Cleaning influencer praises 50p decor trick to keep spiders outside during autumn

Samantha Leathers

13 November 2024 at 1:00 am·3-min read

As the colder weather settles in, many spiders and other creatures are looking for cosy holes, gaps and corners to spend their winter in. As a result, many will be scurrying indoors to make your home their own.

However, Laura Mountford, better known as Laura Cleanaholic to her hundreds of thousands of followers online, shared the simple hack she uses to keep the critters away without breaking the bank. The cheap trick can also be easily incorporated into your home’s usual decor for the autumn season, avoiding any eye-sore bug catchers and smelly repellents.

Laura revealed how she uses cinnamon sticks to get rid of spiders and bugs in the winter months: “Spiders hate the smell of cinnamon so placing cinnamon sticks around your home will prevent them from living rent free! Real cinnamon sticks can be easily incorporated into your home decor for the season by adding them to wreaths, garlands and table centrepieces and will not only smell divine but will look aesthetic and homely too.”

Cinnamon sticks can be found at nearly any supermarket, with Tesco offering a 12-gram jar, holding roughly two large cinnamon sticks, for £1. The iconic cinnamon scent has also become a key part of the holidays for many families thanks to the growing popularity of festive cinnamon-scented drinks like Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

There are a number of scents proven to deter spiders and other creepy crawlies while still smelling pleasant to the home’s human inhabitants. Peppermint, citrus, eucalyptus, cedarwood, tea tree and lavender can be found in oils, candles, diffusers, humidifiers and a myriad of other materials to help keep insects at bay.

The cleaning content creator also shared some of the other simple switches she makes in her home cleaning routine to avoid breaking the bank on expensive products. Rather than splurging on specific products for her windows, bathroom, kitchen, tiles and taps individually, Laura turns to a single saviour: washing up liquid and a Scrub Daddy Dish Sponge.

She shared: “I love how versatile washing up liquid is for cleaning your whole home, particularly for removing grease and grime in the kitchen but it also works a treat in the bathroom. Washing up liquid is also fantastic for cleaning your windows both inside and out. Simply add a few drops of washing up liquid to a bucket of warm water and use your mop to clean your windows and make them shine.”

For more stubborn stains, the podcaster prefers to try white vinegar as a natural cleaning product before breaking out the chemicals. Laura noted: “White vinegar is great for removing limescale and watermarks in your bathroom. Simply add the vinegar to a spray bottle and spritz onto surfaces then give them a good scrub and wipe down with a microfibre cloth.”

She also praised the vinegar’s work in her washing machine, but not for cleaning her clothes. The author explained: “White vinegar can be used to clean your washing machine by adding a cup to the fabric softener section of the drawer and running a hot, empty wash cycle.”