Talk about Dirt

I was reading an article the other day in a new magazine in circulation here in Hurghada. Although most of the magazine consists of ads, no, wait I take that back, the entire magazine is made up of ads, some of them have articles attached.

One such article was done by a home cleaning company, and their idea to attract customers was to completely disgust you by how many beasties are potentially living in your house, sleeping in your bed, chilling on your kitchen counter. Well, for me it worked, I was grossed out, but not jumping at the gun to call this amazing cleaning company. Instead, it inspired me to find out for myself what I can do to eliminate, or at least reduce, these pests in the house. (Did I mention that the article only detailed the beasties, not how to get rid of them? lol. Let's just call up these cleaning people, they must have miraculous means of eliminating mould spores and dust mites from my house. hahahaha).

Let's consider this blog a follow up to the previous beastie blog. :D And before reading, a collective **EWWWWWW** please. ;)

Anyone living in Egypt is fully aware of the fact that it is DUSTY. It is almost impossible to keep your house free of dust, particularly when you're living in areas like Hurghada or Sharm. With the sea and sand on one side, and desert on the other, even the lightest breeze will flick up dust into the air. No big deal, until you consider the beasties that accompany dust, the dust mites.

These things are frigging ugly, not to mention alien looking. And they live pretty much

everywhere. Considering over 80 % of the dust in your house is made up of human "dander" (which is really just a polite way of saying discarded skin), these dust mites have a smörgåsbord of human buffet lying around everywhere. They feast on our dander, so thrive in areas such as couches, beds, cushions, etc. In fact, it is estimated that the weight of a two year old mattress is no less than 10 % dust mite feces and carcasses. (I'm grossed out again already :S).

So what can we do to get rid of this critters. Well, firstly, toss out your feather and down pillows. These provide the perfect environment for dust mites to lay their eggs and nest. Replace them with synthetic material pillows and covers, as these are less "hospitable." Next, make sure you're

changing your bed sheets at least once a week, and that you're washing them in hot water. For those of us with pets, keep the pets off your bed, as dust mites are just as happy to feast on animal dander as they are on human dander, and really, do they need MORE dust to feed on here? :p

For those of us less inclined to make our beds in the morning (as lets face it, talk about a pointless job, you just mess it back up at night haha), leaving your bed unmade in the morning actually helps to dry it out. Dust mites love damp areas, so a dry bed is a "cleaner" bed. Wash curtains, or replace them with vinyl shades and blinds.

But after all this, really what's the deal with dust mites? Although they do not pose any serious health threats, they do contribute to wheezing, and are suspected to worsen asthma in many people. So get rid of the dust mites, and breathe easier.

Next up...your kitchen sink. Keeping in mind that we prepare our meals in the kitchen, in my mind it ranks as the priority place in any home that MUST be kept clean. Bacteria lies in wait for any unsuspecting individual to leave out their bread, or cheese, and voila! Green bread, Crusty Cheese! (Ewww).

While most of us think that regularly wiping down the counter tops and stoves will help keep the beasties at bay, one of the more filthy parts of your kitchen is actually your kitchen sponge. Yes, the sponge that you use to clean your dishes with, may in fact be dirtier than the dishes were in the first place. So what to do?

Firstly, replace your dish sponge every other week, ideally every week if you're doing a buttload of dishes. To sterilize your dish sponge, you can do the following:

• Rinse sponge in dish soap (anti-bacterial if you can find it)
• Throw in the microwave for 1-2 minutes (and make sure you watch for it burning haha)

Voila, sterilized dish sponge.

If you're like me, you do not have the amenity of access to a microwave (ahh the wonders of "furnished" apartments in Egypt). But not to worry, just rinse your sponge in a water/bleach solution, and that will do the trick too.

Last but not least, and this one might shock you...

Your computer on average has 400 times more bacteria living on it than a toilet. (no, you did not read that wrong).

This was probably the most disgusting thing I learned. So what can you do?

Firstly, wash your hands. The old idiom that always seems to return to haunt people. In this case, it's true. By ensuring you have clean hands before using your computer, you will help reduce the harmful bacteria that have made a home of your computer.

Next, to clean the keyboard turn it upside down, and shake gently to dislodge stuff stuck underneath. Use compressed air to push out the extra junk. With a cotton swab, use either computer cleaning solution, rubbing alcohol, or a solution of two parts water to one part dish soap, dip your swab in, and run along your keys. Make sure you get to the bits in between each key. Finally, run over the keyboard with an antibacterial wipe.

