Clearing the Clutter
Organize any clutter or mess in your home as well as you possibly can. It is always easier to isolate the problem and work in a clean environment. And don't assume that just because your house is clean/dirty, that is the reason you have an infestation. Bed bugs are an epidemic, and they prefer any environment that houses a warm, living body for them to feed on, including your pets. Your personal cleanliness has nothing to do with it. Bed bugs do like to hide in piles of laundry and (surprise) your bed, bed-skirt, and box spring. They will make it into couch cushions and blankets, and whatever else they can. More often than not, though, they are coming in through a hole, opening, or crack somewhere.
Clean everything thoroughly. Wash any and all exposed clothing, bedding, cushions, fabric, etc. in as hot water as the fabric can stand, and use bleach if possible on anything that you can. A color-safe bleach would be perfect for this purpose. Vacuum and mop the carpets and floors. Use bleach on the floor first and then use the water/alcohol solution to spray and mop it down after. Wipe down any surfaces that can handle the water/alcohol solution without suffering any damage as a result. If possible, bag up anything you cannot wash with an airtight seal and put it outside (if you live somewhere that temperatures are freezing, somewhere in the snow, or if not, put it somewhere that may expose them to heat but will not damage the bag or the item you have inside it; you are trying to cut off their air supply and kill them with extreme temperature). When in doubt, throw it out (if you have the means to do so). If there's anything else not mentioned yet, just clean it at the very least with very hot water or freezing.
Killing the Bedbugs
Sprinkle food grade diatomaceous earth into and onto any cracks, holes, openings, or anywhere else that is dry that you feel may be the entry point for the bed bugs invading your home. Diatomaceous earth is an ingredient in most of the bombs aimed at bed bugs; the shards of the shell (or powder) are microscopically sharp and puncture the thin, waxy, exoskeletons of these night-feeding demons, causing them to dehydrate and die, our eventual goal in all of this.
Apply the alcohol mixture if your skin can handle it before you go to sleep until the infestation clears. You may also want to consider wearing more clothing when you sleep as well; and ladies, pull your hair back or put it in something because they will crawl into loose hair. Anything you can do to prevent them from getting to you, do it! Although bedbugs don't carry disease, and for most people, the bites are unnoticeable, for some they itch, and itch, and itch. Bedbugs can bite you anywhere.
Kill any you see on contact and be prepared to deal with blood stains on your bedding, so you may want to change it. In fact, the small blood stains left as a result of rolling over and killing them is often what makes a lot of people realize they have a bed bug infestation in the first place. One place you may want to look at closely is in the folds of the bed-skirt. The last of them should die off in about a week, possibly two. But it may happen sooner than that; it all depends on the severity of the infestation.
Ensuring The End of The Infestation
Clean everything thoroughly, again! This is to remove any dead bugs lying around and just as another precautionary measure in case there were still some eggs or baby blood-suckers that made it through the initial phase of cleaning. They will get vacuumed up very easily.
Wash all of your bed sheets, comforters, duvet/pillow covers. Wash everything where a bed bug can potentially hide.
Buy bed bug mattress and pillow protectors. You can't wash these in the laundry machine, so wrap them up with a protector that has a bed bug-proof zipper that will seal any existing bed bugs inside and prevent any new ones from crawling in.
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