We are settling in quite nicely with Gia and Pop Pop. Even having battled several different illnesses, we are so blest to live with them. Several people keep asking when we will get a place of our own. The answer to that question is... when we can save enough money for a down payment. We have lived in apartments now for four years and, well, apartment life is just that: apartment life. Our last apartment was no exception. We discovered three days into our move that the previous tenants we not very clean and there was a roach population do deal with.
After bleaching and major cleaning, we evicted all the previous tenants. Borax Acid is amazing as is bleach.
Most of you witnessed our rain storm inside which was the last straw. However before the rain came the nastyest of all pest....
Most of you witnessed our rain storm inside which was the last straw. However before the rain came the nastyest of all pest....
BEDBUGS.
After we learned that we had them it was hard not to weep, especially after researching how to get rid of them. It was no easy task. We took to the trenches from April to July. Steaming beds and furniture, vacuuming and washing bed clothes daily. Everything was stored in plastic bins. I felt trapped in our own bedbug war zone. I couldn't dare let someone over for fear of spreading nor could we visit anyone either. We replaced all the mattresses and double covered the new ones. At my breaking point my mom came to the rescue. She came and stayed a couple of days to get the last of the vermin.
The beginning of the mega clean.
We wrapped every potential hiding spot in trash bags and duct tape and set them outside to bake for six hours in the Texas sun. Bedbugs are super sensitive to heat so this is one of the best methods. In fact most exterminators super heat your house to get rid of them.
In the middle of the cleaning PT found a nap in the living room as his bed was dismantled for steaming and then baking. Yes every inch of every bed was steamed several time. Every little screw hole, every nut, every inch!
The washer washed non-stop during these four months with the motto of "If it can't be washed, it can't stay!" Every stuffed animal was washed, dried, bagged and baked!
No wash, No stay!
Thanks Mom for your help! This was the cleaning that sent the bedbugs packing.
We had a hard time figuring out where the pest were coming from, in the end we were convinced they come in through our neighboring wall via an outlet behind our bed. Yeah apartment life!
Aside from mega cleaning we used a wonderful spray and powder called Bed Bug Patrol.
It is all natural and worked!
We learned through all of this that bedbugs do not discriminate, rich or poor, house or apartment, anyone can get them. It was a huge lesson in humility. We also learned that in an apartment there is really no way to rid your self of pests, you simply have to be the least desirable place for them to live. So we are happy to be sharing walls with a back and front yard and are saving and praying that we can purchase a house of our own....eventually
By the way we are still bedbug free!
