As embarrassing to admit as it is, I had cockroaches in my home. And as my luck would have it, they made their first public appearance on the dinner table on the very night I invited friends over for a dinner party. I’ve never been so terrified in my life. I know that my dinner guests saw the horror in my face, but that doesn’t change the fact.

I’ll save the embarrassing story for another time, but let’s just say that dinner was ruined immediately. I couldn’t eat if I’d wanted to and after seeing the dirty, horrible monster crawling around. Who would want to eat? My guests certainly excused themselves from the table quickly, and I couldn’t blame them. All of the apologies in the world doesn’t make that okay!

I rushed to the home improvement store where I spent at least 20-minutes discussing the various cockroach treatment options with the kid in the store. He seems pretty knowledgeable despite his young age, and since he did this sort of thing every day, I took his advice and purchased a product that he recommended for great results.

I went home and used the product as he told me, and nothing changed. Nothing at all. The cockroaches actually seemed to multiply after using this treatment. I guess it just stuffed up their hiding places a little bit so they come out of hiding for a short spell. I was angry but still determined to beat the cockroaches at their own game, so I went to a different store and purchased another cockroach treatment.

This product cost more than the first and was also recommended by the sales agent at the store. I was happy after using this one because it seemed to work. I didn’t see any more cockroaches roaming around but I did see several lying around on the floor dead. Of course, it was only about four days of peace from pests until I again seen cockroaches on the table and on the countertops. That was it. I’d had it. I was ready to pull out my hair.

I called a pest control company that came out to my home the following day. I was excited that I had someone coming out who really knew how to treat cockroaches. I called a company that guaranteed their work, which assured me about the cash that I was handing over. I work hard for my money and don’t want to waste a single penny.

Along with the guarantee, the pest control company searched high and low for cockroaches and/or signs of their presence, something that I didn’t even think about doing. It seems that cockroaches are really good at hiding, which is the reason I hadn’t spotted them until the dinner party event. Many of the roaches were hidden beneath the surface in areas that I didn’t spray with my OTC product. The pest control professional attacks the roaches from top to bottom and they were gone, like magic.

The pesticide options sold at the home improvement stores are endless. I saw at least 12 brands at each store I shopped at. Some have well-known names; others not so much. The many products on the shelves aren’t half as strong as those used by pest control professionals. In fact, some of them do not work at all, as I experienced firsthand. It is frustrating to not only discover that your home is infested with pests but to buy a treatment that doesn’t work!

Nothing is worse than pests in the home. Trust me, I learned this through a very hard lesson. If you see pests of any type in the home, whether it is cockroaches, ants, wasps, mice, or something else, make the wise decision and call in the professionals for pest control from the get-go. I wasted money and time by using the at-home cockroach treatment when all I needed was the expertise of the pros! The OTC treatments have nothing on the services that a professional can bring into your home.