I have spiders squatting in several rooms of my house but it's not just a problem in my home. When we think of pests, images of mice and rats spring to mind, not the humble arachnid. But in my house and in a rising number of my peers there is a new and industrious pest, who marks the passage of time since you last let loose with the Hoover with Miss Havisham quantities of web spinning. And this type of spin is not positive P.R.It makes you look positively slovenly.

I'm not alone in thinking that spiders are taking over our homes.

"There's definitely an increase in the numbers of spiders we have to deal with, " says Elaine Wheeler, MD of Dream Clean, a Dublin-based cleaning service that cleans homes and offices. "And it's not just elderly people in old houses. I've seen houses that are not particularly dirty and the amount of webbing in them was just shocking. It's the cellar spiders (the see-through ones) that make the most webbing. They even manage to spin a few moves in my own house and it's brand new and spanking clean, " says Wheeler.

I realise that my own house-cleaning skills could do with an upgrade but is it really that simple? Apparently it is. Bi-annual spring-cleaning can help to keep the spider population down. Is there anything I can buy to keep the critters out? "I haven't come across any specific cleaning products that will deter them, " continues Wheeler. She recommends vacuuming them up as well as their webs. "But you have to empty the bag to make sure you get rid of the spiders. Otherwise they just might resume their busy work."

She also concurs with me that working women just don't have time for housework. "I think people and, in particular, women are a lot busier than they used to be. They're not at home every day and rarely find the time to clean the floor, let alone look up at the light fittings." At least I'm not alone. But this is not my first brush with the eight-legged freaks. Over the course of my life there have been one or two arachnid interludes.

Growing up in a household of girls, my poor father was surrounded by females, so in an attempt to ensure we wouldn't become 'girly', girls he used to tell us that he could make magic, with the help of a spider. He would mix pink dental wax from his practice with a spider that we were encouraged to capture and say a short rhyme 'as Gaeilge'. Low and behold the trapped spider would wriggle within and sweets would come flying out of his cupped hands. We were tickled pink by this and equated the size of the spider with the return on our investment. Ergo, the bigger the spider the more sweets it would produce. We were zealous in our capture of these creatures and for several years we girls were not afraid of spiders. Then when we hit our teens the high-pitched screeches returned, announcing the detection of another arachnid.

However, not everyone is as put out by squatting spiders. "I'm so ambivalent about arachnids that I couldn't decide whether to call my home 'Eeeeek Cottage' (from the screams that emanate from the garden shed every autumn) or 'Cobweb Cottage, '" says 'Sweet bear' in a recent posting on askaboutmoney. com. "Currently my bathroom is occupied by three sisters, third generation offspring of a very large spider who had built a huge web across the expanse of the window and which invariably got torn whenever it was opened. As she grew her body changed from dull brown to the deep cherry red of the walls andnow her daughters are also red spiders! With every autumn comes a routine early-morning check for spiders which have got trapped in the bath and providing 'spider ladders' of bog-roll to let them climb out and find a dark quiet place before I get into the shower. I couldn't contemplate killing a spider and find them fascinating."

I couldn't contemplate killing them either, but I did want them to pack their bags and leave. I've asked my local hardware store about cleaning products that will eradicate spiders. There isn't one per se. There are ant powders that you can use but they're messy and leave your interior looking like a bunch of rock stars had a house party. Moth balls are supposed to be a deterrent but who wants their million euro home smelling like a charity shop?

"Invest in an electronic device that emits ultrasonic waves and electromagnetic interference, " advises John Pollard of Able Hardware.

"It's cruelty-free and is always-on."

Hoovering works, as long as the spider is below a certain size.

But they climb back out once the coast is clear . . . unless you diligently empty the bag after every cleaning expedition. I know this because my sister lived in a small room in a house in Maastricht where she did daily battle with a big spider. Every morning when she went to take a shower, there he was, centre-stage in her shower tray. When I moved in to my sister's place, my morning routine was to scoop him into a wide pint-type glass, run down the steep Dutch staircase and deposit the fella carefully outside on the kerb. But this didn't deter him. Every single day he somehow managed to climb back up to the first floor flat and crawl back into the shower room, where he lay ready and waiting to mess with our heads again the next day. My sister tried to vacuum him up but he was such a size that he would often get stuck in the suction tube.

The job elicited some horrid noises from both him and us before he would reluctantly disappear up the hose. And there he would stay until the coast was clear before escaping and returning to his usual spider life. Sadly, we didn't know about removing the bag to ensure he wouldn't boomerang back.

If you don't want to vacuum them you could buy a cat, as 'Sweetbear' suggests in another askaboutmoney. com posting.

"My two cats love chasing spiders up and down the wall, across the floor, in and out corners until finally they catch them and eat them!"

If you're squeamish, help is at hand. Dream Clean will come and clean your home on a one-off basis. If you don't want to spring-clean why not get the house ready for hibernation by investing in a power sweep courtesy of a professional cleaning service? The cost will vary, depending on how big and dirty your home is but it can be as little as 300- 400, which would save a lot of arguments at home.

It just might be the best money you've ever spent.

A word of warning if you decide on the DIY route: "Never look up with your mouth open, " says Susan Ryder of Angel Maids, ' the voice of experience. You just might become that lady who swallowed the spider!