Got insects like ants, centipedes, cockroaches, silverfish, fleas, even — gasp! — bedbugs trying to take over your home or garden? Don't call an exterminator quite yet. This is a problem you can fix yourself — cheaper and faster!

If you want to treat your home for insects, but you don't want to poison yourself, your pets or the earth, your very best option is to use food-grade diatomaceous earth to get rid of household creepy crawlies.

Diatomaceous earth is an off-white talc-like powder that is the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton. If you could take a look at it through a microscope, you'd see that it resembles shards of glass. When sprinkled on a bug that has an exoskeleton (centipedes, bed bugs, ants, cockroaches and fleas, etc.) or placed strategically so that bug crawls into it, the DE cuts into that bug's exoskeleton, which causes it to dehydrate and die.

Here's the most amazing thing about DE: It kills bugs but doesn't hurt mammals. You and your pets could eat it without harm. In fact, many people add DE to their daily diet to promote good health.

Food-grade DE is readily available at garden centers and hardware stores. You can get a 10-pound bag from Amazon for about $20 with prime shipping. Just make certain you are purchasing food-grade diatomaceous earth, not the variety for swimming pools, which has been chemically altered and will not work as a pesticide. It must be food-grade.

Using a flour sifter, fine mesh strainer, salt shaker or pest control bulb duster, lightly dust the powdery DE in cracks and crevices, along baseboards, windowsills, door frames and beneath and behind appliances, in the garden, yard — anywhere you see those little pests. This is a nontoxic and environmentally safe treatment, but please wear a face protector because it is as fine as talcum powder.

For flea-infested carpet, dust the carpet well with the DE and then pound it in with a broom. Leave it to do its job then vacuum the carpet very well after 24 to 36 hours, emptying the bag or dust collector often.

One last thing: To do its job as the most effective pesticide, DE must be dry. If it gets wet, clean it up and then reapply.

Mary invites questions, comments and tips at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, 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.