Fruit flies are notoriously pesky insects, as their tiny size can make it difficult to kill them with fly sprays, and you often can't tell you've got them in your house until you've seen far too many. But thankfully, there are ways you can get rid of them without spending too much money, Express.co.uk reports.
According to fans of cleaning guru Mrs Hinch - real name Sophie Hinchliffe - one easy life hack you can use to banish fruit flies for good is to create a mixture by combining washing up liquid, water, and vinegar - as this "drowns" the flies and kills them, deterring others from entering.
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On a cleaning tips Facebook page, one person initially asked: "Does anyone else loathe fruit flies? I've tried red wine vinegar, but it seemed to encourage more. HELP."
And while the woman was flooded with several comments suggesting various methods of banishing the "horrible" bugs, many people said that making a solution out of washing up liquid and vinegar was the best course of action.
One commenter wrote: "I use part washing up liquid, part water and part cider vinegar in a ramekin. It's amazing how many it drowns. They are horrible little things."
While another backed them up, stating: "I used vinegar and washing up liquid, passing comment from my son was 'it doesn't catch many.' I've just taken a closer look, there's so many in there."
As a third posted: "Put vinegar dish soap and water in a cup. People say to put cling film on top with holes in but I find it doesn't work so just leave the cup open filled to the top. They will drown in it."
You can pick up Malt Vinegar from ASDA for as little as 29p, while the cheapest washing up liquid from the same supermarket is 37p, pricing this entire hack at just 66p.
If you want to try using cider vinegar instead of malt vinegar as one Facebook user suggested, the hack will set you back a total of £1.17, as ASDA's cider vinegar is 80p.
And the vinegar and washing up liquid hack isn't the only way to get rid of fruit flies either, as other commenters on the post suggested putting garlic in your fruit bowl to deter the flies from landing on your apples and oranges.
One person wrote: "I put a bulb of garlic in with the fruit. Unpeeled of course. It seems to work and I keep banana separated."
While someone else offered a different tip, stating: "Put banana skin in a cup or glass cover with cling film. Poke with a fork and they will climb in and get trapped. Go to the bottom of the garden and release when full then start again."
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