Now if there is one thing I hate, it is fleas. I lose sleep when I know I share my house with them. The "old" me would have immediately gone to the store to buy as many bug bombs as I could find. We have, however, worked in the past few months to rid our house of as many chemicals as possible. It seemed like a lot of backward motion to bring the chemicals we worked so hard to rid ourselves of back into our home and our bodies.
Light bulb went off.
I quickly dug through my sources for how I could use my essential oils and other items I had in my cabinets for a way I could remove the fleas without adding the harsh chemicals.
I regularly make my own vacuum carpet powder using baking soda and essential oils. I discovered that if you use salt instead, not only does it help to kill the fleas but it also the flea larvae. Fleas also are deterred by the smell of lavender, tea tree, and lemongrass (just to name a few). These oils also possess so many other antibacterial, calming, and purifying benefits so I knew if the salt trick failed, we would at least wake up to a clean smelling house.
So I gave it a shot.
For every cup of salt, I used 1/4 cup of baking soda (for good measure), 20 drops of lavender, 15 drops of tea tree, and 10 drops of lemongrass. I like to be liberal with my oils!
I mixed it all together in the container I had available. To cover the carpets in our house I filled the container 3 times with the mixture. I let it sit on the carpets overnight, for about 12 hours.
It was successful! I went through the house twice with the vacuum. When I vacuumed up the mixture I placed all the dirt in an airtight bag and sealed it shut. I wanted to be sure that if I had gotten fleas, they would not escape. Not only did my mixture attach itself to the fleas but they were all dead in the bag. Plus 1 for me!
To be safe with my flea-ridding measures, I then mixed together my go-to household cleaner using some of the same oils. In my cleaner I used 1 part water and 1 part apple cider vinegar. Vinegar is another item that not only provides health benefits but also deters fleas. I have found great success cleaning with it, it gives an extra sparkle without the chemicals. I also make this cleaner using only water and the EOs, but the vinegar gives it an extra kick of power.
I used approximately the same amount of oils in the cleaner as I did in the carpet powder.
I sprayed liberally around all the door frames to outside and all of the window sills. I also used this to clean the tile floors and the walls.
In addition to the bath our dogs received, I also sprayed them down with this cleaner. I decided none of the ingredients were harmful and it would help protect them from those nasty bugs while they played outside.
I am happy to say that our home is now flea-free! Happy Cleaning!
