There ain't no bugs on me

[ladybootlegger]

I've been having such issues this summer with mosquitos, and other such bugs. My office is surrounded by wasps, I was stung twice by one wasp one morning.

While chatting with a friend of mine about it, he told me to fold up a dryer sheet and keep it in my pocket. And to my astonishment...it works! I've had a dryer sheet in my pocket for like 2 weeks now, and not a single bug....not even a fly has landed on me. In fact, while leaving the office the other day, a swarm of wasps cleared the path in front of me.

Who would have thought that something as simple as a dryer sheet would have such an affect.

[Rowan MacD]

 Awesome!  We are having a horrible time with skeeters around here this fall.  I'm going to try it!

[Auryn]

Thats awesome information
thanks for the heads up
Are they particular to any brand in specific?? snuggle? bounce?

This will be very handy when visiting my parents
thanks

[Rani Zemirah]

Oh, now THAT is some useful information!!!  I'll be trying it, as well!  Not too many mosquitoes around at the moment, oddly enough, but there are wasps aplenty.  Hmmm... wonder if I could hide some around my front doorway to keep the flies out of the house?  They've been driving me nuts lately!  

[ladybootlegger]

I don't think that the brand matters. I typically buy the store brand, and therefore, that is what is in my pocket.

And to respond to your fly issue, Rani...a couple of years ago we had a severe fly problem at our house. There was a medical issue we had nagging at us, which of course required that there be no flys in the house. We bought fly strips and hung them in corners from the ceilings. After the first night there were 20+ flys on one! It worked wonders on our fly problem, and we haven't had many since...certainly nothing like that fall! Just make sure you don't accidentally run into the fly strip.   

[Valiss]

It's an old wives tale, and it doesnt really work anyway:

http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/skeeters.asp

Probably better off with Deet.

[ladybootlegger]

I'm here to tell you it does work...and quite affectively too! However, to each their own, and if you prefer the smell of Deet of Off over a dryer sheet...

Of course, I keep the actual dryer sheet in my back pocket. I don't just rub it, or wipe it on me.

Try it for yourself. I'd be quite interested to hear if it works for others.

[Rani Zemirah]

I have experience with the fly strips...  I had a fruit-fly infestation from a bag of oranges that were obviously just covered with eggs that were ready to hatch.  Woke up the morning after I bought them to hundreds of the tiny things swarming through my kitchen!  The fly strips were the only thing that worked, without spraying poisons, and it took a while to get rid of them!

I know carrying a dryer sheet will keep me from building up a big static electric charge when I walk around in my socks on the carpet... but I'll just have to test it with the bugs.   

[Lady Nicolette]

I think that everyone is right here....It all seems to depend upon how tasty your blood type is to whatever is biting.  Me, nothing works except for DEET sprays, which are really gross, but less so than Encephalitis or West Nile...

For the other bugs, I carry an Epipen at all times, since my throat started to swell shut several years ago after a spider bite.  Anaphylaxis is a true medical emergency...Luckily, most people aren't as sensitive, but most are also less desirable to the biting things.  It's probably why the dryer sheet will work for some and not for others.

[Merlin the Elder]

I'll have to argue a point with Valiss (and/or Snopes). I have personally used B-1 in an area that had mosquitoes the size (it seems) of small eagles. It took a lot more than 100 mg (which the Snopes article quotes), but the area was a ball-park built on top of an old city landfill. Once I started using the Thiamine, I never got another bite...and mosquitoes tend to eat me alive. But beware! Thiamine can give you hot flash-like symptoms like you wouldn't believe! I don't think it's dangerous, but it can be uncomfortable. (My sensitivity to Thiamine came many years after using it as a repellent).

[Welsh Wench]

Tried it.
Didn't work.

http://www.scienceline.org/2007/09/ask-knight-mosquitoes/