Flies will flee from your home if you place one fruit in windows

With summer officially landing in the UK and temperatures rising, most of us will be spending time at home with the windows wide open, attempting to let in any breeze that might cool down our houses.

But having the windows open means your home is vulnerable to pests such as flies, which will make their way inside to search for food. Flies can come in through any window in your house, but they're most likely to enter through your kitchen window, as that's likely where you'll have tiny crumbs of food they can feast on.

Keeping flies out of your home can seem like an impossible task. Unless you put netting over your windows, the tiny insects will always find a way inside, and then your only option is to spend the next 10 minutes trying to usher them back out again.

But according to one cleaning expert, there's a way you can stop them from ever entering your home in the first place.

In a video shared on TikTok by Chantel Mila, she claimed just one fruit and one spice will help deter flies. This will have the added benefit of making your home smell amazing.

Chantel recommended cutting a lemon in half and pushing dried cloves into the flesh of the fruit. Citrus and cloves are two scents that flies cannot stand, so placing the fruit on your windowsill next to open windows or around your kitchen should help deter the pests from entering your home.

In a video detailing five cleaning hacks "everyone should know", she said: "To repel flies, places cloves inside a lemon and place it around your kitchen."

Another one of her hacks involved boiling a pot of water on the stove alongside some cloves, slices of lemon, and vanilla extract. She said this "makes your home smell amazing", and because it contains the same fly-repelling ingredients as the previous hack, it will likely help to deter flies too.

It's not just flies that lemons are good for, either. Chantel's first hack in her video suggests filling a cloth bag with dried rice and a few drops of lemon oil and placing it in your wardrobe in order to keep mould and moisture at bay.

Keely Smith, interior designer at JD Elite Interiors, previously explained why the clove and lemon hack works to repel flies, as she said the insects are "incredibly sensitive to scent".

She detailed: "Flies are incredibly sensitive to scent. Lemons release limonene, which is a strong citrus compound that interferes with the way flies find food. When you stick cloves into the lemon, you're adding eugenol, which has a sharp, almost spicy scent that flies dislike even more.

"The combination of lemon and cloves throws off their senses and makes the area smell too intense and confusing for them to stick around."

How to repel flies

1. Keep Things Clean:

• Remove food scraps, spills, and garbage quickly.
• Clean pet food bowls and litter boxes regularly.
• Take out trash frequently and use bins with tight-fitting lids.

2. Use Natural Repellents:

• Essential oils: Flies dislike the scents of eucalyptus, lavender, peppermint, citronella, and lemongrass. Mix a few drops with water in a spray bottle and spritz around doors, windows, and surfaces.
• Vinegar and dish soap trap: Fill a bowl with apple cider vinegar and add a few drops of dish soap. Flies are attracted to the vinegar but get trapped by the soap.
• Cloves and citrus: Stick whole cloves into a cut lemon or orange and place it on the table or windowsill.

3. Outdoor Tips:

• Remove standing water and decaying organic matter (like compost or fallen fruit).
• Mow lawns and trim vegetation regularly.

4. Plants That Repel Flies:

• Basil, mint, marigold, and bay leaf are known to deter flies. Place pots near entryways or windows.