As a mild arachnophobe I am among those for whom the start of Autumn brings a sense of dread – spider season. Each year, thousands of creepy crawlies invade our homes and every year I look for ways to keep them out. Spiders appear a lot more around homes during the autumn months due to mating season, so males are often seeking a partner.
As the weather cools this means they are doing so inside homes as the conditions are drier than outdoors. The idea is that spiders will be deterred from entering the home due to the smell of the oil on the surfaces they are likely to encounter first (Image: Asda) With that in mind, a £1.40 hack to supposedly keep spiders out of your house caught my attention this year.
Cheap, available from most supermarkets or online, and simple to apply, could peppermint oil hold the answers to my spider problems? After purchasing the oil from Asda, I mixed it with water to make a spray that I could spray onto curtains, windowsills, doorframes and the corners of carpets. The idea is that spiders will be deterred from entering the home due to the smell of the oil on the surfaces and entrances they are likely to encounter first. Jess Steele, heating technology expert at designer radiator specialists BestHeating, explained the theory behind the hack: “Peppermint oil provides a strong smell and spiders are sensitive to them which makes it an effective yet cheap method of taking away the worry of finding creepy crawlies all over the home, without causing ha.