A few weeks after my boyfriend and I moved into our new apartment, I was spending a lovely afternoon at home, painting and arranging furniture, when I discovered an interloper: a three-inch-long cockroach living in our silverware drawer. We named him Michael Douglas (I’m a big fan of ‘80s and ‘90s thrillers) and lived in fear of him for 10 days. Every time we opened the drawer, there he was, antennae tickling our forks. But he was fast—he always darted back into some unseen hiding place and we could never figure out where he went.
That is, until we waged all-out war one night, Matt with the hose of the vacuum cleaner, me with a shoe. It was an elaborate process, but we got him. That was how we spent Valentine’s Day.
For weeks, Michael Douglas haunted my dreams (and my waking hours; I’d hallucinate cockroaches in the edges of my vision), and I lay awake at night afraid that he might have a body double—or offspring. So I called up an exterminator and stayed home one morning to meet him. I had my questions written down. “Do you think there are more?” I asked. “How can we prevent this from ever happening again?”
Having lived in New York for nine years, I was ready for some of what he told me: Don’t leave dirty dishes or trash sitting around. Don’t leave standing water in the sink or shower. Get rid of cardboard boxes as quickly as possible.
But I was not prepared for what he said next: Our cockroach was probably a one-off, since we’d just moved.
“Sometimes they hitch a ride in,” he said. “One thing you should never do is keep paper grocery bags. Those are stacked in the basements of grocery stores, and cockroaches can lay eggs in them or travel in them.”
I thought immediately of the stacks of grocery bags that I’d so diligently saved. They were, as we spoke, stockpiled under our sink. I thought I was being so eco-conscious, carefully collapsing and folding them to re-use to carry our recycling and, occasionally, to tote old clothes to the donation bin. Little did I know, I may have been unwittingly giving cockroaches a loading dock into our apartment.
When I reported this to friends the next day (after I’d promptly recycled every single grocery bag the moment our exterminator left), they were as horrified as I'd been. Turns out, they’d been stockpiling grocery bags, too—tons! One friend even used good-looking versions to bring flowers and wine to dinner parties. They went right home and recycled their stock.
If you’re like me, pre–Michael Douglas episode, you might forget to bring reusable cloth bags with you to the grocery store. But here’s yet another reason to make the effort: They’re better for the environment and have had no occasion to collect cockroach eggs. To help myself remember, I hang a bag of totes on one of the hooks by our front door, within my line of sight when I head to the grocery store. I also switched my everyday work bag to a roomier canvas one, so I have plenty of space for dinner supplies if I decide to stop at the market on my way home.
If you do forget a reusable bag and must get paper bags at the store, give up the idea of saving them: Unpack your groceries and then promptly recycle the bags. Then, designate a cloth or reusable bag to hold your recycling. No cockroaches welcome.
I don’t know whether it’s our new commitment to cloth grocery bags or whatever the exterminator did, but (knock on wood) we haven’t had any unwanted tenants since—and our under-sink cabinet's a lot less cluttered, too.
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Written by: Annie Quigley
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43 Comments
Random thought/ question too. When did paper bags get so popular again? Remember when most grocery stores got rid of them entirely for plastic? To save the trees and all. I assume we realized plastic was even worse and hence the switch back to paper? Just struck me as odd to think about. Now I need to go dispose of some paper bags...
I live in Texas and all they do is make the clicking noise and bugs still enter the home without issue.
Use bug spray on your entry ways and windows to your homes. It stops some bugs from coming in and the bugs that make it inside and die trying.
Dollar General has a great bug killer spray for one dollar. I don't remember the brand.
It died and now I just got mice again,
I’ve had to purchase the most highly rated one on amazon because my old brand is only available in Europe. We will see.
I heard that tale about roaches in paper bags 30 years ago. For ages I did not keep them. But for the last few years I have with no issues. If I do, boric acid will be my friend!
I saw one cockroach while we were on vacation in Florida, just one. Wigged me out completely!
You "could" test what he says by putting the bags into a sealed plastic tub--see if anything hatches out. I've never had roaches and I have saved paper bags over many decades to use (double-bagged) as totes or give-away bags. But I keep the food, dirty plates cleaned up, and any dry-goods switched to glass jars. Also, keep the insides of your stove cleaned up, including under the burners. I also cold-sterilize any new dry-goods with 3-days in the freezer.
I was told about paper bags years ago and also to take items like garbage bags and such out of the cardboard box they come in. When they used to sell d/w detergent in a box, I decanted it into a plastic or glass jar. So there is no cardboard or paper, paper towels etc under the sink.
I saw that on the Scorpion tv show. I missed it the first time. LOL
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