If you don't stay on top of certain things around your house and yard then you can quickly find yourself in the middle of a pest problem that can be hard for you to get a handle on. These tips are going to help you to prevent pests from taking over your home as long as you do your best to follow them as much as possible:

Close off all points of entrance in your home

When it comes to keeping pests from entering your home it isn't as easy as you may think. Pests can come in the smallest holes or cracks, not to mention large ones like rips in screens or doggy doors. You want to get down low and go around all the rooms of your house looking for cracks along the baseboards and seal them off with caulking or putty. Check incoming pipes and fix any openings there as well. You can quickly fix screens by sewing a piece of nylon stocking over the rip until you can get a proper screen repair kit.

Keep your kitchen clean

While you may feel that picking up your kitchen each day is good enough, you really need to do your best to keep it sanitized if you are going to prevent certain pests like ants and cockroaches. Wipe the counter down after each meal prep, sweep up all crumbs at the end of the day and mop as often as possible. Make a point of taking your trash out to the outside can each night.

Get your pets started on flea and tick preventative

You can purchase flea and tick preventative that comes in a small tube. You will apply the liquid to the area between your pet's shoulder blades and a little bit on their back right above their tail. This will help prevent you from ending up dealing with a flea and tick problem during the summer months.

Don't leave stagnant water around your yard

Mosquitoes can be a real issue if you aren't careful. The best way to avoid dealing with mosquitoes during those warmer months is to make sure you don't leave stagnant water laying around. Completely empty kiddie pools after the kids are done swimming for the day, make sure water isn't collected inside spare tires, buckets or anything else you may have laying around the yard and make sure you keep your rain gutters cleaned out so water doesn't collect in them.