I normally take pride in being a clean person; it comes with the territory of editing cleaning content daily—you just can’t help being tidier when all you do is look at tidy spaces all day. Unfortunately, the summer’s heat brings a host of bug-related problems to my apartment, namely the never-ending battle of keeping fruit flies at bay.

Battling bugs has been a major trial-and-error process, but nothing could’ve prepared me for my biggest battle yet: dozens of wriggling maggots in my trash can on a Monday morning.

Possibly the Worst Way to Start a Week

This was my first time dealing with maggots personally, but I’d already read up on getting rid of maggots through editing content for work. If you’re unfamiliar with maggots, they’re pretty much just baby flies. If you’ve got a fly in your home, it either started out as a maggot in your home or elsewhere and made its way to your space.

I woke up on a balmy Monday morning in July, bleary-eyed and trudging around my apartment getting ready for work. The last step of my pre-work routine is feeding my cat, which led me to opening my trash can and audibly asking my boyfriend, “why did we throw out so much rice last night?”

Only we didn’t have rice the night before, and the rice in the trash can was moving. Once the initial panic and ickiness subsided, I immediately got to work.

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My Speedy Solution (I Promise)

I didn’t have a lot of time to act: There were tons of maggots crawling around my trash bag, the lid, and some were now wiggling their way out of the bag and down the side of the trash can’s exterior while I stared in horror.

I also had all of 15 minutes (if that) left before I needed to leave my apartment to catch the bus. Thankfully, our maggot articles are some of the most memorable ones I’ve read (with great visuals, if you’re interested), so I knew I needed some bleach right away to help me take care of the job.

I only had the world’s most abysmally meager amount of bleach left in the bottle, but it was enough to saturate a paper towel. Normally, it’s recommended to dilute bleach, even if you’re using it for pest control purposes. However, my brain wasn’t the clearest in the moment, so I went straight for the pure bleach on a paper towel.

I first corralled together the maggots crawling on the exterior of my trash can and crushed them with the bleach-soaked paper towel. Then I tossed the paper towel in the trash can and closed the lid, letting the fumes do all the work for me.

Under other circumstances, the method works like a charm if you have 30 minutes to an hour to let the fumes sit, but I only gave it about 10 minutes before I got back to work.

By the time I lifted the lid again, most of the maggots that were crawling on the inside had died from the fumes and fallen off into the trash bag with the rest of their brethren fighting for their lives.

I knew the bleach was working, so I didn’t need to hover over and watch for much longer. I tied up the trash bag and sent it on its way, maggots and all. The last step was ensuring that any stragglers didn’t multiply, so I rinsed off my trash can lid in the tub (don’t worry, I thoroughly disinfected the tub afterwards) and sprayed the trash can with a disinfectant.

I was slightly late to work, but the maggots were all gone for good by the time I got home, and I haven’t had another sighting since.