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I know most people do not like spiders. It is one of the most common phobias! I personally do not mind spiders ( I don’t particularly like them though), but I do not want them in my house. I also don’t really want to kill them since they play a really important role in our ecosystem.
So I found a peppermint spray that I can make myself!!
Spiders hate the smell and taste of peppermint, or really any other strong fragrance. Spiders have sensory organs in their legs which allow them to smell and taste through their legs. This means when they catch something in their web, they essentially step all over it to determine if it’s edible or not (gross!). When there is a strong peppermint smell sprayed where they will step, they will flee from it.
I don’t see a ton of spiders in my house, maybe two or three a week, and they typically hang out on my window sills. One night though, I did find a brown recluse on my kitchen counter and that’s what really prompted me to find a natural repellent.
Now, this is the first time I have used the peppermint spray in the house. I like it because it’s clean simple ingredients and I don’t have to worry about chemicals, especially since I was going to spray in the kids rooms. I will say I was very skeptical, but I did find a spider in my son’s room to test this spray out on. I sprayed it into the spider’s web and it was gone in an instant!
So, the only things needed for this was a spray bottle, peppermint essential oil, and water. I didn’t have any spray bottles at home so I bought these on Amazon. These spray bottles are glass and I really like them! I had read that essential oils do better in glass containers because they can react with plastic bottles. I got my peppermint essential oil from Amazon as well in a starter pack. It’s not best grade of essential oils, but it seemed to do the trick on spiders! (I still have a lot more research to do on essential oils!)
Once I had all my stuff, all I did was fill up the spray bottle with water and added about 20 drops of the peppermint essential oil. You want the mixture to be fairly potent. So, the amount of drops really depends on how large your spray bottle is and how much water you put in the spray bottle.
Then I just went around my house and sprayed the mixture. I went along the baseboards and made sure the windows and doors were gone over really well. And that’s it!!
I think I will use the spray about once a month, possibly a little less in the winter. It was literally so easy and took me maybe five minutes! Pretty good for a spider free house!