(no subject)

[modernangel]

Still dealing with bedbugs. I guess this is a giant step up from rats, or roaches; but unwelcome nonetheless. I read somewhere that isopropyl alcohol kills them and their eggs, and I tried wetting out all the mattress seams on the theory that that's where they lay their eggs. Wetting out the whole mattress surface seems like a good way to burn the house down, or at the very least, get the whole house stinking of IPA fumes. Also, the bed frame isn't mine, so I don't want to go ruining the finish with an organic solvent.

I've spotted (and killed) them on the bed, of course. About 6-8 weeks ago I felt something tickling around my collar at work and at the time, I assumed it was a tick, but in retrospect I think it was a bedbug that had hitched a ride in my collar or rolled-up sleeve. Anyway, it died well-fed. The day after I got back from vaycay, one decided to try and snack on me while I was sitting in my desk chair. Today I noticed an odd spot on the collar of one my work shirts in the laundry basket, looked like ink but I've become all too familiar with bedbug fecal spots... so I carefully scanned along all the seams and sure enough, found one at the bottom of the placket.

SO I ran everything through the laundry and a hot dryer cycle - they die, egg or otherwise, at around 115F, and a dryer on high easily achieves that. While that was running, I carefully inspected the mattress and frame for any stow-aways, and blew out crevices with canned air. I went in mentally prepared for minor horror, but I didn't find a single bedbug. That was somewhat disquieting in itself. Then I unpacked the vac, installed a new filter I'd sourced months ago, and gave that corner of the room a good vac and mediocre mop job.

Not yet satisfied, from Amazon I ordered a mattress case designed for the very purpose of containing bedbugs and dust mites. Then I topped up the front tires' air pressure and visited Target to get:

A decent mop. My landlord's "deck" type mop doesn't cut it.

And a bucket, because what's a mop without a bucket? I ended up with a wastebasket that's a good size to double as a bucket for a sponge-type mop, because all the bucket-buckets were over-engineered. The wastebasket is actually an improvement on the hand-me-down thing I have now.

Airtight clothing storage bags. I was going to roll with 2.5 gallon ziploc-style food storage bags, until I stumbled across the "Space Bag To Go" product in the closet-and-storage aisle.

Petroleum jelly. Dabbing a ring of Vaseline around each bed leg is supposedly an effective barrier to bedbug traffic.

100 "one-use" clear vinyl "exam" gloves. Why anyone buys the sort of rubber gloves you find near cleaning supplies is beyond me; they're overpriced, they tend to be too small for my man hands, they're insensitive, and if a bug wandered into one, between uses? you wouldn't know until you had your fingers all up in them. If you want to reuse the exam gloves, granted they're not as sturdy as cleaning gloves but I reckon they'd stand up to reuse. If a bug nested in one, you'd see it, because they're transparent.

Airtight storage boxes. Turns out Rubbermaid and Sterilight's larger storage solutions (like, 60+ quart containers) are far from airtight, so I didn't get to cross that item off my list. I briefly considered a container designed to secure pet food, but the dimensions, price, and wheels didn't appeal so I mentally tucked it away for future reference. On returning home and web shopping some more, I set my sights on The Container Store's airtight "Deep Sweater Box" line instead.

While I was there I discovered Target also carries mattress cases designed for bedbug/dustmite containment in their stores. Would have been cool if I could have found any reference to them on Target's website, because I did peruse their onlines before I placed my Amazon order. Google Shopping, when I asked you about mattress encasement, mattress case, and mattress cover, why didn't you mention Target? Instead of Home Depot, which only sells that product line via their website, not in stores? While I was at Target I also forgot to look for salt substitute.

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Mattress cover rcvd and installed by 2PM Friday, and bedding back in the dryer on high for 20 minutes before I remake the bed.