by Furnishly | Jan 15, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
Actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore might be famous, but she can’t escape a common problem ruining favorite sweaters everywhere: moths.
In a rightfully dramatic Instagram post, she shares her dismay and horror as she finds not one but multiple holes in a beige sweater she’s wearing, showing each one in her bathroom. “Exhibit A!” “Exhibit B!” “You guys this is not a joke! I have moths in my closet and they are eating through my clothes,” she exclaimed.
Her 14.9 million followers started chiming in with their best tips, from using lavender oil to freezing the at-risk apparel during the summer. Numerous others recommend against moth balls, which contain carcinogens, while some are just there to commiserate about their own ruined cashmere. So, what’s a celebrity, or the average Joe, to do about moth holes in sweaters? Luckily, there are lots of solutions and prevention methods.
Freezing your clothes is something that can kill off the moths after you’ve discovered that the creatures have invaded your wardrobe. Then, double-check that the clothes that are stored in your closet are completely clean. Moths love dirty sweaters, so that combined with moths loving dark places is a formula for disaster.
To prevent future incidents from happening, consider using cedar for either the closet, dresser, or storage bin itself, as it’s a natural moth repellent. Be sure to revive the scent periodically by sanding it. If you aren’t looking to replace your entire closet, you can purchase cedar in many forms, such as hanging boxes or balls.
Another preventative method is using herbs or essential oils that moths hate and getting creative with integrating them into your storage areas. You can fill wiffle balls, tea bags, or just a bowl with scents that will repel pesky moths — from lavender to rosemary and lemon. Who wouldn’t love a lavender-scented sweater rather than a moth infested one?
If you’re suffering from the same problem as Barrymore, there’s no shame in it — moths can strike anywhere, and even the most perfectly folded sweaters can fall victim under the right conditions. Go ahead and take it as your cue to splurge on a fabulous new cashmere.
by Furnishly | Nov 5, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
Shifrah Combiths
Contributor
With five children, Shifrah is learning a thing or two about how to keep a fairly organized and pretty clean house with a grateful heart in a way that leaves plenty of time for the people who matter most. Shifrah grew up in San Francisco, but has come to appreciate smaller town life in Tallahassee, Florida, which she now calls home. She’s been writing professionally for twenty years and she loves lifestyle photography, memory keeping, gardening, reading, and going to the beach with her husband and children.
by Furnishly | Oct 19, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
Ashley Abramson
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Ashley Abramson is a writer-mom hybrid in Minneapolis, MN. Her work, mostly focused on health, psychology, and parenting, has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, Allure, and more. She lives in the Minneapolis suburbs with her husband and two young sons.
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by Furnishly | Aug 4, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
Arielle Tschinkel
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Arielle Tschinkel is a freelance pop culture and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared on Shape.com, WomansWorld.com, FirstforWomen.com, Insider, HelloGiggles, and more. She loves all things Disney and is making her way to every park around the world, and is a die-hard Britney Spears fan for life. She’s also obsessed with her Bernedoodle, Bruce Wayne.
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by Furnishly | Jul 30, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
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There’s nothing that makes you feel quite as powerless as when you have an ant problem. In short, it’s the worst — especially when there’s no viable reason why the ants keep marching one by one right through invisible cracks in the walls and windows. My husband and I live on the 15th floor of a New York City apartment building, and we’re very tidy and don’t keep food out. (My Florida upbringing taught me to keep basically everything in the fridge and how to properly store fruit to avoid fruit flies and other bugs, and I’ll never unlearn those lessons.) Nevertheless, we suddenly had ants coming into nearly every room in our apartment — an issue we’ve never had before. What was the deal? The honest answer: We had no idea. Could it be the summer heat? Something in the walls? They wanted to check out my decorating skills?
We figured the problem would subside after a day or so, but after the unwelcome visitors kept infiltrating our space (and we got tired of squelching them with paper towels and spray), enough was enough. My husband immediately looked up the best ant killer that’s good for small spaces and doesn’t have any kind of odor or tactic that’d make us queasy.
He found the bestselling TERRO T300 Liquid Ant Baits, which were marked as Amazon’s top choice and have over 50,000 five-star reviews, and immediately ordered a few six-packs. (They’re very affordable at just under $7 a pack normally, and on sale now for just under $5 a pack, so scoop some up for yourself ASAP! You truly never know when an ant problem will strike.) When they arrived, we simply tore off the snap tabs and placed them in the areas where we noticed the ants the most. They’re very subtle-looking bait traps, too — unobtrusive and slim to easily put against a wall and forget about. The liquid bait is a sugary substance that attracts the ants, and after consuming and leaving a pheromone trail going back to the colony, it sends them packing for good, thanks to Borax being the active ingredient.
I’m not kidding — after one day of the traps being out and the ants thinking they were in for a treat, the problem visibly lessened, and every subsequent day, it got better and better. It sounds too easy, but we literally just tore the tabs off, placed the bait, and waited. Now, we’re pretty much ant-free, save for a stray one or two that didn’t get the memo… but they will soon!
