Say stop to holes in your clothes by chasing clothes moths with this simple and effective homemade trick.
Have you seen little butterflies flying around in your closets or in your bedroom? Have you ever noticed that your clothes recently have small holes? Don’t leave it lying around, you have moths in your cupboards and dressers. And where there are one or two, others can suddenly appear, especially if they have already laid their eggs on your favorite clothes. The period of installation of moths in houses and interiors has begun for a few days and the small beige butterflies are in full peak of reproduction between August and September. And it is precisely their larvae, laid by the hundreds, that attack the textiles in the cupboards.
Be aware that clothes moths are attracted to certain smells and lights, but also hate others. We reveal our best home remedies to permanently drive these little beasts out of your cupboards.
The first solution: use the smells that these little butterflies can’t stand. This is the best way to prevent them from invading you and settling in your home. Clothes moths hate the smell of cloves. You can therefore put some in small saucers that you will place in your cupboards and dresser drawers. Like our grandmothers, you can also make sachets with dried lavender, moths can’t stand the smell. You can also buy small pieces of wood on the market in the form of a round or small ball, for example, which smell of cedar and which are very effective in keeping moths away.
Feel free to use essential oils by pouring a few drops on a piece of fabric or cotton that you put in your cupboards. Among the essential oils that work, you will find that of geranium, cedar, anise, eucalyptus, lemon, orange.
Be careful, these methods are mainly prevention, or if you are not yet at the invasion stage. If the moths are already well established in the house, other measures must be taken. This will go through several steps:
- Machine wash your clothes at 60 degrees. Beware of fragile clothes, wools and cashmeres that will not withstand this heat. For this type of textile, put them in your freezer for 3 days in an airtight bag, then wash them on the usual programme.
- Check on the ceiling and in the corners of your room that larvae have not settled.
- Vacuum and thoroughly clean your cupboards with a mixture of white vinegar, soapy water, and a few drops of cedar essential oil. Rinse with a damp microfiber cloth.
- The hair dryer can be useful if the moths have settled in the closet or in the baseboards. The larvae like to pupate in cracks and holes in the closet. The hot air from the hair dryer will kill moth eggs and larvae.