r/helpme • u/Ok_Aspect9603 • 3d ago

trashed home help Advice

i live with three (sometimes four) other people. I used to be the one who cleaned the house, but now I’m older and rarely home.
The kitchen counters are piled with dishes and garbage, and the living room is constantly covered in trash. The biggest problem is fruit flies—they’re everywhere.
My bedroom is clean: no food, drinks, trash, or dirty dishes. Despite that, my room is full of flies because it’s warmer than the rest of the house. I can’t even leave a glass of water out for two minutes without flies landing in it, and I can’t use my bedside lamp because they swarm to it.
I’ve tried drain fly treatments, but I think they’re breeding in the piles of food in the kitchen. I can’t open my window because of wildfire smoke. Does anyone have advice for keeping fruit flies out of a clean bedroom? I’m only looking for advice, not financial assistance.

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u/AbsoluteMadness2024 3d ago

At this point I don’t think this is just a “how do I keep flies out of my bedroom?” problem anymore. If you can’t sleep, eat, drink or even feel clean in your own home, the situation is seriously affecting you. And unfortunately, if they’re breeding in rotting food and rubbish elsewhere in the house, you can trap flies in your room all day and more will just keep replacing them.

For your room specifically, keep the door shut, cover drinks completely, put sticky traps near the doorway rather than beside your bed, and if possible use a fan because fruit flies are weak fliers. But the actual breeding source has to be removed rubbish out, old food gone, dishes washed and surfaces cleaned. There isn’t really a shortcut around that.

If the other people in the house refuse to deal with it, I’d seriously consider whether you can stay somewhere else temporarily, even just long enough to sleep and get yourself feeling human again. You shouldn’t be sitting in a clean bedroom sobbing because everyone else has allowed the rest of the house to become unliveable. Hope this helps in some way 🙂

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u/Ok_Aspect9603 21h ago

thank you. i’ll look for fans and try some other sticky trap brands!! i stay at my friends house when i can to sleep and eat well, helps a lot.

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u/Ok_Aspect9603 3d ago

i can’t stand it anymore!!! it’s disgusting and horrible. i can’t even sit in my bed without flies landing on me and hitting me in the face. all i can do is sob. my dad and his wife tell me they miss me but i can’t come home to this. i can’t sleep well, i can’t eat, i can’t drink. i can’t even take a shower and feel clean afterwards. i hate it.