Get Rid Of Cockroaches with 5 Effective DIYs

The very sight of cockroaches makes your home appear, well, disgusting. They are unhygienic, dirty and bring infections along with them everywhere they go. While pest control methods are always available to help us, the chemicals used to eradicate cockroaches are harmful.  So go au naturel in your approach to get rid of these pests.

We are listing the top 5 effective DIYs for you – not just to get rid of the roaches, but to also keep your home free of noxious chemicals.

By far, the simplest DIY method! This one calls for a mix of sugar and baking soda – simply take an equal amount of both the kitchen ingredients and sprinkle it near those pests. If your home has any particular cockroach infested spot, sprinkle the mix right there. This method works by attracting the cockroaches and killing them (owing to this specific stomach acid reaction caused by the baking soda).

Another amazing method is by making use of neem oil! Yes, we have been made aware of the  incredible uses of neem for a variety of purposes. BUT did you know it’s a completely natural pest control? Prepare a mix of water and neem oil (in equal quantities) and spray the mixture anywhere near the areas where cockroaches might live!

This will require a bit of work on your part but boric acid bait is one of the most effective DIYs for getting rid of cockroaches. Prepare a dough using sugar and white flour with boric acid – once your dough is ready, simply make small balls out of it and place them around the infested areas. While it is a highly effective method, it may take about ten to fourteen days for the roaches to get effected. Make sure that the dough is nowhere handy to your children or pets at home.

We have always loved those leafy ingredients which spruce up the entire flavor of a dish, especially when it’s South Indian. And Bay leaves are one of them! Most interestingly, these leaves can also be used as an effective DIY to eradicate cockroaches from your home. All you need to do is put some ground bay leaf powder into the areas that are housed by these pests. The strong odour emanated by these leaves helps get rid of cockroaches for good.

Petroleum Jelly Trap is rather an extremely simple trick – just get a jam bottle and apply a portion of petroleum jelly toward the inner rim of your jar bottle. Thanks to the tempting smells  inside the jar, the roaches will walk into it and get trapped. It’s considered a trap because your fruit/jam jar will entice the cockroaches to enter the bottle while petroleum jelly will make it nearly impossible for them to climb back out again. Simple!

So, there you go with 5 effective DIYs to get away with cockroaches. These natural methods are sure to keep them at bay for a really, really long time. Should any lost feet enter your territory, you’d know what to do next. Cheers!

Home Cleaning Tips before Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is on the 17th of this month. Most home owners spend the last few weeks before the festival trying to organize and clear up the home. If you are already hard pressed for time and there is still so much left to do, maybe these quick home cleaning and care tips will help! 

Make a List

First off, start making a list of what has to be done in order to get ready for the festival. Strike of those tasks or chores you think can wait till later. It will help you organize and plan the entire cleaning and organizing process once you jot down what has to be done on priority basis.

Divide the Work

You really don’t have to clean every single nook and corner within a day! In fact, dividing the chores and spreading them over a few days will make it easier to complete. Start with the kitchen, hire a professional cleaner and target one area at a time. Move on to the windows, the fans, the washroom one at a time.

Invest in Smart Products

We live in an age of smart phones and smart devices. When it comes to cleaning too, there is an array of cleaning devices and products that make every cleaning task easier. Choose your products wisely or rely on the professionals instead!

Get Rid of what you Don’t Need

Cleaning the house before a big festival is synonymous with clearing it up. What’s the difference? Clearing up involves decluttering the home. If you have piles of unused clothes, old newspapers, etc lying around, this would be a good time to clear up. A simple decluttering process will make the home look so much neater.

Set a Target

Don’t rush with your cleaning. Take your time but set a target. For instance, if you just have a week left before the festival, devote a day each to one task. Target to complete it all at least a day before the festival begins to give yourself some buffer time. And Voila, you’re all set for the big day!

Ganpati Bappa Morya

5 Ways In Which You’re Ruining Your Bath Towels

We give a lot of thought when we wash our favourite shirts, jeans and dresses, but do we ever give a second thought to our towels? What do we do when we come out of a bath? Since most of us take a shower before going to college or office, we’re in too much of a rush to actually take the towel out to the balcony and let it dry. However, it’s little things like these which can shorten the life of your towels considerably. So go through the following list and check whether or not you’re guilty of any of these sins –

They Aren’t Hung Properly
Are you drying your bath towels on hooks? That’s good if you’re doing it outside, and bad if you’re doing it inside. First, of all, drying clothes, especially towels, inside is a bad idea; a stink is one of the biggest reasons why reasons you shouldn’t do it. Another reason is that if towels do not get enough sun, then moisture can become trapped among its layers, letting bacteria and mould grow on it.

