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Traveling Sales Man brother-in-law coming to stay with me..really worried...
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scaredsayscared
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 12 2010 21:07:29
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So, my brother-in-law (who happens to be a traveling salesman) and sister are coming to stay at my house this weekend. He travels every single week for business no exaggeration and that's why he will be down my way this weekend. He will be staying in a hotel Thursday night for business and then my sister will fly down on Friday and they will both stay with us for the weekend. Of course, I want to see my sister and brother-in-law and I'm very excited to hang out and visit but I'm also really worried about bed bugs at the same time.
We had a bed bug scare recently, but we are almost sure it was just fleas biting me. We captured a flea in my bed, had a K9 come in to detect and they found no evidence only flea dust/poop on the box spring. We've had climp ups on my son's crib for well over a month and passive alert monitors in the bedrooms and living rooms and nothing. But if we really are in the clear and don't have bed bugs, I certainly don't want them now from my family.
During this scare we purchased a packtite since we do travel often enough as well. So here's my plan...please let me know if I'm missing anything or any other suggestions you might have...thank you:)
I plan to encase their luggage in large contractor bags when I pick them up. Once we get home, I will do each suitcase one by one in the packtite along with their shoes. Laptops will be encased in a ziploc during their stay.
Here are my questions though: Can I treat their luggage with the clothes inside or do I have to remove these first, put the clothes back into a contractor bag and packtite separately after the suitcases? Also, what if they want to use the laptop while here? I'm thinking of offering mine first but if my brother-in-law can't and needs his for work is this a concern if he puts it back in the ziploc after? Do you think I need to be concerned about their cell phones and the clothes they enter the house in? Also, my brother-in-law has some expensive suits for work and my husband said we can't packtite his suits. I said it should be fine, but he doesn't want to risk damaging it and having to buy a new one for him. I think I will just keep it in a contractor bag in the car since he won't need it during the weekend. Anything else I'm missing? How far should I really go with this? I already warned them luggage would be packtited upon arrival and I really don't care if they think I'm crazy. I told them they would love my packtite and I really hope they see the value and my brother-in-law decides to buy one too.
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MyWorstFear
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 12 2010 21:34:08
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I was going to suggest that you tell them you think you're in the clear but you aren't positive, and maybe they'd decide not to stay with you, lol. As long as they are okay with you packtiting their stuff, and you do some other things (to follow) it should be okay. You could have them strip down in the garage and put what they are wearing in sealed ziplocks and then run and shower and change into fresh clothes (maybe they could borrow an outfit from you and your husband for a few hours until their stuff clears the packtite?). You will have to remove toiletries and medicines and electric stuff from the suitcases because you shouldn't packtite those items. It will take longer to packtite a full suitcase than an empty one but if you could, tell them to pack as light as possible. The only problem with the expensive suits is that they could wrinkle BUT if you open the suitcase and take them out and hang them up asap, they should smooth out.
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scaredsayscared
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 12 2010 22:04:32
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lol..yeah, i did actually tell my sister yesterday that i'm not 100% we still could have bed bugs (both for her benefit and mine) and she was like oh please you don't have bed bugs you had fleas. i tried to tell her well i could have both, but they do think i've gone a little over the deep end.
thanks for reminding me of the cosmetics..i totally was thinking about that last night while going to sleep. that i needed to take that stuff out first. if i packtite w/ clothes inside for convenience sake...do you think it will take 4hrs most likely? my sister will travel light for sure..she always does a good job with that and it's just a quick weekend. my brother-in-law probably but since he's traveling for business and staying through until monday not sure.
one final question..how important is it for them to shower? would the bed bugs really be on their bodies or hair if they changed..i mean can't you see them or is it eggs we are concerned about here?also, i just realized that i'm picking them up in my car so my sister's clothes from the airplane and that my brother-in-law wore on friday for work will be all over my car. how far do most people go with this stuff..i will never think the same after learning all about bed bugs, i don't want it to change my life but feel it really has.
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 12 2010 22:52:14
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Just remember to use your thermometer either way. You can treat the luggage packed if you like, just make sure your temp in the middle of the stuff in the suitcase gets to 120 F and stays there for an hour. I use my packtite this way when i come home from a trip or like today when i spent a fair amount of time in a bed bug infested hotel room. I am currently cooking the clothes I had on along with my shoes, belt, and hat. It will take longer to treat a packed suitcase compared to an empty shell, but most will treat in the four hour time period. My carry on full of clothes gets to 120 F in around 2.5 to three hours, my larger takes about 3 to get to 120F.
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scaredsayscared
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Posts: 51offline
Posted 3 years ago
Tue Apr 13 2010 13:14:54
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Thanks djames1921,
I love your product...it really is a great tool to anyone suffering from bed bugs or just a frequent traveler. I really hope that my brother-in-law decides to invest in one as he travels weekly most of the time to san francisco no less. I appreciate your feedback on the cook times
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MyWorstFear
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Posted 3 years ago
Tue Apr 13 2010 20:59:10
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I only know about the shower from reading it on here and definitely followed it when I moved my daughter out of an infested dorm room. (I even threw out my sneakers in the lobby of the dorm, and put on flip flops for the trip home). I guess the reasoning is if there are some on the clothes you were wearing, maybe one would decide to bite you and still be on you when you stripped off your clothes and thus you want to wash it down the drain before it falls off in the house somewhere? Maybe the experts will let us know for sure. I also insisted we wash our hair too, but then again, I'm a "clean" freak, so maybe I went a bit overboard.
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scaredsayscared
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Posts: 51offline
Posted 3 years ago
Tue Apr 13 2010 22:12:48
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myworstfear,
i hear you about the shower. another neat ocd freak over here too
before i learned about bedbugs my worst fear was germs etc. now i don't even care as much about that stuff. i'm constantly thinking bedbugs, bedbugs, bedbugs instead of about germs. it's funny how it makes me reflect on things that bothered me before like germs that now seem so harmless.
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