How to Make Natural Moth Repellent

As you pack away seasonal clothing, here are some ways to make natural moth repellent to protect your clothes from moths while in storage.

Once we moved to an area with four seasons, I realized I needed to store seasonal clothing. I realized that along with packing up seasonal clothing, I also needed to repel moths from my stored clothing, but I wanted to do it without using moth balls. Besides stinking to high heaven store bought moth balls contain the chemicals naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene. The chemicals are dangerous to both children and animals. Commercial moth balls should never be within reach of children or pets!

I ultimately decided not to use moth balls in my home. So how do I prevent moths from dining on my clothing? Below are the steps I take to prevent moths from damaging my clothing without using moth balls.

Prior to storing clothing, I wash it or dry clean it to make sure there is not a chance that there are any eggs or larvae on it before storing it.

I hang nice clothing on a cedar hangers when storing it. To minimize the expensive of cedar hangers, I only use them for clothing that is going to be stored. I use plastic hangers for clothing that is currently being worn.

Once the clothing is on the cedar hanger, I place it in a seal-able hanging bag. You want to make sure that moths are not able to easily gain access to your clothing.

Clothing that doesn’t need to be hung up, is folded and placed directly in a seal-able bag.

I add a sachet made with cedar chips and lavender to the hanging bag prior to closing it.

How to Make a Natural Moth Repellent Sachet:

Items needed:

Sachet bag (I use muslin spice bags)
Cedar chips (can be found at your local pet store)
lavender (can be found on the culinary aisle in your grocery store)
dried rosemary (optional)
cedar essential oil or lavender essential oil (optional)

Directions:

Place cedar shavings, lavender, and rosemary in a sachet bag.
Add 4 -5 drops of essential oils to the shavings.
Close sachet bag and secure with a knot.

Place the sachet on one of the hangers or secure it to the bar inside the hanging bag. I often add extra cedar chips to the bottom of the hanging bag. For clothing that is not hung up, I place a sachet on top of the clothing right before sealing the bag.