Summertime Pests

Ants, mosquitoes and flies they're inevitable in the summertime, I have some easy and inexpensive deterrents to keep those pests from bugging you!

1. The old saying you catch more flies with honey is true, a dish of honey set out in the kitchen can help capture the little annoyances.

2. Lemons and lemon juice are a great natural ant and fly deterrent. Clean kitchen surfaces and doorways with lemon juice and water. A quart of water and a few squirts of lemon juice will keep them at bay. Or, at the first sign of ants wipe down counters, baseboards and doorways with a fifty-fifty mixture of white vinegar and water. The ants don't like vinegar and will stay off of those surfaces.

3. White vinegar is also a great mosquito deterrent; rub it on exposed skin before you go outside. It is inexpensive and the odor disappears once it dries. If you don't have any vinegar, try baby oil or a fabric softener sheet.

4. If you want to keep mosquitoes away from a backyard barbeque? Squirt some lemon dish soap on a white plate with a little water And put them around the area. They will eat the soap and die soon after!

5. For a more attractive solution, plant or have pots of basil around your yard to discourage those bugs.