TAMPA, FL (WFLA) — Carol Brown, the General Manager of Chet’s Termite and Pest Management, has been in the bug business for more than 20 years. As part of our News Channel 8 Today life hacks series, she’s separating fact from fiction when it comes to easy pest control methods. Brown first recommends taking care of the outside of your house first, so the bugs can’t get in.

“Try replacing white bulbs with yellow bulbs,” Brown said. “It’ll just make your home less inviting for bugs.”

After searching online 8 on Your Side found a lot of people recommending Borax for bugs. Brown agrees the product, found in the detergent aisle in the grocery store, is a great option.

“Hopefully the insect will pick up those find powders and then when they groom themselves, the powers will get in and affect their central nervous system,” Brown said. “Then you won’t have a pest problem.”

She also recommends putting coffee grounds in the garden because bugs don’t like the acidity of the coffee. She even stands by the other internet suggestion of using peppermint oil. Spiders hate it. One suggestion we found online she wasn’t too sure about – cucumbers to get rid of ants.

“I’ve never heard of that,” Brown said. “But I would think it would have the opposite reaction.”

Little 8-year-old Sofia Smith actually loves bugs and doesn’t consider them pests at all.

“I like them because they kind of creep and crawl around,” Smith said. “You can even play with them sometimes.”

Like them or hate them, according to the pest control company BASF, Florida is the worst state for bugs.