Fruit flies are amazing, and by that I mean amazingly annoying! These tiny creatures can detect the smell of ripe fruits and vegetables from miles away. If there's a bowl of fruit on your kitchen counter, there's probably a fruit fly or two looking for a way into your home to get to it. Because they're so small, they can get in through window screens, or door or window crevices.

Once inside, they reproduce like crazy, and they're on more than just overripe fruit. They love the slime that collects in a drain, or a nice, cozy mop or sponge. Add the heat of summer to any of those situations and, before you know it, you've got yourself an annoying full-fledged fruit fly infestation.

Tired of fruit flies taking over? First toss anything overripe; clean the muck from the drains*; and eliminate wet sponges, mops and the like. Then try one of these effective remedies to banish them from your kitchen.

UNFILTERED APPLE CIDER VINEGAR. Remove the cap from the bottle of apple cider vinegar (it doesn't have to be full; nearly empty works, too). Cover the opening with plastic wrap and secure it with a rubber band. Poke a hole in the plastic wrap for the flies to enter. They can't resist the scent of the apple cider vinegar. Once inside this trap, they won't be able to exit.

VINEGAR AND DISH SOAP. Add three drops of any dish soap to a small bowl of apple cider vinegar and leave it completely uncovered. The soap cuts the surface tension of the vinegar so the flies will sink and drown.

PAPER CONE AND FRUIT. Place a little vinegar and a chunk of very ripe fruit in a jar. Roll a piece of paper into a cone and stick it in the jar with the narrow opening on the bottom. Fruit flies will be drawn in and not able to get out.

MILK, SUGAR AND PEPPER. Cook up a batch of this fruit fly bait that comes from Old Farmer's Almanac. Combine a pint of milk, 4 ounces of raw sugar and 2 ounces ground pepper in a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes. Then pour into a shallow dish. The flies will be drawn to the mixture and quickly drown.

RED WINE. Fruit flies love the sweetness of wine. Try leaving out a bottle with a little liquid left; the skinny neck will trap the flies.

FLY PUNCH. I've had reports from multiple readers who say that Aunt Fannie's FlyPunch! works better to attract and eliminate fruit flies than any other remedy they've tried. This nontoxic formula that contains sodium lauryl sulfate and maltic acid is fast, powerful and easy to use. And it is reported to last up to 30 days. It costs about $8.

*If you have any slow-moving drains in your house, there may be enough organic matter hanging out inside your pipes to support a breeding population of fruit flies. You can tape some plastic wrap over suspect drains for a few days to check for fruit flies. If you see adults on the underside of the plastic, you've got some breeding in your drain. To fix any drainage issues, pour boiling hot water down problem drains to help loosen accumulated deposits. If accessible, you can also use a firm brush to scrub the inside of the pipe and free debris.

Mary invites questions, comments and tips at [email protected], or c/o Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Suite B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com, a personal finance member website and the author of "Debt-Proof Living," released in 2014. To find out more about Mary and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.