Clean resolutions to clear out the clutter.

Happy new years resolutions! Clean out the clutter is a great one.  Reduce pest populations in your home by cleaning and organizing your basement and attics. First, get organized with racks and plastic bins to get what you have where you need it. Second, donate, sell or discard everything you do not need or use. Finally and most important of all storing items properly makes it easy to preserve your stuff and make it hard on pests at the same time.

When storing items in basements or attics do not use cardboard boxes. The starches in the glues and the cardboard itself is food for a variety of insects including silverfish and booklice. In basements store items away from foundation walls and off the floor to let air circulate. Keeping stored items and the walls and floors as dry as possible will reduce pest issue. Most pest issues start with moisture and shelter and take off from there.  In addition, a basement or crawl space has plenty of moisture by virtue of being below grade and your stored items bring food and shelter into the equation resulting in a pest paradise.

In conclusion, pests need food and shelter and you can remove those resources by following the three tips listed above:  Organize what you will keep, get rid of what you do not need and will never use, and store everything properly to keep pests at bay.