How To Keep Bugs Out of Stored Clothes

People who have custom closets enjoy the comfort of having an orderly arrangement and easy access to their clothes.

However, these closets are susceptible to different pests because of the cool, dark, and moist environment.

If you do not attend your closet for a while, you may not notice there are bugs until you start seeing the damage they cause to your clothes.

Bugs can be notorious in your closet because they can eat up clothes or urinate, causing irrevocable damage to your clothes.

Hence, it is important to know how to keep bugs away from your clothes or closets.

This article will discuss the great steps to keep bugs out of your stored clothes. We will also answer FAQs that will guide you in taking the right steps. We will show you the best ways to maintain your closets to avoid bugs.

Read on to broaden your knowledge of how to keep the bugs away.

7 Ways To Keep Bugs Out of Your Stored Clothes

You can find bugs anywhere in your home; the closet is no exception. This is because closets are cool, dark, and sometimes damp.

Bugs love this kind of environment because they can easily hide from their predators and because we do not frequent our closets like other parts of the house, such as the kitchen and living room.

Bugs wreak havoc on our clothes, so keeping them out of the closet is important. Some of the ways we can keep bugs out of our closet include:

1. Keep Your Closet Clean

This is one of the most efficient ways to keep bugs out of your closet because they cannot thrive in a clean environment.

You can clean your closet by using a vacuum cleaner in every corner of your closet, including the places that are more difficult to reach.

Also, if you have drawers or shelves in your closet, ensure you clean them up because bugs love to hide in places that are out of sight, like the drawers.

If your closet has carpets or rugs, pay more attention to these areas and clean them thoroughly.

2. Remove Clothes You Don’t Wear Often From Your Closet

Sometimes, bugs find a good habitat in your closet because it is overcrowded.

Understandably, you have some clothes you do not wear and are not ready to dispose of because of some emotional attachment.

However, this can lead to a bug infestation in your closet because bugs like to hide in clothes tucked far behind in your closet.

If you cannot dispose of your old clothes, then you should try to inspect their pockets and seams for pests.

Also, you can wash them once in a while to keep bad odor away.

3. Cover Entry Points to Your Closet

Holes and openings are perfect entry points for bugs into your closet.

If you have a window in your closet, ensure you seal the window properly so bugs from outside will not have access to your closet.

Your ceiling and dry walls are also good points of entry for bugs.

If you have a crack in the wall or the ceiling, do well to fill the cracks to avoid bugs from entering through those cracks.

Also, you can check your doors for door sweeps you need to replace.

4. Fumigate Your Closet

Once you suspect the presence of pests in your closet, you might need to act fast by fumigating your closet with insecticides.

Bugs have a fast reproduction rate, and if you sense that some bugs are in your closet, you might have a full-blown infestation in a couple of days.

Although a majority of the local insecticides around have a strong smell that you may not want on your clothes, it remains the surest way to prevent bug infestation in the early stage.

It can also serve as a bug repellent for a short period.

To prevent the smell and color of the insecticide from getting to your clothes, you should empty your closet before applying insecticides.

5. Do Not Store Dirty Clothes

Our sweat and other organic matters we leave on our clothes after wearing them make the clothes more attractive to bugs.

Therefore it is important to wash every cloth before storing them, even if we wear them for a short period and they do not give off an unpleasant smell.

This is essential for clothes made with wool, silk fabric, or any other fabric that can attract bugs.

Also, avoiding fabric softener or starch on your clothes would be best because they attract pests.

6. Keep Food Items Away From Your Closet

Food is the major thing in every home that attracts pests like roaches and silverfish.

Your closet should be strictly for clothing items, and foods should be kept far away from where you keep your clothes.

Also, ensure you keep clothing with leftover foods in its pockets or fresh food stains away from your closet.

7. Go Natural

You can use some natural sources to keep bugs away from your home.

Although they may not be effective in curing an infestation like insecticides, they are good alternatives for preventing bug infestation and do not usually have side effects.

An example of a natural repellent is lavender. Lavender repels bugs like moths, mosquitoes, beetles, fleas, and flies, and it does this while adding a good fragrance to your home.

You can use dried lavender to repel insects in your home, such as making lavender sachet as essential oils, spraying the solutions on your clothes, and putting them in your drawers and shelves.

Conclusion

Bugs can be a lot to handle, especially in your stored clothes.

Thus, preventing them from entering your closets is important, so you do not have to deal with the effects of having them there.

Some ways you can keep bugs away from your clothes are by keeping your closet clean, decluttering your closet, keeping food items away from your closet, using insecticides, washing your clothes before storing them, and using natural repellents.