Summer nights outside are one of life's simple pleasures, but they can come with some pesky side effects like bug bites. One influencer has a great tip for us to help keep bugs at bay all summer long.
The scoop
Babs (@brunchwithbabs) is an Instagrammer with almost 4 million followers. She calls herself "the internet mom/grandma you didn't know you needed." Babs shares tips for your entire home, helping lots of folks learn things they may not have learned from family and friends. She has shared hacks for everything from your smelly washing machine to dealing with Thanksgiving leftovers.
In one clip, she tells viewers how to keep bugs and other critters at bay all summer long. Her hero ingredient is cinnamon.
She says you can use cinnamon in several ways around your home. You can sprinkle ground cinnamon in your garbage can to keep bugs and raccoons from rifling through your trash. Another way to use cinnamon is to keep fruit flies out of the kitchen. Babs tells followers in the caption, "Just place a couple cinnamon sticks in your fruit bowl and you will be fruit fly free all summer long."
Her final cinnamon tip is to make a bug spray to use around your home — and even on your skin. The mixture is created by steeping cinnamon in warm water, using 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in 4 cups of water. Let the mixture steep for at least a few hours. Finish off the spray with a few drops of dish soap and a little rubbing alcohol.
How it's working
Keeping bugs at bay is an important part of summer, and tips like this can help you keep a little more money in your pocket. Specialized sprays to keep pests away can be expensive, and you often need a different one for different parts of your home and for different insects. Certain bug sprays that contain pyrethrins can also be harmful to pets.
Some published research shows that cinnamon can be an effective mosquito deterrent. In 2023, a paper in Nature found that cinnamon essential oils can keep mosquitos away for up to two hours.
If you want to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your yard, try mosquito dunks. They contain an insecticide that is only harmful to mosquito larvae, not your family.
What people are saying
Many of the folks who commented were big fans of Babs and love her tips and hacks. One person said: "Couldn't live without you Babs! Thank you for this!"
"You are brilliant," another said.
Someone else wrote: "It works!!! No bites tonight!"
Another person gave it a try and posted: "It really works. I use cinnamon all over my garden. It also keeps the ants away."
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