Coming home to a kitchen full of fruit flies or a smattering of roaches on the floor can be horrifying. Aside from just giving you the willies, having too many creepy crawlies around can lead to unsanitary living conditions. It’s best to keep them outdoors, but if you live in certain locations, that can be a challenge.

Eradicating a pest infestation can be costly. Instead of paying an exterminator, follow these suggestions to ensure the bugs stay out and your money remains in your pocket.

Be Clean in the Kitchen

Like everyone, insects are attracted to free food. If you leave crumbs for them to eat, they’ll find them. It doesn’t take a whole lot of food to attract Insect life, and this is why you need to be particularly vigilant in places like your pantry. If you have sticky, sugary goods that are put away dirty, wipe them down with a cloth to remove food particles that bugs will come crawling to.

Make sure you don’t leave opened boxes of food or crumbs on the floor by always cleaning up after eating. Limit your eating to one place, or you risk spreading things around. If you have small children, be ready with the vacuum. Take the trash out regularly and avoid leaving dirty dishes in the sink.

Don’t let your Garden grow right up to the corner of your home, either. If you have plants with long branches, prune them back near doors and windows to keep plants from acting like a conveyer belt for bugs.

Care for Your Garden

In settings where you have green space outside, it’s more likely you’ll have bugs in the house because they have a potential habitat right there. To minimize this, it’s important to keep your garden as bug-free as possible.

Being careful not to endanger any of the pets in the home, treat your lawn and garden with products that kill or deter insects. This will keep large numbers of bugs from congregating.

Avoid allowing old or rotting yard waste to pile up, which can attract insects. If you like to practice composting, make a dedicated container for your scrap heap, so you’re not opening it up to the air and attracting more critters.

Close Doors and Windows

Sometimes the reason there are bugs in your home is all too obvious — it’s because you leave the door open. It might not seem like there’s a difference between doing this or having windows open, but well-maintained screens are effective at stopping insects from coming in. If you prefer to use your door as a ventilation method, get a screen door so bugs can’t walk right in.

Quit Being Bugged

None of these things is particularly difficult — you’ve just got to be diligent in staying on top of them. That’s the secret to a life with fewer insects in your home, and you’ll probably agree that’s a good thing. If you have a tip for our readers to help keep bugs away, let us know in the comment section.

Scott Huntington is a writer from central Pennsylvania. He enjoys working on his home and garden with his wife and 2 kids. Follow him on Twitter @SMHuntington