I do not want people to think i'm a wet blanket for writing this... but PLEASE be sure that if you buy fabric, blankets, clothing and especially furniture at yard slaes or estate sales....you WASH and dry in very high heat all of the fabric items... as for the furniture, i'm not sure... My reason being........... my SIS... who has gotten some fantastic fabric and other items this way.... purchased a beautiful, not too used looking chair at a very nice consignment shop... after a few months... she found "bed type bugs".... she has had to have a total fummigation TWICE... this was a ton of work for someone with a disability... next week they are going to "HEAT" her house to about 160degrees, to be sure they are gone....this means finding a place for her birds to go as well..... This has been a nightmare... they took her bed (they had gotten into the frame)and cut up and disposed of her chair that she loved.... they came in via. the chair...She's been told they like to hid in the folds of fabrics and are horrible to get rid of once they enter your home...I Love seeing all the great bargins of fabric and figure that lots of "our children" (mine will be some)... are left with the collections of their parents... and we never know just where this stuff was kept or how long it was around.... so... Just be careful,,, the washing is a given, i'm sure, but the "hot" drying, might be a good idea... regardless of the shrinkage issue.... hope this is taken as a helpful suggestion.... My Sis is without a bed and chair until she can afford one...we "skyped" last night and she was crying and saying she's never had much, but she never really felt as poor and ashamed as she does now... people are even treating her differently.. she is a person that does so much for others and it's so unfair ...............

Thanks for the suggestion!!!

I hope they can get rid of her bugs!!!

Please tell you sister none of this is her fault. Give her hugs from me and tell her to hang in there, things will get better eventually.

Kat

My son's nurse told me that at his former job before he became a nurse, he used to work for an apartment complex and they were given box cutters to go out very early in the morning and cut up furniture that the tenants had put out. They had had a bad infestation of bed bugs and couldn't get rid of them because people that had the bugs would put out the furniture and the other tenants not thinking, would bring it into their homes and start the infestation all over again!

hugs to sister

That is so terrible. Hope the bugs are gone after this treatment. Makes you wonder if others are having the same problem after shopping at the garage sale. Tell her we ate all hugging her across the miles, and things will soon be better.
Sue

thank you all so much... i'm going to send her a link to here tomorrow... it will make her heart sing!!!What a great group!!!!!!!!! hugs Barbara

Oh, that is so sad. It's not her fault, it has nothing to do with her housekeeping. Let s/he who daily dry steams the entire house (a 10-16 hour process for an average size house) cast the first stone.

Sadly, bedbugs are a growing problem in some areas (mostly the East Coast but in other areas as well) and they can hide anywhere. I've read media reports of swank, upscale hotels who have quietly had to go to very expensive measures to get rid of bedbug infestations. Office buildings, too. And, rumour has it, at least one theatre on Broadway.

This is one reason why I always pre-wash. It comes into the house and goes straight into the washing machine. If it can't withstand one hot wash and dry on high heat, it just isn't worth it to me to keep around.

I hope that your sis will take hope. it is not her fault. it is the people who set out the chair for the shop. they should have known better. I am so sorry that she has to go through this. Bed bugs are boogers to get rid of. I don't ever buy anything that can not be sterilized from consignment shops for this reason. hugs to her.

How sad. Stories just like your sister's have been making the rounds for several months now. A local news station told of a woman who thought she'd gotten a great deal on Craig's List - an entire bedroom set for $200. Dresser, nightstands, bed frame, queen mattress and boxsprings, and another piece. I don't know what it's called, it's like a desk but has a mirror and you sit and put makeup on. She's since spent $2000 on trying to get rid of the bedbugs that came in with the set. Some deal.

It never crossed my mind bed bugs are cropping up in unsuspecting places such as furniture from thrift shops and garage sales. I hate for your sis to go through all this pain, but tell her she definitely has helped somebody else by sharing her story. Give her a big hug for me. I will sure think twice about what I buy from now on.

Your poor sister bless her heart. Sometimes Life isn't very kind and sorry she's had this awful bug problem; send her a big hug and assure her things will get better.

I'm sorry to read about your sister's experience with bugs! Thank you for warning us! I go to garage sales a lot so I will be checking things out first! I read where a man purchased a carton of items at a sale and as he was driving home he got bit by a snake that was in the box he had got at the sale!

I wish her the best.it must be so hard on her. Thank you for telling us about it. It will make me more careful with the things I bring into my house.

If she lived near me I'd give her a chair and a bed!

Our exterminator for termites and such, told us he had to exterminate at the WHITE HOUSE for bed bugs. Tell your sister she is in good company?

Oh your poor sister!! I pray someone can help her out -- this is horrible!! We had a friend who bought a new mattress that had bedbugs, so nothing is safe. Fortunately, she was able to get the store to pay to fumigate the house, but it was a horrible experience.

Your poor sis! She has to know that this is pretty common nowadays. Look around online. Talk to others who have been through it. It's very difficult and most unaffected people aren't sympathetic. They're just freaked out by bugs. She does not have cooties! I can't emphasize enough how common this is becoming.

I travel. I am well aware how often my fellow travelers take bedbugs home with them from hotels or even luggage contact. All my stuff is in bags in my luggage. I bag up my luggage when I get home. I do my best to prevent an infestation and my best is probably not good enough.

