Most Americans turn to a professional exterminator to deal with pest problems in their homes. Dealing with pests like cockroaches sends most people scurrying for their neighbor’s telephone and yellow pages.

The huge army of professional pest exterminators in the United States takes in about $7 billion in combined revenues each year.

The CDC found that the average American citizen has at least 13 different pesticides in his or her body. Some of these pesticides have been linked to health problems such as cancer and nerve damage.

Although green alternatives are great and bait boxes are less dangerous than using large volumes of pesticides, your best bet is to keep the pests out in the first place.

Denying pests access to your home will not only save the cost of expensive extermination, but you will also make your home more energy efficient. It really is a win-win strategy for any homeowner.

Your homes exterior walls, doors, windows and roof are commonly referred to as the envelope. To keep pests out you will need to become an envelope detective in order to locate and seal even small openings or breaches in your home's envelope.

Most common pests in a home, other than blood-sucking varieties, need food and water to survive. Take away food and water from pests and they will die off or look for a new home.

It is a good idea to check that cupboards where you store food close tight and have no openings that would allow pests to enter for a snack. Storing things up high can also help, but the best thing to do is to store dry foods in sealed, hard plastic, metal or glass containers.

It is very important to keep your home free of standing water, clutter free, clean and to do up your dirty dishes at least twice daily. Roaches hate the scent of lemons, so you can clean your floors with a detergent that has a strong lemon scent or add bottled unsweetened lemon juice to your wash water before doing the floors.

It may sound strange, but if you redefine your definition of pests, you will accept that spiders and lizards are great pest killers. Both spiders and lizards like to keep to themselves and they love to devour pests.