How I Prevent Flies and Other Insects In My Apartment

Insects such as fruit flies and cockroaches are probably one of the most common problems in apartment living in the Philippines. It does not even matter if you live in a home apartment or in a high rise, if the environment is right for the pests to grow, they will grow.

What I realise, basically the rule of thumb is regular cleaning and really taking early preventative measures. When it comes to this problem, prevention is really easier than cure.

Here are some of what I do to prevent flies and other insects from growing in my apartment:

Regularly cleaning the drain

Drains are the gateway of some insects into one's home. I live in an apartment building which means higher number of people equals to a higher number of possibility for insect growth. Others like to use a drain cover that is very cheap to buy (I'm thinking of getting this one of these days) but what I like to do is regularly clean the drain with just pure vinegar. I leave it for at least half an hour.

I do this once or twice a month or as often as I think is needed.

Fly trap and air freshener under the sink

Where I live, under the sink can get very moist and smell unpleasant. This might be a unique case and others may not experience this as often or at all. I try to store the least used things under the sink and I always keep in there that I replace once or twice a month for maintenance. I also like to keep an air freshener under the sink to keep it smelling nice.

Using a door seal strip

One of the facts of living in an apartment building is you will never know how clean or filthy your neighbours are unless you personally know them. If they're not very clean and they have been breeding all sorts of insects in their place, those insects can and will find their way into your place. I got this door seal strip from Lazada. I particularly like this one because it is non-adhesive so it won't do any damage to the door and it really shuts the space between the door and the floor really well. It also helps keep the smell of the chemicals whenever the building does their regular pest control activities.

Always keeping a clear sink

I personally do not like leaving the sink dirty for hours. Even not just for the purpose of keeping insects away, I believe it is good practice that as much as possible, I clean up my dishes everytime I am done using them just to keep a clear sink. This is more than insect maintenance, this is just home maintenance in general. I always think that I got time to eat, I should make time to clean after myself. Keeping a clean sink highly minimises the chances of bacteria and insect growth and it's a good practice to keep those away from one's home.