10 Tricks to Clear Your House of All Houseflies, Leaving Only The Housewife In


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Last Updated on 2021-11-12 , 10:29 am

Before you go on a quest to eliminate every single fly from your house, here’s two interesting facts: firstly, there’re about one million fly species in the world.

Secondly, there’re over 17 quadrillion flies on our earth—that being said, as you read this, there’re over 17,000,000,000,000,000 (phew!) flies buzzing, whether they’re in their natural habitat or right in your house (which, well, is also their natural habitat).

But of course, the one that pisses us the most is the housefly, which is unfortunately the most common fly species. With the female housefly laying 100 eggs at one go, it’s inevitable that these pests are found everywhere: from your local favourite hawker centres to your kitchen. While they have a short lifespan of just less than a month, it allows them to breed so fast that all the houseflies in your house could well be younger than your nails.

So, how do you clear your house of these pesky pests? Given their breeding habits, it’s never enough to just swat and kill them all: you need to make your house housefly-free, so that the housewife in your house will be happy.

Invest in an electronic fly zapper
If you’re a clean freak, you need one of these. While it is primarily used outdoors, there are versions catered for indoor use. The whole idea is simple: the zapper lures the insect (in this case, the housefly) and kills it with electricity. While this is the most effective way, you’re here not to learn this common-sense “trick”, right?

Place plants at the entrance of your house
Keeping plants, especially mint, basil or lavender plants, could organically repel houseflies. Houseflies hate plants; however, if you’re not careful, you might just breed another pest in your house: mosquitoes.

Use lavender oil
If you’re going to have an aromatherapy diffuser in your house, you might as well get lavender oil as its refill. Houseflies hate the smell and most of us like the smell—right?

Place traps outside your house
What do houseflies love most? Rubbish. Keep a small bag of rubbish (with holes just enough for the houseflies to get it) outside your house, or wherever you want to lure the houseflies to. Chances are, they will disturb the rubbish instead of your freshly cooked food at home.

Set a trap with white wine and dishwashing liquid
Mix these together and place them in a bowl. It’ll be the lethal seduction for the houseflies. And no, they won’t be drunk. And yes, you can buy a bottle of white wine for less than $20 in NTUC FairPrice.

Set a trap with apple cider vinegar and dishwashing liquid
Come to think of it, apple cider vinegar does sound like a miracle water: not only could it soothe your foot rot, it can also attract and poison houseflies. Just mix apple cider vinegar and dishwashing liquid into a bowl and watch the magic unfold.

Place cucumbers on top of your garbage
Houseflies are attracted to garbage as that’s where they lay eggs. Placing a cucumber on top of your garbage will repel houseflies as they hate the smell of it. Birth control for the houseflies FTW!

Place cucumbers on places with infestations of houseflies
As mentioned, houseflies hate cucumbers. What cheaper way to repel them than with a few slices of cucumber?

Keep the house cool or windy
It’s just basic physics, boys and girls: with wind, there won’t be houseflies. In other words, if you’re going to renovate your house soon, maybe you could invest in a ceiling fan: it keeps you cool and keeps the houseflies out.

Learn how to kill houseflies
If everything doesn’t work, then you must learn how to fight the battle yourself. While swatting flies seems fun, you’ll most likely miss as houseflies can usually predict your movement. The easiest and fastest way is to get a water sprayer and spray water at the fly. Its wings will be damp and it’ll lose its ability to fly—that’s when you decide whether to be a murderer or a saint.

Featured Image: Mr.Samarn Plubkilang / Shutterstock.com


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