The same is the case with two towels being dry on one hook. It’s best to spread the towel (whether on a railing on a rope is up to you) so that its entire surface area is exposed to sunlight.

 You Don’t Wash Them Often Enough.
You don’t need us to tell you that when towels aren’t washed frequently enough, they become dirty, stinky and full of germs. Do you really want to be rubbing that all over your body and face straight after a bath? We sincerely doubt it.

If you’re using your towel daily, (especially your hand towel), then you should give it up for a wash easily once a week. Make sure the hand towels aren’t ignored either – they need to be changed/washed as frequently as twice a week because they get dirtiest the quickest.

You Use Too Much Detergent When You Wash Them.
It’s very easy to think that using a little extra detergent will give that extra and much needed wash to your towel, but really, it’s just an urban myth. Use only what’s been recommended by the manufacturers of the towel. Nothing’s mentioned on the label? Not a problem. Treat the towel as one of your more expensive (and delicate) items of clothing and use the detergent accordingly (i.e. in less quantity).

Bath towels are meant to be absorbent, which means they naturally cling to soap and detergent residues. Using excessive detergent can result in it being left behind, which believe it or not, can encourage growth of certain bacteria. Even if it doesn’t, can you imagine running a towel full of detergent all over your face and hair? Ugh! If you have even the slightest doubt that there’s residue on your towel, just wash it in just water.

 You Use The Same Towels Too Often.

Yes, we understand you have your favourites, but it’s best to have at least 3 more towels as backups for yourself so that you can easily rotate between the four. Use one towel every week and give it for a wash after the week’s over. Less usage = less washing, which means that your favourite towel will last that much longer.

You Don’t Wash Them In Hot Enough Water.
Yeah, washing in cold water isn’t half as effective as washing your towels in warm water. Why? Because hot water facilitates the killing of any (if at all) germs on your towel very effectively. It also results in cleaner towels that are devoid of any bad odours.

Helpful Tips for Pest Control

Have you recently booked a pest control service? Regular pest control ensures that your home is protected against various kinds of pests. But every time you have a pest control service done, do you take the necessary measures to protect your overall health? Here are some quick tips that may help!

Before Pest Control

• Cover all edible food items thoroughly. If you have opened cereal packets for example, lock them in air tight containers, or better still, put them in the fridge! Avoid keeping any food, especially daily requirements like freshly boiled milk outside on the day of the pest control too.
• Cover your seating / sleeping furniture pieces with cloth. Unlike the earlier days, today’s pest control service providers use a more sophisticated technique. These new techniques don’t lead to severe odours. However it is still beneficial to cover the places you ideally sleep on or sit on.
• Keep the house locked for a few hours after the service is done. It will help ensure that the medicine or treatment works better. This will also help prevent too much exposure to the medicine, for you and your family.

After the Pest Control

• Once the pest control is done, the first thing you should do is clean the house. Depending on the type and severity of the treatment done at home (white ant treatment, simple pest control, etc) you can opt to either have a basic cleaning undertaken or otherwise.
• Ensure you wash edible fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating them. Even if you took the effort to lock other food items in air tight containers, check it once for any unfamiliar smells before you consume it.
• Remove all the cloth coverings that was put on the furniture and wash them too. Avoid folding and keeping them in the linen cupboard without first washing them!

6 Ways Our Chauffeur Service Can Help You!

Have you ever needed someone to just drive you somewhere on a one-off day? Have you almost missed an important appointment because of traffic? We understand how important time is to you. Here’s 6 ways in which our newly introduced chauffeur service can help you, especially when you need to hire a driver…

Party Hopping

If you are your friends have finally been able to take out the time and plan a get together at the local pub, getting to the party and getting back home safely could turn into a concern. From now on, when you need a driver, to pick and drop you, book one with us and focus on enjoying!

