Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer.
If menacing bees, wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets get in your home and you can't find the insecticide, try a spray of Formula 409. Insects drop to the ground instantly.

Destroy Wasp Nests
Soapy water thrown on a wasp nest at dusk when all the wasp or hornets are on it, kills them all, eggs too. It smothers them as they breath thru their pores.

Wasp Control . . . No Chemicals and Cheap
The reason is unknown, but some claim that wasps and bees can be kept away from picnic areas with zipper style plastic bags and water. Fill a few small sandwich-sized bags with water and place them on the picnic table or blanket.

Mosquitos are attracted to the color blue twice as much as to any other color.

The following came by way of email, interesting, but the author is unknown.
The best way of getting rid of mosquitoes is Listerine, the original medicinal type. The Dollar Store type works, too. I was at a deck party awhile back, and the bugs were having a ball biting everyone. A man at the party sprayed the lawn and deck floor with Listerine, and the little demons disappeared.

The next year I filled a 4-ounce spray bottle and used it around my seat whenever I saw mosquitoes. And voila! That worked as well. It worked at a picnic where we sprayed the area around the food table, the children's swing area, and the standing water nearby.

Another Comment: I tried this on my deck and around all of my doors. It works - in fact, it killed them instantly. I bought my bottle from Target and it cost me $1.89. It really doesn't take much, and it is a big bottle, too; so it is not as expensive to use as the can of spray you buy that doesn't last 30 minutes. It will last a couple of days. Don't spray directly on a wood door (like your front door), but spray around the frame. Spray around the window frames, and even inside the dog house if you have one.

I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it's some times difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc.

Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), the tick will come out on its own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me.

Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, "It worked!"

1 whole head garlic
1 cup vinegar
1/4 cup ground hot pepper (chunks/flakes)

Put all in blender, fill within 2 inches to the top with water. Blend on high for at least a minute. Strain.

Comments by Connie:
I have 3 sizes of strainers. I use the big one to filter out the chunks, then filter down to the fine mesh strainer. I, then, put it into a spray bottle. Makes close to a quart, lasts the whole growing season. For the veggie garden, works for flower pests too. Something has been laying eggs on the corn. They all got sprayed with this mix I've been making for several years now.