TIGHTWAD TUESDAY - Economical (and natural) Flea Remedy for the House

  In many areas of the US right now, it is that time of year, once again, where the fleas take off and take over!  One day all is well, then the next day you get up and WHAM . . . . you have fleas by the thousands!

Now, I don't know about you, but I hate using chemical flea killers in my house (or on my pets). And, actually, those toxic, chemical flea killers don't seem to be nearly as effective as two of the natural ones that I use.

The first one I use, and have for years, is just plain old SALT. Yep, table or canning salt. Very cheap, and ultra effective. You simply sprinkle it around on your carpets and floors, then leave for as long as you can possibly leave it. It works by drying the air in the fleas' habitat, which kills them because they have to have humidity to survive. The only draw back I have found with this is when my house is super humid. When I have high humidity in my house, the salt will "draw" the moisture, leaving my floors damp, and even wet sometimes, which can make it kind of slippery. Still, I feel it is worth it to get rid of the fleas without using any toxic chemicals.

(NOTE: Don't get the bright idea to "salt" your pets to get rid of their fleas. If your pets are loaded with fleas, they are also loaded with tiny little bites. The salt will 'draw' the pet's blood right out of those bites and 'bleed them out", killing them).

Another very effective (and cheap) remedy I tried last year was Stall Dry. Yes, that stuff you get at the Farm Store to sprinkle around in your livestock stalls to deodorize and dry them. This, too, dries the air in the fleas' habitat and, I found very effective to kill the fleas. It also deodorized my house from pet odors! And I didn't find it to "wet" the floors like the salt can often do.

Although I have used the Salt Method for many, many  years with great results, I am going to try the Stall Dry again this year (I didn't try it until the end of the season last year) and see how it works on long term in comparison to the salt. So far, I really like it. I put it down once last Fall and it kept working for the entire month before our first freezes. I never had fleas in the house again until just this week. I would be cautious, though, when vacuuming it up as any powder can bust your vacuum bag if overloaded. No problem for me, though, I use a broom, not a vacuum. I hate carpet.

Thank you all for reading my post, and I will do my best to get back on here, now, and catch up with everyone. Have a wonderful week!