I'm so depressed.

[Safsaf]

My kitchen is depressing me and I don't know how to tackle things.
The biggest problem I have are moths. They've got into my cupboard and I can't get rid of them. I don't know where they are but everytime I put flour/dry goods in the cupboards - even in supposedly airtight containers, I find maggots in them so I can't use my cupboards anymore. They are sitting empty. Its so disgusting and depressing. I feel sick just writing it down.
I've cleaned them thoroughly.
My oven is broken.
My extractor fan is broken.
My freezer was left open by ds overnight the other day and I had to get rid of so much stuff and the fridge is tepremental now.
I put a bag of popcorn for too long in my microwave and it is now stinking, brown stained and we need to get rid of it.

Someone wave a magic wand and make it all better please.

bump.

Does anyone have any advice about the disgusting moths? [vom]

the moths ... urgh .
EMPTY all the cupboards , be ruthless if its not in a tin, bin it. VACUME inside the cupboards , everywhere there are hard surfaces. Bleach every cupboard inside. DRY well. Get some cedar wood . Moths hate it ...its a natural repelent to insects , put bits of cedar inside of each cupboard . If you cant get cedar wood , you could get some bicarb and sprinkle some citronela oil and put little dishes of it on the cupboards instead.

Popcorn stinking microwave .... easy ... bowl of water ,put cut lemons , or any citrus fruit really and zap it until it boils . leave for 5 mins empty and wipe out. then put a wee dish of bicarb in over night to absorb any lingering smell.

broken oven - cant help over net , but you might find it needs a part that can be replaced ... currys partmaster . Type in model number and hey presto new part. get sparky to fit.

freezer ... they work better full. so pack it full of bags of icecubes and give it a few days to see how it does...icecubs are great as you can just shove them in sink if you need the room for food. (i recomend shoving them in a g&t though ) i usually fill mine with extra bread and milk ( milk seperates the fat , but give it a shake once defrosted and its fine).

After all that sit down and have a or a

moths - we have them in the bedroom at the moment I have just bought a moth trap from amazon, and there are no clothes in the airing cupboard at the moment (btw I think of them as caterpillars, sound better than maggots) But try keeping your dried goods in the fridge.

Droves I love you.
I have cleaned my cupboards really thoroughly. Bleach. Vacuum. Left empty for a month. I think they are coming from some crevice behind the cupboard.
I will look for cedarwood and citronela oil.

I don't have any bicarb at the moment (I binned it along with everything else in my cupboards a couple of months ago) so will definitely get some tomorrow along with food for freezer.

I think oven needs new element. I need to find my oven model no. now.

Sympathies Pinkhebe.
I didn't even know there were such things as moth traps. I'll look on amazon.

John lewis sell cedarwood blocks

On another thread about moths a Lakeland spray was recommended, which might help?

You have my sympathies - I found mould growing out through the vinyl wallpaper in the hall, on the wall behind the shower, and had a similar URGH moment. As its gross there's obviously a leak somewhere and I have no clue where. :(

Thanks Leeloo1. That appears to be for carpet moths. I don't know if there is a difference between al these nasty moths.
I never used to mind moths but I now detest them with a passion. urgh indeed.
I hope you get it sorted. I know what it feels like when your home is infested.

Ah, sorry. :( Maybe it'd kill yours off too? wretched things!

I feel much better for pulling the wallpaper off the wall, as before that there was just a sudden rash of pimple-y things all over it - like the wall had acne but with black tips and I was horribly afraid it was little bugs pushing their way through. Yuk. Black mould seems reassuringly familiar in comparison.

On that note, maybe pulling cupboards off the wall would make you feel better/allow you to seal any gaps where moths could be breeding?

[thinks maybe there's a reason why DH doesn't like me to get involved in DIY/house projects ]

Sounds like you might need to take the cupboards off the walls and check what's happening behind??? if they're empty anyway shouldn't be too much of a task, just a couple of screws (said hopefully)... sounds like some kind of community needs to be dealt with. can you afford the pest controllers? Am totally puzzled as to why the caterpillars are appearing in airtight containers?? no wonder you're depressed about it.

Agree with the using the fridge idea for dry goods tho.

Join your local freecycle.org site and look out for a secondhand fridge and oven going in the neighbourhood or post on the WANTED board- sounds like not much could be worse than the ones you've got and often they're completely fine, somebody just wants to upgrade to a fancy new one.

Good idea about taking the cupboard away from the walls.
I dread to think whats going on behind them.
Also good idea about using the fridge for dry goods. Its mostly flour that I find the repulsive creatures in. I don't know how they get into the containers but they seem to find a way.

I ordered some stuff online to kill the vile things yesterday and will see how I go with taht first.

We had the same problem in our old flat. We hoovered the cupboards, bleached, you name it. We had to get pest control out eventually who found a nest behind the cupboard.

May be worth getting pest control out if you can't shift them.

In the meantime, my sympathies

Are you sure its moth larve , and not flour weavils ? .
Flour weavils get into flour a lot ....they are boggin , but everyone whos opened a bag of flour will have had them at least once.

best way to deal with them is chuck it out before the use by date , or if you see any in any of your packets/containers.