the last month, and every single time I do I'm terrified a million babies are going to jump off its back and attack me.

In the last week, I've noticed a lot of my spider-hating friends sharing this meme on social media...

I do believe that meme is supposed to be funny more than informative, but every time I see it I wonder, "Do walnuts truly repel spiders?"

Natural Ways to Repel Spiders

I have 4 pets in my home and 2 young kids, so using chemicals to get rid of bugs is not really something I'm comfortable doing. A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of hedge apples in the fall with the hopes they would help curb my home's spider problems, and they absolutely worked wonders!

We've just placed about a dozen hedge apples around the foundation of our home, but what will we do when they go rotten and we can't find any more to buy?

Can I replace the rotten hedge apples with walnuts? Here's what an article from Purcor Pest Solutions says;

Horse chestnuts and walnuts are well-known natural spider deterrents. To help keep spiders out of your home, crush some nuts and place them at spider entry points.

If you take the time to Google the effectiveness of walnuts as spider deterrents, you will find a lot of mixed reviews. Some articles say it's an old wives tale that doesn't work (they also say the same thing about hedge apples which I KNOW work), while others say it totally does.

I don't know about you, but I tend to believe pest control professionals and there's no harm in giving walnuts a try this year, right?

Here are 3 more natural ways to repel spiders from your home according to Purcor Pest Solutions;

• Coconut oil and white vinegar -  Mix a cup of white vinegar and a teaspoon of coconut oil together then treat areas of your home where spiders like to hang out like undisturbed corners and basements.
• Peppermint, cinnamon, lavender, tea tree, and eucalyptus oils - All of these essential oils have scents spiders hate. Just mix a few drops of one of these oils in a water bottle and then spray the solution in spider problem areas.
• Saline solution - Salt is poisonous to spiders and all it takes to get rid of them is mixing 1/8 cup of salt and warm water in a water bottle and then spraying spiders with it.

Good luck, and let us know if any of these solutions work by sending us an app message!

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READ MORE: It's Getting Colder in Illinois, and These Bugs Want In Your Home