Keeping Fruit Flies and Gnats out of Your Home

It's happened to all of us. You bring home a bunch of overripe bananas or overlooked a weird tomato at the grocery store and a few days later you're finding tiny flies everywhere. You may notice one flying past you as you watch an evening TV show, and then start finding them dead in your bathroom sink. Where are they even coming from?!

Unfortunately, you can't completely avoid them coming into your house altogether. But there are some surprisingly easy steps you can take to get rid of them safely and naturally, with items you probably already have in your home.

Clean Your Home
Make sure you've gotten rid of anything that could have brought the bugs in or could still be attracting them. Throw out old food, put your produce in the fridge, wipe down the counters, mop the floors. Make sure there aren't any food spills on the floor or an old piece of fruit that rolled to the back of your fridge. Take out the garbage when you're done. Any homemade food that would normally be left out (yogurt, pickles, vinegar) should be well sealed, covered or moved to the fridge.

Clean Your House Plants
Fruit flies and gnats are difficult to distinguish from each other because they're so small. Though you might have gnats on your fruit, you'll find that they prefer to nest in the soil of your houseplants. You might not even notice the bugs when you water your plants. Go up to a plant, lift the leaves and give them a shake from the bottom. If bugs come out, you know where they're living.

There are a few options for killing gnats and preventing them from living here. One issue is that you may be overwatering your plants. This is especially common in the winter months. Give the plants a week or two to dry out. Gnats like to nest in moist places. If waiting that long is too much for your breed of plant, you can try spreading a layer of sand or coffee grounds on the top layer of soil to repel the gnats.

The easiest way to get rid of gnats on plants is by getting a spray bottle with about a cup of water and adding a tablespoon of dish soap and a teaspoon of vinegar. Stir to mix, then spray the mixture on the soil of the plants. Repeat once or twice a week for a few weeks as needed. You will continue to see flies around your home for a few days while they search for a new place to nest, but when they can't find one they will eventually die off. Continue to spray your plants after the bugs are dead to make sure any leftover eggs or larvae in the plants are gone.

Make a Trap
Traps are pretty simple and easy to make. Just set out a shallow dish of beer with a teaspoon of dish soap mixed in. The smell of the alcohol will attract the flies, and the soap will make them sink to the bottom of the dish. Leave the trap in places where you commonly find the flies-- in the bathroom, by the kitchen sink, etc.

The traps also work well if you shine a light above them. The light attracts the flies when it's dark, just like moths. A desk lamp or a night light both work well. Just set one up next to the trap before you go to bed.

That's it! With a little time and persistence, your home will be a no-fly zone in no time. Until next time, keep it clean!

The Infinite Uses of Salt

Last time we discussed the amazing cleaning power of vinegar. Another great simple ingredient is salt! Salt sometimes gets a bad rap for being bad for you, but when used properly it has an amazingly broad range of benefits.


Probably the most familiar use for salt is in the kitchen. Salt as a seasoning is great for savory foods, but has tons of applications with a wide variety of ingredients. Small amounts of salt enrich and deepen the flavor of delicate desserts, especially chocolate. If your coffee is too bitter, put a pinch of salt in the pot to get rid of the overcooked flavor. Washing your produce in salt water yields cleaner fruits and veggies and can prevent sliced fruit and vegetables from turning brown. A pinch of salt in your milk will also make it last longer. Use natural sea salt and rock salt when cooking to gain the benefits of micronutrients found in the earth. Remember that if you make most of your food from scratch, you can safely use salt in your cooking when used with discretion without having to worry about harmful effects. Herbivores (that means you, vegetarians!) actually can have more salt added in their diets because they don't get salt from meat. Of course, be sure to check with your nutritionist when judging how much salt you need based on your diet and how often you exercise.

Salt is also excellent for beauty. Put a couple tablespoons of salt into a spray bottle of water and shake it up, then spritz it on your hair and comb through and let it air dry. Salt water helps tame frizziness, and because of the antibacterial qualities it can relieve itchiness and dandruff on your scalp too. Scrubbing your face with a paste made from salt and oil removes dead skin and brightens your complexion. Sprinkling a mixture of table salt and baking soda (also, incidentally, a type of salt) onto your toothbrush and brushing your teeth will whiten your teeth and remove hardened plaque.

As an antibacterial, salt works surprisingly well. Bacteria can cause itchy skin, wound inflammation and bad odors from the waste they create (like stinky armpits). When salted water is introduced to bacteria, the salt causes the bacteria to absorb far more water than their bodies can contain. Eventually the bacteria will absorb so much water that they burst, effectively and naturally killing the bacteria. Pressing salt into minor cuts and scrapes will kill bacteria and help the wound heal. It also relieves bee stings, bug bites and poison ivy. You can swish salt water as an effective alternative to mouthwash, and gargle warm salt water to relieve a sore throat. My favorite antibacterial use for salt, however, is as a deodorant! After you shower, wet a smooth piece of rock salt and rub it in your armpits and you'll be fresh all day. Rock salt is a cheap and easy alternative to deodorants and antiperspirants that lasts a long time. If that's not motivation enough, consider that the majority of waste in the body are eliminated through sweat. Blocking your sweat glands with chemicals and introducing metals such as aluminum (found in most deodorants) to your body has been strongly linked to cancer, especially breast cancer. Sweating is a normal function your body needs to perform to stay healthy, so spare your sweat glands and your precious disease fighting lymph nodes the abuse!

Here at Azuma we love budget-conscious ways to make a happier, healthier and cleaner home. We know you'll enjoy these simple, cheap, eco-friendly and effective alternatives to the store-bought stuff. We have plenty more tips coming, so until next time, keep it clean! :)

Greening your Groceries

A lot of the things we do daily are what contributes to waste the most, but can be easily "greened" to reduce your waste. Here are a few tips on what you can do with your groceries to make them more environmentally friendly.

Bring your own containers.
Did you know that 40% of the waste that goes into landfills each day is packaging that's only used once? It's common practice in many places now to bring your own tote bag to the store, but what about the plastic bags you put your produce in, the cardboard box and plastic for the pizza, the bags for your cheese? Find a store or local farmer's market that sells in bulk, and bag your own. Bulk is often far cheaper because you're not paying for the packaging, and you're not chucking needless waste when you get home. If you want to use a jar, weigh the jar at home or bring the jar to the customer service counter at the store and they'll weigh it for you, then tag your container to be used again and again. Cheesecloth, linen bags or drawstring lingerie bags work great for produce, cheese, nuts and grains.

Shop in season.
When you look for seasonal foods, you're also more likely to get local foods, which leaves less of a footprint from having to ship something from far away. Sites such as localharvest.org will tell you where to find local farmer's markets and co-ops, and apps such as Locavore will tell you what's in season now and for how long. Foods shipped from far away often require more care to stay fresh which may mean more packaging, more pesticides and more ripening agents.

When it seems too expensive, do it yourself.
Some specialty items at the store not only cost more but can put a big dent in your pocket. A bag of french fries can cost 4 times as much as a bag of potatoes, but all you have to do is peel and chop them and stick them in the oven with oil, salt and pepper to get the same thing for fresher. Pizza dough is just flour, salt and yeast and can be made with very little effort for less than a dollar per pizza! Have fun and learn something new, and skip the packaging at the same time.

Buying in bulk seems daunting, but it can actually simplify your food and your shopping experience. It may take a little more time, but you'll find it's worth the effort.