A frugal option is growing a patch of lemon balm. When I moved into my house, there was one lonely lemon balm plant growing next to the sidewalk. I let it be. Now I have a patch that is taking over the world. When I go out during mosquito season, I just pick a stalk and rub the leaves on my arms, face and clothing, finishing by sticking the sprig in my hat band. Smells nice and lemony, keeps bugs away, and it's absolutely free. Lemon balm is a mint so it spreads like crazy and in a couple of seasons you can have lots of it from a very small investment if you have to buy it, but you may know somebody who has more of it than they can handle and would let you have a clump for starters.

Thank you! I went out and bought some today. Both my daughter and I get attacked all the time by the boogers and the extra moisterizer on our skin won't hurt either!

It was only $2.39 at Target.

If you eliminate standing water on your property (or add mosquito dunks, or flush out every week) you will deny the mosquitoes a place to breed and cut WAYYY down on your mosquito population. Of course, if your next door neighbor has a collection of skunky rainbarrels or something right on the other side of your fence, you'll still have a problem.

I'm not aware that baby oil is particularly good for your skin; it's a petroleum product. Skin absorbs things, so I don't personally put anything on my skin I wouldn't be willing (healthwise, if not tastewise) to eat or drink. (I certainly wouldn't get "baby oil" anywhere near a baby of mine, although I did before I knew better.)

If you Google "herbal mosquito repellant" I'm sure you can find one of the many articles on using essential plant oils for the purpose. Many of the blends actually outperform synthetic repellants like OFF. Essential oils can be an investment initially, since a bottle is not cheap, but because you only use a few drops at a time in high dilution they're really quite frugal.

Kristin

I am not sure how true this is, or frugal.
Last week a friend said that a co-worker told her that Bounce dryer sheets repel skeeters. I thought that I might buy some when I need dryer sheets again and try them after they make a trip through the dryer. I absolutely hate the smell of Off and Repel so I am hoping this will work.

I also plan to track down some lemon balm and try that as well.

MikeyJoe

I have tried the Bounce dryer sheets - and it didn't work. I do have some lemon balm planted - but the bed it is in does NOT have good soil - i am gonna plant some more in some other beds.

The Johnson's creamy baby oil works better than anything i have found - at a crawfish boil out in a field a couple of months ago, i had put it on before i went. i was the ONLY person not getting bit - ONLY person not grabbing the bug spray.