The little flies showed up when I repotted my houseplants. Turns out the potting soil (Home Depot) was the culprit. There's often decaying matter in cheap potting soils that the flies love to breed in. Solution was to water the plants with warm, mildly soapy water, and to chuck the bag with the rest of potting soil.

Well, since I have no screen on my terrace door, we just don't keep the door open. It's a rental and I gave up years ago asking for a replacement screen. Every now and then we do get a couple of flies and the best solution for us here in the East is crank up the a.c. The flies are easier to get rid of because they go directly towards the window and won't fly. They just sit there until I open a window and I scoot 'em out.

This is really about this week's Breaking Bad, isn't it?

To make the jar trap work you need to squirt a bit of dish soap on the vinegar and ditch the funnel. The flies will get stuck on the thin layer of soap and drown. It works like a charm, though looking at the pile of dead bugs can get kind of icky.

It sounds crazy but I seen the vinegar trick on Wendy Williams when they had a fly problem in the studio. You fill a cup to the brim with vinegar and for some odd reason they are attracted to it. I wouldnt put it where it could get easily knocked down but I have had folks that are desperate that says it works.

If I put my ceiling fan on it breaks up that 'holding pattern' circling in the middle of the room, but I think it just disperses them. Flypapers didn't work and looked gross, so its back to the swatter.

I once had things that looked like electric tennis rackets, they were good. A great 'crack!' when you scored.

I have those little flies in my potted plants since re-potting as well. I can for sure say basil and mint don't work as those are the ones with the most little flies around.
Last summer I had terrible fruit flies and I did the oven trick which (is awful) worked. Leave a piece of fruit in oven with door open. In morning sneak in and close oven door and turn on to low heat.
I know it sound awful and it was but it did work. They just couldn't resist the food.
Gross!

My dog catches flies for treats!

My older dog is the Mr. Miyagi of canines. He loves catching flies. I desperately need a screen door for the back because the flies rush in as soon as I open the back door to let the dogs in and out. They tend to go straight toward one particular window. I trap them by closing the blinds and they eventually die and I sweep them up. Flies suck.

sometimes I spray them with cleaner like windex or fantastik in mid-air. Then they drop to the ground and I step on them. Sometimes I do it on the patio for fun

I've had problems with fruit flies upon returning after a weekend away... this is serious business, best not left to "waiting" for them to fall into the soap and vinegar (which works fine overnight or if there's just a few).

I suck them up in a few minutes with the vacuum cleaner and hose.

I lunged at this post because, every Spring the front of my home becomes fly ridden! Kinda creepy. I keep a fairly open home but this is ridiculous. A few flies isn't an issue. Several dozen over night though??? THIS YEAR my reduction method was cheap & easy (though a tad yucky): I purchased from the local feed store these sicky brown paper strips you unfurl and suspend from a light fixture or at the corner of a window. In a few hours all four strips were covered in flies which I promptly discarded. My logic is flies breed more flies. By elimintating the population quickly, my problem has been solved!

As soon as the weather turned warm, my bedroom, living room and kitchen were invaded by tiny little flies. I spent several days trapping more and more on fly paper until I figured out they were coming in through tiny cracks around my windows. (I live in an old house.) Clear, regular packing tape around the windows solved the problem. It was confirmed that the windows were the entry points for the flies because over the next few days I could see a few stuck to the tape. They tried to get in, but the taped had stopped them!

I've always used a cup of juice/beer/soda/something sweet, with a good squirt of dish soap. It's taken care of the problem every time (although it only works for fruit flies).

This is our first spring with a cat, and she is AWESOME at catching the bigger ones. She even took out a bee that got in the other day, although it did sting her and then she tortured it for two days. That was a little much...

This is what i love about Apartment Therapy (not the flies, of course)!I had the same problem of Nakamova but it never crossed my mind that it could be caused by the potting soil i used!I'm not sure about that "mildly soapy water". What kind of soap should I use? Will it be safe for the plants? Keep up the good work, Apartment Therapists, you have a huge fan in Portugal!

Same as problem as Nakamova - and I came to the exact same conclusion: nasty soil from Home Depot!

Get a cat. Mine loves catching flies. She's quite the huntress and it's good exercise for her!

Well, I wouldn't bet on a cat solving the problem for you; very few of them seem to be interested. One of my cats is just amazing at it, though he's the only one I've ever had that liked to catch them.

I got some little gnats from Home Depot potting soil that came in when I bought a super cheap orchid.
Anyway for those of you who like plants, my favorite solution was to buy a few butterworts which are carnivorous plants that have small dainty flowers. They look perfectly unassuming but have a sticky solution on the leaves that traps the bugs - and then I guess digests them? I also like pitcher plants and sundews look really cool.
But I don't really have a huge problem just the occasional small gnat infestation from a Home Depot plant (and it always is Home Depot plants for me) or maybe a fly or two that came in while I was trying to coax my dog in off the porch. If you are having a huge problem I don't know how much of a difference but for small problems it seems to work well. I also found out that a lot of the Home Depot plant problems I have been having were fungus gnats and of course, getting rid of the funky potting soil helps - but in my case they may have spread to other plants.

The funnel is for fruit flies,not for house flies. The only cures for house flies are a fly swatter, fly tapes, and not leaving any food or crumbs around at all.

An old fashioned fly swatter gives hours of fun!

Water filled baggie penny sunshine = no flies or mosquitoes.

I used to live down south near the Alabama-Florida border (lots of bugs), and one of the things that sticks out in my mind was all the plastic baggies that were hung around outside dining patios at local restaurants. Though in addition to the water filled baggies was a penny dropped inside.

It seems a little silly, but the theory was the light entering the bag and reflecting and refracting off the penny causes a ton of tiny scintillating lights to project out from the bag. Not a big deal for humans, but to insects with multifaceted eyes the light show is way too confusing to navigate within and they avoid the area. Good news is they repel mosquitoes too! Just make sure it is sitting in a place where it can catch the light.

These:

http://www.amazon.com/Victor-Poison-Free-M530-Magnet-Disposable/dp/B000LNWIVU

are magic. On the advice of a neighbor I hung two - one on each side of the house - and they are already near full of dead flies. Yummy. Definitely cut down on my zapper tennis racket practice. Now we have an occasional fly in the house, but not eight at a friggin time like last year.

I am having the potting soil problem in my tiny NY apartment. It's very weird. I think I created the problem by leaving out some cut lemons overnight. But I think the flies like the soil.

The brand I just got is New Era -made in Clinton NJ. I don't want to besmirch the potting soil I bought. However, maybe someone here knows of a potting soil that is high quality? I am new to this game... but hoping to grow some seedlings in my kitchen!

Never mind! I think I can still use this potting soil. I caught a zillion fruit flies by laying 2 traps next to the soil. I will just keep refurbishing the traps when I think they need it.

I did not want to open a bottle of wine, so I used a tablespoon of cassis! Swish in a teaspoon of water. Add Dawn dish soap. I wonder if the alcohol helps to sedate them. Cassis is 20% alcohol. Nice.

I also did a mix of white vinegar, apple juice and dish soap in another bowl.

Both traps work, but the biggest fly landed in the cassis. I take it as an omen. Maybe the adults go for the more complex offerings.

No idea what's up with the paper funnel and the plastic with the holes in it. The soap is doing its evil magic.

http://www.amazon.com/SwatMate-Swatter-Without-Splat-Black/dp/B00714R22W/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1327867624&sr=1-1

I can recommend the SwatMate for those situations where you have to get rid of the fly/bug asap without actually splatting it, "swat without the splat" lol.