How to get rid of cockroaches yourself and not spend thousands on an exterminator.

How I got rid of my worst nightmare. So disgusting. This summer, I saw a bunch of bugs on the kitchen counter, I thought to myself... What are those? Then I kept seeing them. They were scary looking. Then I told my husband, "OMG, we have cockroaches". He didn't believe me. He is from Florida. He was like we don't get cockroaches out here like we do in Florida. Absolutely disgusting. How did I get them? I live in a Townhouse. We're they from the neighbors? We're they from a cardboard box? We had a pipe leaking water, I read that this can cause cockroaches to invade your house. Where ever they came from, they needed to leave, and never come back, and I was going to be sure of that. I hate bugs, especially cockroaches. I was mortified. I wanted to stay with my parents. The year before, I successfully got rid of bed bugs. Here is a link to how I got rid of those nasty creatures: https://www.mylifecom.net/2019/09/that-time-i-had-bed-bugs-and-how-i-got.html I researched on the web on how to get rid of them. I cleaned my house thoroughly with bleach. This suckers carry e coli, disease, and nasty germs in general, since they crawl around everywhere, like the trash and the sewer, and so on. They breed and they lay eggs fast. Just like bed bugs, you gotta be on top of it, and kill them and their eggs. I could not have roaches crawling on the counters and getting my kids sick. So repulsive. I would have nightmares at night. So, after I cleaned my house, I bombed it, fumigated it. When you bug bomb your house, read the instructions thoroughly. You need to blow out the furnace and water heater pilot lights, and unplug all your appliances. I had my husband do all this. I used: Cockroach fogger. You leave the house for three hours, take the pets out, all living things, return 3 hours later, and air your house out. Then I sprayed the house. I sprayed the baseboards, the walls, under the sinks, under the toilet, in dark places, and the crawl space. You also need to spray outside. I sprayed the whole exterior of the house, 6 inches up from the ground. I used: Ortho Home Defense. This spray doesn't have a nasty odor, or bother my asthma. The other sprays do. Then we put out combat roach bait The roaches eat it, and take it to their nest. Roaches eat dead roaches so this is really effective. Then we put out roach gel my friend from Texas recommended this. Then we put out diatomaceous earth This is fossilized powder that cuts their exoskeleton and dehydrates them and they die! This is awesome for getting rid of all bugs. It comes with a sprayer. You spray it around the baseboards, I put some on the counters since it is food grade and safe. They also sell it at the health food store for consumption but it has to be food grade. I clean it up with a broom and reapply in 3 months. They are not allowed back ever! Essential oils! We have a diffuser. They hate the smell of peppermint. You can also put peppermint essential oil on the counters to keep them away. They also hate lemongrass, and citrus. You can also mix baking soda, flour, sugar, and borax laundry detergent. They will be attracted to the flour and sugar, eat it and die. Put it on the floor, along with the DE. I haven't seen any cockroaches in a long time. I am going to keep spraying the bug spray at least once a week with my weekly cleaning. I also spray with other cockroach sprays I will not have this happen ever again. There you have it. Michelle the exterminator. I should get a job as an exterminator. HA! Don't think so.