Medical Appointment

Need to take your aging relative to the doctor? Or your little toddler? Hire drivers with us, you can easily sit back and relax the commute and spend time with your loved one. We’ll get you to where you have to be!

Airport

You’ve finalized your travel plans but you want to take your own car to the airport…sadly though, you can’t leave it there till you come back. Well, our chauffeur can drop you off, bring your car back home safely and you’ll be informed once it’s all done.

The Long Weekend

One of the best ways to make use of a long weekend is – travel! You can take a short road trip to the nearest picnic spot or spend some time at a resort with the family. Better still, our drivers for hire can take care of the travel needs while you sit back and relax with the family.

Important Functions

You’re all dressed up for a formal function…and it wont be easy to drive in your attire. What do you do? Outsource the task to a professional of course! Our chauffeur will happily take you for your function and bring you back home.

Hectic Day!

Have family visiting? Need to get to work but ensure that they can go window shopping too? Well, our chauffeur service can ensure you get to coordinate both! You can be dropped off, on time, at work and then send the car to ferry your relatives around for the day.

It’s a win-win situation, we think!

After Party Clean-up Tips

Home parties have a different charm about them all together. Not only is it a more convenient and comfortable way to spend quality time with the people who matter, it’s a great way to celebrate the beauty of your home!

It’s always exciting to plan a party, ensure the food and drinks are at their yummiest best and to host people you care about. However, what comes after the party is the dreaded part. The utensils, the floors, table tops, so many things around the house may need clearing up right after the guests leave…

Calling the experts and getting professional help is always a great idea. If you’re looking for more after-party tips, here are a few,

Keep used utensils rinsed

When your guests finish using plates, you can immediately put them in the sink and pour water over it. Leftover food or gravy stains won’t get a chance to dry on the surface as a result and it will be easier to clean them the next day!

Put everything together

You don’t have to start clearing up to make the house look spick and span immediately after the party. You can consider resting it out and getting to the chores the next day! Better still, just pile up plates together, if a lot of furniture was moved, line them against the wall. Let the home like presentable again but leave the deeper cleaning for later!

Keep a big garbage bag ready

Half your work is done if you just keep putting the waste in the big garbage bag you assign for the night. If at periodic intervals you put in the empty bottles, the empty plastic plates, used tissues, etc, once the guests leave, nothing will look like as much of a mess as you imagine it to be!

Use table cloths and coasters

Wherever you are going to seat the guests or place food / drinks, use table cloths and coasters. It’s easier to just put the cloth for wash after the party as opposed to wiping, drying or cleaning the table tops.

Get Help!

If you have a maid, ask her to come in earlier the next day to do the full cleaning. If your maid can’t, hire a professional after-party cleaning service. In no time at all your home will look as good as new while you just have to relish the memories of the party you had!

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Doing your Laundry

Everyone is hard pressed for time these days. It’s tough to just take the time out to simply relax and unwind without wondering about the next day’s pending tasks, etc.

Laundry is a home chore that cannot be ignored for too long! Sure, when you are really tied up you can skip it for a day or two, but you have to eventually get to it. While in India it is common for home owners to hire domestic help to assist with chores, most nuclear families or young professionals living away from home may also opt for washing machines. Still, there are a few mistakes that you should try to avoid when doing your own laundry. Or better still, get professional laundry services to help you out!

Not Reading the Care Instruction

Every piece of clothing usually has a label on which the company prints relevant care information. When they suggest you use water of a particular temperature to wash that piece of clothing, it is important to do so, if only to make the material last longer!

Using the Wrong Detergent or Too much of it

A detergent that is too harsh will affect the quality of the clothes. So will too much detergent. It is important to measure the quantity and use just what is required. More importantly, to also use the best one basis your clothes / fabric. Look for professional laundry facilities nearby to help you out instead!

Using unclean washing products

The bucket, the interiors of the machine and even the scrub (if any is used), all need to be cleaned regularly. If you use dirty cleaning products to wash your clothes, the quality of the clothes will be affected.

Letting stains rest

If you’ve dropped any food on your clothes, use water on the spot immediately. The longer the stain is allowed to rest and dry into the cloth, the harder it will be to get rid off!

Sorting clothes wrong

Most of us tend to separate clothes for the machine by using colour as a differentiator. However, it is important to also try and separate the clothes by fabric type.