What's the best way to keep spiders out of the house

[Nowyouseemenowy0udont]

I'm extremely phobic of spiders, soo much that I struggle to read about them, let alone look at pictures.

Is there any way to stop them coming into the house?

Yesterday I found two very large ones in my kitchen on the work surface, a few days before a large one on the wall in my bedroom, before that one in the living room. I expected them to start appearing in September, it seems early to me this year.

My mum swears by placing conkers on the window sills but still gets them. I've tried the spray you can get but it made my cat very ill. I don't know where they're coming in, I have had windows open, but only a crack and I've never seen them coming through there. I appreciate I wasn't watching all the time though! Anyway the windows are now shut!

Grateful for any suggestions, I live alone and am really struggling.

DD2 names them. Weirdly old-fashioned names too. It's quite nice to greet Bernard or Irma in the morning now.

I realise this won't help with a serious phobia but it does wonders with a general aversion!

Oh my gosh there was just a gigantic one on the bedroom floor - literally so big I could hardly catch it to put it outside! And yes I did scream!

Camomile teabags, apparently. My mother swears she hasn’t seen one since she lobbed them all over her house.

I have the plug in things from Amazon, they're not doing the trick. My mum uses conkers and still has them. And I couldn't go near enough to them to use a catching thing. I have cats and sometimes they do catch them, but not always.

I can't use the spray, because whatever it might say it made my cat ill, cost over £1000 at the vets as well, I can't risk it again. They're indoor cats so I can't put them outside for several hours.

My sympathy to everyone who is suffering as well, I think if you don't have a phobia you don't understand how it feels. I check my whole bed every night including removing all the bed clothes. I have nightmares about them.

Oh bless you

This!

Keep the windows closed so they can't get in. My window has been closed for weeks cos sometimes they start turning up in July. Sometimes I'll open it for 5 mins but then I stand guard to ensure no attempted entry. Then close again. Also have handheld vacuum just in case.

As said above, spiders don’t come in, they are there all year round in your house. Hiding. They come out of hiding late summer and autumn to find a mate.

closing windows won’t make any difference as they are already in your house.

If they're already in the house, is there any way of stopping them running around or getting rid of them? I don't mind small ones, but these massive monsters that are starting to appear are awful. I can't sleep for ages worrying about them.

We must have a faulty cat. We have lots of spiders in the autumn and the cat has never managed to catch one, let alone eat it.