How do I get rid of the spiders?!

[Anathu]

I moved to the UK about a year ago from Sweden. We have spiders in Sweden, but not as many and certainly not as many huge ones! I lived in a semi big town in Sweden and I occasionally found them in my flat. Here, the place is just filled with the little monsters and I'm beginning to develop a phobia :(

We live quite central in London in a ground floor flat in a 5 year old building. We have lived in this flat for almost 3 months now and in the beginning we didn't see spiders at all. But during the last month or so I've found at least one spider EVERY day! It may sound silly, but I don't dare to open the windows or balcony door since I don't want more of these creeps to get inside. I throw out the ones I find. Or my husband does... I only trap them inside glasses. Haha :D

I've only found spider traps in the store and frankly I'm not sure about the idea of creatures (how yucky they might be) dying this slow death just because of my own fears. I'm not too keen on using strong poisons either since I have two small, very curious kids. I'm looking for another, more friendly, solution. Is there something I can spray around the windows to keep spiders from getting in, so we can have some fresh air in the flat? And the ones who already live here, what can I do about them?

We also had problems with ants, but I found the place where they got in and covered it in cinnamon. no ants since then! Yay!!!

Conkers in the windowsill apparently keeps them away. Its probably an old wives tale but I still do it and there isn't many spiders in this house.

Try Spider Stop. Smells nice...you can buy it from Amazon.

We spray the house with indorex annually. It's in case of fleas (cats) but kills adult insects too, apparently. We don't ever see spiders, moths or ants here nowadays.

We tried conkers and it seems to work for us!

Thanks for the tips!

Do I need to do anything with the conkers or can I just put them in the windowsill as they are?

I'll check both Spider stop and Indorex :)

Any more suggestions?

They don't like citronella oil, I've heard - you can dilute some with water (or vodka!) and spray it around windows and skirting boards etc. I've put some in a summerhouse in the garden and haven't seen any creepy crawlies in there yet.

We just leave a few conkers in nooks and crannies around the house - no idea why it works, but it seems to.

I agree with the conkers - we've had far fewer spiders in the house since we started using them. Just put them on the window sillss or wherever they are likely to be getting in. You need to replace them each year though. You can buy bags of them on eBay (buut I'm not sure if you'll get any at this time of year, since they are an autumn thing)

citronella essentisl oil. i use it on the skirting boards, indoor door frames, window frames, and around the back and front door 1-2 times a month

the only thing i wouldnt use it on is bare wood... everything else is fine i think

www.lakeland.co.uk/51529/Spider-Stopper Spider stopper from Lakeland is great - I never see spiders anymore and I only use it every 2-3 months.

We have an electronic mouse repellent, it says it repels creepy crawlies too. It is this one.

I've a spray called "No More Spiders" by 151 Products, based on chestnut extract, which cost much less than Lakeland, either £1.99 or 99p, safe for children and spiders.