Before entering clean home, how do BAG your shoes, purse etc?

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Before entering clean home, how do BAG your shoes, purse etc?

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evel18

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Posted 2 years ago
Sun Sep 26 2010 16:06:00
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My home isn't clean yet but I'm continuing to map out my game plan. Assuming the day it's BB-free, and assuming I come back from work (I just assume work might have BB that I accidentally brought over after witnessing a bug crawl on my forehead at work)......how do I enter my home? I know I should bag the items, BUT my question is....WHERE?

If I enter my home in my clothes and change there, the likelihood is that I could spread a bed bug from my clothes into my clean home. But I really can't strip semi-naked outside my apartment door, can I? And IF I change outside my apartment door, doesn't this mean there could be a few accidental BBs on my rug RIGHT OUTSIDE my door and all they have to do is slip through? Am I going to have to spray the threshold?

Please tell me if this is too obsessive.
kannon_bosatsu

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Posted 2 years ago
Sun Sep 26 2010 16:15:15
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What I do is strip inside my door. We have a long hallway and all our clothes and linens are in bags and plastic storage bins in the closets and wardrobes that are there.

I take off all my clothes and put them into clear plastic bags I have ready and waiting. I take my electronics out of my purse and put them in a ziploc the I put my purse on a shelf that has DE on it and that's where it lives for the night. My shoes get sprayed with Kleen-Free and get put into a ziploc. We just got our steamer so we are planning on steaming the shoes on entry going forward.

Once this is all done I get clean clothes from bags and mop the entryway where I was standing with Lysol. If I'm tired I will spray it down with steri-fab or Kleen-Free.

When our Pactite arrives it will live in the hallway and everything will be thrown in there to bake the bugs out when I get home. Our apartment building has a BB infestation so I'm very paranoid about tracking them in.
aaghbugs

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Posted 2 years ago
Sun Sep 26 2010 17:11:06
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I had an ex that I got the infestation from and she would change right in the doorway as soon as she came in. I still don't know if it was during the changing, in her hair, or somehow else that they got in.

Perhaps you could get a clean, clear white mat of plastic or rubber or something that you could change/bag on so any bugs that drop off could be spotted.

If you want to be really obsessive you could buy a plastic kiddie pool and stand in that when you change.
delorac

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Posted 2 years ago
Sun Sep 26 2010 20:46:05
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Perhaps you could get a clean, clear white mat of plastic or rubber or something that you could change/bag on so any bugs that drop off could be spotted.
If you want to be really obsessive you could buy a plastic kiddie pool and stand in that when you change.

We started out standing on an old cookie sheet, but it was too small. Eventually we got a kitty-litter pan from the dollar store, which worked wonderfully. Nice high sides, smooth plastic, easy to carry to the tub for rinsing out after use. The trick is, as kannon_bosatsu said, to have everything ready and waiting: a "dirty" bag for your outside shoes, another for your clothes, and one for your purse/wallet/cell phone. The shoes can stay sealed in the bag until the next time you're going out, at which time you step back into your rinsed or sprayed litter pan, put your shoes on, give the pan a spray with alcohol and walk out the door. Don't forget to reseal the bag, though, in case any nymphs fell off your shoes while they were in there.