Having to deal with bed bugs infestation will give you a serious headache and heartache for many years to come. It's not just the fear of getting bitten during the night while you are sleeping, but also because bed bugs are a pain in the neck to be exterminated once they have established themselves in your house. As the saying goes, 'Prevention is better than cure', it would be wise if you can prevent them from infiltrating your house and haunting your households for the rest of your lives.

The basic rule is simple; keep your house clean and tidy all the time. Most of the time, the root of the problem comes from the way you manage your households. Bed bugs, as other pests, settle themselves well in a dirty environment. Regularly cleaning your house, dusting your furniture and vacuum the carpet will prevent bed bugs from having a chance to settle down let alone laying their eggs in your house.

Try and reduce clutter in your bedroom or living room by moving unwanted items and furniture to limit hiding places for bed bug. You can also from time to time move your furniture around and change their positions so that no one place is safe enough for bed bugs to hide.

The cleanliness of your beds must also be maintained consistently. This can be done by hanging bed linens once a week at least, and wash the linens with warm water every time. It is also a good idea to use anti dust mite covers for the beddings as extra protection. As a way to prevent bed bugs from climbing to your bed, you can also coat the bed legs with petroleum jelly and keep the bed away from the wall.

There are reports that indicate bed bugs would climb a wall in order to fall onto a bed so creating a barrier around your bed is not a bad idea at all. Apart from coating your bed legs with petroleum jelly, one other thing that you can do to stop bed bugs from pestering your bed is to keep the bed legs into dishes or cups of water.

Inspect your house and find any cracks or holes that can possibly be the perfect resting place for bed bugs. Get those cracks repaired and holes sealed as soon as possible. If you are using wallpaper, find the area of loosen wallpaper on your wall and glue it down as this can also be a place where bed bugs can reside if left untreated.

Finally if you are planning to buy any used or second hand furniture, have a thorough and careful check before bringing them into your house. Bed bugs can last months without feeding on blood so there is a possibility that they have already settle down inside the furniture. Look for any cracks and crevices and see whether there's any sign of bed bug infestation or not. You wouldn't want to be the one that invites them into your house, would you? So keep everything in close scrutiny for your ease of mind.