Now I know that freaking out about every beastie or bacteria that you may encounter is a little excessive, but if you can go just that little bit extra, you may end up improving your overall health, and breathing easier! Now who needs inspiration to clean?!

P.S. niff naff

So I just found this out this weekend. But it's such a good piece of information I had to share it.

Basil. The herb that adds delicious tang to any meal your cooking. Is also a fantastic mozzie repellent. So next time you're sitting outside on your patio, dreaming of a mozzie free environment, whip out some fresh basil. The citric tang that it emits is enough to keep all the mozzies away.

WHY DON'T MORE PEOPLE KNOW THIS!?!??!

So, for me, clumps of fresh basil hanging around the house sound just perfect.

Niff naff and trivia

It seems that summer is finally on the way! (of course I complain as though I've been sitting in mountains of snow all summer...do two weeks in DC really count? :p). The weather is finally warming up, and yes! I can finally head to the beach on the weekends! Of course, with the warmer weather come some additional, and uninvited, house guests.

I decided to write the perfect desperate housewives blog, with a number of random pieces of niff naff and trivia that I have picked up along the way. I promise that these are tried and tested, and have worked for me!

Beasties are the bane of my existence. I can't stand them. Flies, mosquitoes, ants, roaches, BLECH! Naturally most of us are the same way, so we are all always looking for ways of getting rid of them and keeping them out of the house. Now unless you're like May in the Secret life of Bees, you're not going to lay out graham cracker crumbs to "lure" the beasties outside of your house...And on a sidenote I never understood that part, wouldn't that inevitably attract more beasties inside? Anyhow, I digress. Back to the nifty beastie tricks.

Flies

Considered by some as the "national bird of Egypt" purely because of their abundance in this country, flies are everyyyyywhere. I dread opening my window lest I let millions of these beasties inside. Fortunately, thanks to riding buddies, I picked up this nifty little trick that does actually keep flies out. Take a clear plastic bag (or ziplock) and fill it half way with water. Add four or five copper pennies, and hang next to any window that you want to leave open. For some reason this tricks the flies with the light reflections, and they don't realise there's an open window. Voila! Fresh air in the summer, sans flies! (Because lets be honest, fly screens don't let the same breeze through :p).

Ants

These little feckers are sneaky. They are the ninja's of the insect world if you will. I feel that almost no matter what I do, somehow they find a way BACK into the kitchen, living room, whereever they may have originally inhabited. As another side note...ants in Egypt prefer carby foods over sugar...wtf?

I have a few tricks that I use for ants. One is to spray raid or a similar insect repellant on every entrance into your house along the ground. If you're like me at the moment, that is raid-less, another simple trick is to use bleach. Because ants will follow the scent trails left by their fellow ant-friends, water alone won't remove the scent trail. Using bleach and cleaning with hot water along the path that they have chosen will eliminate the scent trail, and stop the ants getting in. Problem here, your house smells like a pool :p. Another trick that I like to use is to add a few sprays of raid to the water when I am mopping. This way you get into all the nooks and crannies, as well as all across your floor.

Finally, if you've found the source of ants coming into your house, or even better their colony, boiling water on top of their entrance will kill the ants inside. But here again rises another problem, if you don't kill the queen ant, you won't have eliminated your problem. It is however, a good quick fix, hopefully you'll burn off enough of the feckers to cause them to seek less warm real estate.

Roaches

Ech. I have yet to find a perfect solution for getting rid of roaches. The raid along the floor works, but unfortunately, roaches are one of the most adaptable animals in the world. It's disgusting that they are one of the few animals/creatures that would survive a nuclear fallout. I've found that the most effective method seems to be investing in a roach-hunting canine extraordinaire.

Trained to respond to the slightest roach movement, this guy will be sure to keep your house roach free. Side effects may include abandoned roach body parts :S.


Mosquitoes

So for this one, there's the obvious mozzie vanishing candles, burning incense thingies, or the little tablets that are heated throughout the night that emit a mozzie-repelling smell. Apparently there's an old wives remedy I heard of the other day, I've yet to find out what it is, but that has become my new mission. :p

For now, these are my niff naff and trivia tips on beasties. I'm sure there will be more to follow! Until then, happy beastie free house! ;)