My 15 year old son

by Janet
(Reynoldsburg, OH USA)

My 15 year old son has been in a group home for the past 3 weeks, and low and behold, the home has bed bugs!! He is coming home tomorrow and I fear that he will bring them home with him. So what we are doing is taking a change of clothes to change into, including new shoes, socks and underwear. All other clothes that he has with him will go into the trash as well as his back pack. Nothing is coming into my car that was at the group home. We live with the in-laws so you can understand the importance of making sure that these bugs do not come home with us. If you have any advice, please feel free to share it.

Editor Comment: You are definitely taking the safest course of action. The only alternative is to seal the clothes in a bed bug proof plastic bag before they enter the home. The Ziploc Big Bag Double Zipper XXL is a good choice. From there the clothes go directly into the washing machine on the hottest setting followed by 30 minutes in the dryer. Not sure what to do with the sneakers except throw them out, since you don't have a high heat container.

Bottom line, since you know bed bugs are a problem at the group home, I'd take the safest course of action and throw out everything.