Cleaning tips (I'm desperate)

[stimulatemymind]

Help I swear we have dust mites or bed bugs 😧 I can't tell but lots of black specs on bedding and my daughters window ledge. Any ideas how I can get rid of them.

That's gross, you have my sympathy.

Have you considered calling exterminators? When we bought our flat it was infested with fleas (previous owner had lots of cats and zero hygiene), it only cost £80 to get the whole place done. We did have to live somewhere else for a few days but could then be confident it had been done thoroughly.

Can't really afford an exterterminator 😦 just so stressed with it all tbh

Have you got bites?
I would start with hoovering incl mattress and washing all bedding at 60. You can get traps to see if it is bed bugs, but you would also have bites on face/neck. Fleas you can buy a spray for the room, might need several applications. So you have pets? Flea bites are much more common on legs/ankles if their eggs are in the carpet.

Do you live near arable fields? Google Thrips (or thunderbugs). With the harvesting we get them and the little buggers get everywhere. Harmless I think.

I don't live near arable land. Thanks for the tips about sprays. Going to get the hoover out and going to buy some spray too.
I do have bites but only my legs. I'm panicking as a couple of weeks ago I had a very severe reaction to some bites when I was away abroad.

Are you sure it is not bed bugs? You were bitten abroad - you may have inadvertently brought them home with you.

It doesn't look like loads of bites and seems a bit strange to find dirt on the windowsill from either fleas or bedbugs. Try wetting the dirt and it turns red that is a good indication of it being flea dirt (or bed bug dirt) otherwise seems more likely to be something else.

Lift up the mattress and look in the nooks and crannies on the edges and around the buttons/labels on the underside. Also in all the corners and edges of slats in the bed frame.

If it's bedbugs you can make things worse if you use DIY pesticides so it's important to rule them out first.

Can you take a picture of the black specks on the bedding?

Check your daughter's curtains as well.

@PencilsinSpace thanks so much for your help. Will have a look tomorrow and post pics if I see anything

Hi do you have an open fire or a log burner? When mine needed cleaning I used to find black specks on my bedroom windowsill that had made its way up there. Pics would be good?

Spider poo? Im serious by the way.

The bites from holiday could be seperate.

Have you got a cat?