There are only so many methods available for getting rid of our uninvited friends and, let’s be honest, they’re not all very pleasant.
If snap traps make you sad and sticky traps make you squirm, it can feel like your options are limited to hiring an expensive exterminator or simply living with some new scurrying friends, but there’s another, better method!
You can actually get rid of mice the all-natural, no-kill way — with peppermint!
It turns out, mice hate the smell of peppermint. Everything we humans like about it – the sharpness, the coolness, the sweetness, the menthol – makes them want to turn tail and run the other direction, making it an ideal natural repellant.
Bulk Herb Stores’s Shoshanna’s Kitchen first turned us on to the idea, and she recommends harnessing peppermint’s power in three ways:
1. Peppermint Plants
The easiest way to prevent a mouse invastion in the first place is to post peppermint plant sentries around your home. Plant as many as you want outside your home for protection and for nice, fresh peppermint leaves to use in your cooking.
2. Peppermint Sock
This method is easy for when you want a quick solution. Drop some dried peppermint in a sock and tie it off, then place the socks around your home near holes, gaps, or any other places you think pests might be gathering.
3. DIY Spray
Shoshanna’s favorite method is an easy-to-make spray. Boil some water, then steep some dried peppermint the same way you would if you wre making tea or coffee. When you get a nice, rich concentration, strain out the grounds and allow the mixture to cool.
Then, simply transfer it to a plastic spray bottle and spray away! Use it as an additional cleaning spray in cabinets where you’ve found evidence of rodent activity, saturate your closets, and generally spray wherever you think you need a little repelling peppermint power.
Of course, sometimes you need a little extra power, and for that, you can turn to extra concentrated versions of peppermint via peppermint oil. The Kitchn recommends using peppermint oil as you spray, similarly to Shoshanna’s Kitchen.
Other people, like How To Get Rid Of Mice.com, recommend saturating cotton balls in peppermint oil and leaving them around your home wherever you want the mice to leave.
Even better? It’s not just mice that will run away from peppermint. It repels aphids, cabbage looper, flea beetles, squash bugs, whiteflies, ants, mosquitoes, and bees!
And, best of all, it’s a simple, cheap, humane, and all-natural method for ridding your home of pests.
It’s so good to know that we have all-natural options for dealing with mice and other pests!