Can’t Stand Bug Spray? Try This Ingenious and Cheap Substitute

During this time of year, it doesn't take long for the mosquitoes to realize that you are outside and you have acres of exposed skin available for biting. Okay, the little bloodsuckers aren't after your skin but those red whelps they leave behind can sure be a nuisance. This nuisance can be multiplied if you have small kids and want to keep them free of bug bites too.

Sure, you could spray everyone down with bug spray. That usually goes over really well with small children. Or, you could lather everyone up with bug repellant lotion. Again, if you have small children this will become the equivalent of an in-home greased pig contest. It's just hard to do.

But no matter the difficulty of applying the protection, you still have to do it because you don't want your kids keeping you up all night telling that their bug bites itch. And you don't want to risk those nasty diseases mosquitoes have been known to carry too.

So, what can you do?

Here's what we do at our house. I thought we were just strange but apparently, our "secret" isn't much of a secret and folks have been doing what we do for years.

If you don't have bug spray or bug lotion or you don't want the hassle of spraying down or lubing up your kids, all you need is a dryer sheet. Just take the sheet and like @huskymuscles does in the video, just rub it all over your body.

An added benefit is that dryer sheets, at least in my opinion, smell a lot better than the fragrances offered by the insect repellant companies. This added benefit of a better smell will also come in handy on a warm summer evening. I have never had anyone tell me "eww you smell like a Bounce dryer sheet". Most folks actually like that smell.

Before you head to the laundry to grab the dryer sheets and your kids, please consider this. Not everyone will have a great experience using this method of mosquito abatement. Some people are sensitive to the chemicals used in dryer sheets. If you or someone you love has sensitive skin, you might want to try this method out on a smaller scale before rubbing the sheets all over the sensitive skin in question.

My experience has taught me that the dryer sheet's repellant reliability will last about 90 minutes or maybe two hours then you'll need to reapply or go inside.And if you do get a bite or two, here are some homemade remedies that seem to take the itch away.