I don't buy anything used anymore. That's sad but that's the way it has to be. I'm also aware that a new fabric purchase or just about anything online might cause problems. Ugh!

I have wood floors and old wood, detailed furniture. I would never be able to get rid of the horrid things without gutting this place and throwing away family heirlooms.

Keep your chin up, sis! Talk to people who are supportive. You don't deserve this horrible, stressful situation. Persevere.

good luck with all of this.

That is awful! I always wash the fabric I get elsewhere before it enters the house!

I was so delighted when I found two large bolts of decorator fabric in the shed of a house we were renting. They immediately came into the house and into the sewing room. Thus began our flea infestation! You aren't a "wet blanket" you're justing sounding the alarm!

So sorry for your sister. Those things are a nightmare.

How sad. But let your sister know it isn't her fault. It's been on TV that some of the top hotels are having trouble with these little critters.

The people who are treating her different had better think first, they may be next if they aren't careful. These are everywhere now according to what they show on TV. They don't pick and choose where to be found.

I thank you for posting this to help others.

yikes. i wondered about the people on House hunters buying vacation homes and wanting to rent them out when not there. Yuck. not me.
i read some news about people dying in some Country where the beds or rooms were treated with chemicals. scary!!

The Cedarcide company swears by their product. You can Google it.

Scarey!!!

Oh, your poor sister. I really feel for her! What an absolute shame that she has to go through this.

I had a bunny that my husband accidentally let out right before he deployed. The bunny brought home fleas. I was seven months pregnant and while trying to organically kill the fleas (since I couldn't use chemicals), I went into pre-term labor. I brought home a premie and was mortified that she started getting bit by fleas. I had no family around and nowhere to go with my son and daughter, so I had to endure the bites. I had had an emergency C-section and was released the next day on a hospital error, so I couldn't even drive a car, let alone push a steam cleaner. Fortunately, my aunt drove 16 hours to come help me. She had to steam clean all my carpets and furniture, and wash all the clothes and linens in the entire house. (The bunny was given away too!) It took her a week of hard work. I was so embarrassed by my flea problem, even though it was through no fault of my own.

My heart goes out to anyone who has had to endure a pest infestation of their home.

{{{Huggs}}} to your sister, don't let this get you or her down.

Oh goodness I will definitely remember this and wash everything I get at the thrift stores and yard sales.

Billy

That's a terrible story - I feel so bad for your sister. For those of you who are interested in reading some more about bedbugs the link below is to an excellent article on how to identify the critters.

http://membracid.wordpress.com/2008/...-for-bed-bugs/

Thanks for the heads up, and please tell your sister she has nothing to be ashamed of...nothing!! The people that treat her different need to be educated...and learn some manners...sending her a cyber hug...

I went to Goodwill one day when I had my grandson visiting for the summer. I found him a couple of shorts and t-shirts, and I found a nice leather black purse, well known brand. The lady put it all in one bag. So we went to eat afterwards, went to do other things, so on the way home I told him everything has to be washed and dried that we get at Goodwill. And I explained about the bugs etc. So we get home, I start the washer and he dumps the bag of things in. I go to get it out of the washer to put in the dryer, and there is my purse. I had forgotten about even getting it. Well It came out beautiful, so I hung it up to dry, thinking well the leather will be ruined. Oh no, dried up great, we got a chuckle out of that. I wouldn't have washed the purse and who knows what could have been in it. So glad it got put in the washer after all. He ask me the other day had I used my purse. I told him I was waiting till winter time, since it was black...He will probably remember this story.. He's eleven..

Bless her heart. Tell her that inspite of this problem that she is a good person and those who judge others by circumstances had better re think their thoughts.

Hugs and prayers for her.

I'm always on the lookout for bedbugs.

Thats terrible.

This happened to someone I know...son brought home a mattress and she ended up spending thousands getting rid of the bugs, replacing furniture, etc.

They had on the news about these nasty bugs....that the average house can NOT kill the bugs, as our hot water and our dryer cycle does not get hot enough for a long enough spell to kill them. So thats why, a person HAS to call in help to get rid of these nasty things. So even just us buying fabric and washing it..will not kill bedbugs (or the larva) from the fabric.

Gee what a drag. This happened to my sister in law. She bought a sheep skin at Goodwill and it was infested with fleas. I know, I know your thinking a sheep skin? Well those little critters were difficult to get rid of.

Story to be told of BIG BUGS.DH was stationed in a state close by. I thought I would drive there for the week end.Got there on Friday night. We went to bed,got up in the morning my right side had all these red spots.I was thinking that I ate something the night before. Nope it was BED BUGS in the room. I was so mad. We took everything we owned to a laundry mat.We ended up throwing all suit cases in the dumpser. We were told that they get in everything.We went to Bed Bath Beyond bought this spray. WE got back the out room and striped everything out in the hall was.Sprayed the h--- out of the room. you name it we sprayed it. Draws,pictures.under the bed and floor,Used the whole bottle up.The manger came down to our room after they seen everything in the hall way.We told the day girl what was going on.She didn't call the manger at all.The maids came in and changed the room for us. End of story he went to the base got a room,I went home. Before I came in house I striped everything off at the washer(in our garage). You tell your sister that we feel her pain.Praying everything works out for her.Hugs to you and her.