If you're an arachnaphobe like me......

I think I had the spider who modeled for that photo come into my living room last night!!
Hence I'm awake, and prowling around in case it bought any friends in, too.

It was huge!!!

I have an almost black carpet so a spider or two or three could be sat there actually looking at me and I wouldn’t be able to see them because my eyesight is bad as well so it wouldn’t bother me…BUT if I did see one I would do my best to catch it and put it outside. My bedroom is downstairs in my former dining room and I have an electronic plug-in thing that is meant to deter spiders and such. Not seen any so far this year but from what I’m reading they are about to invade ??

We too live in the countryside and get some rather large spiders in the house especially around Harvest time. I don't particularly like them but have got used to them. In our previous house it was mice (which I don't like either) It must be very difficult if you have an absolute phobia.

Falling on my face

My whole day is fraught with anxiety, I get up, shake out my dressing gown, creep around the house, everything I touch, I’m nervous about, every drawer or cupboard I open sets my heart racing just in case, when I get to work I sit at my desk with my skirt wrapped tightly around my legs, and my feet off the floor, and get my husband to check the ladies toilets before I can go in.

Even when I get home I can’t relax, I’m sat on the sofa, but I can’t concentrate on anything, I’m looking around me all the time. Then I go to bed, and lie awake worrying about one faking on my face.

I really don’t know how I would cope if I lived on my own.

I don't have a problem with spiders. However this year after we came back from a trip they did seem to have taken over every corner of the house.

Probably out of date now, but I read that some people are genetically predisposed to be afraid of spiders.

Their first sight of one, before they're old enough to have been influenced induces fear.

Oh dear-another arachnophobe here. It’s a true phobia, in fact reading and writing this is winding me up ?
I have the vacuum things too but I can’t stand the wretched things coming nearer to me!
I’ve had to fetch a neighbour in to deal with one when DH was at work one evening.
I’ve told nearby (police officer) neighbour if he hears a blood curdling scream he won’t need his truncheon or taser-a rolled up newspaper will do.
I KNOW they’re not harmful here and shouldn’t be killed but I just CAN’T cope with them!
I think it stems from having to use the toilet down the yard in the slum I grew up in-full of them. I also blame them for my constipation too-I could never stay in there long enough to poo!

I did, eventually, but it took some time and 2 different types of bait. (Plus my electrifying trap!)

They're gone, for now, anyway.

I’m seriously taking in all of these tips, I can’t use the sucker up things because I can’t get that close, I’ve got those electronic gadgets in most rooms, but they don’t seem to work.
One thing my husband does every year, to the amusement of the neighbors is go around all the outside of the house with a powerful dust extractor, he said he’s considering a power washer this year

MissAdventure, I remember your horrible mouse experience, hope you got it sorted.

If I'm cutting tomatoes and remove the stalky bits at the top, I then can't touch them because they look spider-like.

Logic tells me I've literally just cut them off, but I cant bring myself to touch them "just in case".

Spiders startle me when they scuttle but luckily I'm not scared of them. We have an empty glass and a bit of cardboard in most rooms ready to put them outside if they venture in. If GD is here we have to act pretty swiftly or the neighbours would think we were torturing her!

Conkers have worked well in the past so I'll be out collecting soon. Lemon oil in the meantime. I put it on a cloth and wipe along the window and door sills.

I'm terrified of the darn things. I bought a sucker thingy last year. It works well on smaller spiders but the big ones, the ones I really hate, are too heavy for it. Luckily my lovely DH is not scared and he catches them and puts them out. I do dread this time of year though. If I need the loo in the night I never put the light on in case I see a spider. I grit my teeth and sprint to the en-suite in the dark. They seem to have started early this year so we have a good few weeks to put up with them yet.

I'm the same.
I had mice a while back, and whilst I absolutely hated them, i would have had to move out if it had been spiders.

I think mine is a phobia, there a lot of things I don’t like, rats, mice, slugs, but I don’t live in fear of them

I'm not sure I would classify my fear and loathing as a phobia, but I am really, really frightened of spiders, hence the drink by my bed.

Phobias can be effectively treated. London zoo used to offer a course in behavioural therapy for people with genuine phobias.

My skin crawls if I touch a picture of a spider Sarah. My children are ok with them, my son doesn’t like them but hasn’t got a phobia

I'm not afraid of spiders, but a few weeks ago a false widow took up residence in the skylight above our dining table. It had spun its horizontal web over the entire thing, and would pop out at lunchtime to devour what it had caught and trussed up, and then drop the dessicated remains onto the table. Enough was enough. Although I usually catch spiders and put them outside, this one was nuked with a spray that I bought which is intended for cockroaches but works on spiders as well. I did feel bad, but there was no way I was risking a nasty bite from a false widow, even though I am well aware it would not kill me but feel like a very bad bee sting.

I still feel a bit bad about it, as my mum always told me, "If you want your home to thrive, let a spider run alive"...

We live in the country and surprisingly we don't get many, except for the leggy ones which I can more or less ignore. However we've had 2 already of the other sort so I think that I need to spray with the spider stop that I bought a while ago.?️

Scary Matt yes I have done, asked the workman outside next door.

Spiders love my bath. They don't bother me but I would prefer them not to come in.

I once found a large and a small one in there as I was going to bed. Too tired to remove them but when I got up the next morning the large spider was there and the small one was dead. There were some blood stains on the bath too.

Years ago when my children were little, there was one in the car, and I just stopped and got out right in the middle of the road, not a major road, but a road leading up to their school, so very busy at that time in the morning.
A lad who worked for us once, came in and said he’d had a bit of a shock, he’d pulled down his sun visor and one fell in his lap.
Obviously I always check before getting in the car.

I'm afraid of them as well and I know they can’t hurt me. Mind you I'm not as bad as a friend of mine who ran out into the street and asked a workman a van to come and catch one and take it out.

Barmeyoldbat
I’m with you, I could never consider it.