Vinegar has a ton of uses outside of cooking. It can be used for cleaning windows and the insides of appliances. And vinegar is also an effective deodorizer when it comes to tackling toilets and stinky clothing. We thought we knew all the vinegar tips and tricks out there, but this brilliant vinegar solution to fruit flies is news to us.

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According to Apartment Therapy, all one needs to rid their kitchen of pesky fruit flies is apple cider vinegar, a jar, dish soap, and plastic wrap.

 

Being invaded by fruit flies is pretty unavoidable, especially if you like to keep your windows open during the warmer months. The trouble with fruit flies is that they reproduce at a rapid pace and cling on to any fruits, vegetables, and food scraps left on your counter. Once they’re there, fruit flies are hard to evict.

To make sure your space doesn’t fall victim to fruit flies in the first place, keep your countertops clean and put all your produce in the fridge. It’s also a good idea to make sure your garbage and recycling bins are covered — yeah, fruit flies are that sneaky.

But for extra security, whip up some of this all-natural fruit fly repellant to keep those little buggers at bay.

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First, pour enough apple cider vinegar to cover the bottom of an empty jar. Add a drop of dish soap. Apartment Therapy notes that the dish soap breaks the surface tension of the liquid so the flies aren’t able to sit on top of it.

Next, cover the mouth of the jar with plastic wrap and poke some holes in it. The flies will crawl in through the holes and either trap themselves in the jar or meet their demise in the mixture.

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If you don’t have plastic wrap, you can also use a paper cone to direct flies toward your cider vinegar mixture.

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Next time you see fruit flies starting to encroach on your area, grab the apple cider vinegar and get to work.