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Irish Spring Soap to Repel Rodents

As we live in the woods, we have many rodents such as mice and rats in the area. Recently we have had rats in the engine compartment of our vehicles. They have been leaving droppings and pulling the insulation from the hood of our pickup. They use the insulation and other materials to build nests inside the engine area. We needed to find a good solution to repel these rodents and drive them away from our vehicles.

Irish Spring Soap Piece


I took a bar of Irish Spring soap and cut off a small piece about 1 inch long. I then cut that piece in half ending with a piece of soap about 1 inch square as shown. I placed a piece of soap inside the engine compartment on the battery tray as this was one of the places we have been seeing droppings. I repeated this process for all our vehicles. Then I waited and watched.

Apparently the strong soap smell from the Irish Spring soap repels the rodents. Since I have placed the soap pieces inside the vehicle engine area, we have not had any signs that the rats have been back.

This idea may also work well for other areas where you do not want mice or rats such as your house, sheds, or garages. Give it a try and let me know how this rodent repellent works for you.

**Follow-up comment – I am hearing from several of you that this doesn’t work. I am adding a warning to others to beware that this may not work on mice. Please read the comments to see the outcomes of others.

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Dryer Sheets as Mosquito Repellents

Mosquitoes apparently don’t like the fragrance from a dryer sheet. I had heard if you put a dryer sheet in your pocket that mosquitoes won’t bother you. I’m always looking for a cheap and natural way to fix a problem. It’s one of the main reasons I started this blog was to share useful ideas.

Today I set out to see if the idea of using a dryer sheet actually would repel mosquitoes. I have been getting stung by mosquitoes for the last several days around our home when I’ve been outside. So I was game to give this idea a try. Continue Reading →

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Using Borax to Kill Ants

After finding several ant hills down off our lawn today, I reached for the borax to kill them. As we live very rural and in the woods, we constantly battle with ants. Not only in the yard but in and around our home. Borax is a common household cleaning product that causes dehydration in insects and leads to their death when eaten. I wanted to try using borax to kill the ants as it is more cheaper and safer than chemical insecticides.

Here are some photos of the ant hills. These were taken before I did a borax treatment.

Ant Hill

I’m not sure you can see it in the photos but when I sprinkled the borax on the hills, the ants really reacted. I then added just a bit of sprinkled sugar over the top of the borax. Continue Reading →

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Holding a Nail for Hammering

I just saw this niffy idea on how to hold a nail for hammering. This is especially handy when you have a small nail and need to be precise with your hammer hits.

I just love this idea and found it so useful that I wanted to share it. All you need is a clothespin. Here is my personal photo using the unique nail holding technique.

I can’t wait to use this idea next time I have a nailing project. I’m sure it will save on my thumb too. 🙂

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Recycled Milk Jug Shovel

Check out this cool idea for recycling a milk jug into a shovel. The plastic shovel would make a great play shovel for kids at the beach or in the garden. You could also use the shovel for scooping flour, sugar, or other bulk ingredients in the kitchen.

Here are my shovels I made using a one gallon milk jug. The key is to cut with very sharp scissors and make your cuts wide so you can trim the shovel shape evenly on both sides.

Source:
Korean Crafts Blog

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Dryer Lint Makes Great Firestarters

Using dryer lint for firestarters isn’t a new idea but I just wanted to share a quick post in case you haven’t tried it yourself. I used to just throw my dryer lint out but then I found it has many handy uses one of which is that it burns easily. Just throw the little chunks of lint and into your woodstove or fireplace as you build your fire. I like to place a small ball of lint at the bottom of the wood stove with my newspaper and then place the kindling on top. Then put the match to the lint to light the fire and you will have a blazing fire soon.

One other useful tip is to save your lint in toilet or paper towel rolls. You shove the lint into the tubes after you clean out your dryer vent. I started doing this recently and it works great to just throw the paper tubes into my woodstove when I make my fire. The lint really is a great firestarter and plus it’s free. Oh and one last idea, if you are out in the woods and need a quick firestarter, check your pockets and get the lint out from the bottom of your pants pockets. Pocket lint works great to start a fire in a pinch.

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