What do you do if there's a fly in your house that is really annoying you?

I have a fly swatter. It may take a while, but I can usually get it. I’m pretty good with it, and I can be patient. Failing that, I have fly paper, which works pretty good, but isn’t infailable.
I don’t have anything against flies, but I really do not like maggots, and don’t want those in my place. So a fly intruder is either killed or chased outside, if possible.
Fortunately, I have two cats who enjoy catching anything in my apartment…including the spiders, which sucks, I like spiders.

Once I’ve had a real showdown with this mutant bumblebee but that’s another story…

Take a magazine. Get it as it is flying off the table or whatever.

Ugh I have one right now! My solution: switching rooms for the rest of the night.

I killed one today by standing outside the room it was in, sticking my arm inside and spraying the room with strong insect repellant (small deodorant-like can) that I would usually wear on my clothes on holiday. It worked and an hour later the fly was dead.

My girlfriend is freaking out because of the bizarre humidity in England today, it’s brought a lot of insects inside.

Houseflies will leave a darkened room and head toward one with the light on. So you can lead it into another room where it will be less of a nuisance just by playing with the light switches a bit.

I drop whatever I’m doing and stalk it, like madwoman, until its dead, particularly if I’m reading. I don’t care what it takes, nothing else matters. If I ever go stark raving mad it will be due to the buzzing of a fly I could’t kill and it continued to torture me with its buzzing. I just cannot stand it. My nervous system is extremely sensitive to the fly buzz for some reason.

Put a tasty morsel on a paper towel, and wait. It’ll come. lol

Don’t waster your energy CHASING it, it has like 100 eyes, you are at the disadvantage.

You BRIBE flies. Simple. haha

Really, I can’t empathize too much, from one who has every bug imaginable and, a houseful of lizards on a daily basis. I stepped on a dead Gopher this morning, in the middle of my persian rug, courtesy of the cat door—gopher door, lizard door, frog door—

Bug zapper wired to a 6 volt lantern battery. You ehar a loud pop, and see a decent spark then its incinerated XD

I turn off all the lights except on the patio, and the fly goes outside.

@YARNLADY Really? That works?

Yes.

Cool. Had I known it was that simple, I would have spared myself the trouble.

TIP: Flies take off backwards, if you slap at them with your hand, aim about 8 inches above and behind the fly, on a diagonal, and you will catch them every time.

@poisonedantidote Yeah, I noticed that too. They also take off backwards sideways. The real trick though, I find, is getting into slapping position before it takes off, and if you’re not careful, it will.

Fly swatters work great! My husband and I make a game out of it to see who is the most stealth :)

Today I came at a fly that was sitting on my window with a cup. It didn’t care about the cup coming down around it, and didn’t move. I carried it in the cup outside and let it go. Also, watching my cats run after flies is hilarious. :D

@chyna, You might want to check out some of the techniques in this mosquito hunting video from Monty Python. Flies aren’t that different and you could possibly adapt them for home use. But I think I’m going to try the “go to the light little fly, follow the light little fly …” method that @thorninmud and @YARNLADY suggest. It’s a lot less maniacal than my own and a lot less likely to result in all the windows in my house being blown out than going after them with an Uzi.

My dogs will try hard to snap them out of the air and eat them.

You’ll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar…Yes, this is really true! The fly will stick in the honey if you squeeze enough out onto a saucer for it.

You could always get out the vacuum and suck it up with the hose attachment if it’s driving you crazy! That’s the fastest method by far.

I was able to eliminate a small invasion of flies with a vacuum cleaner.

I don’t like swatting the little turd birds, because it usually results in a filthy swatter and gross remains.

Nowadays I keep a spray bottle containing rubbing alcohol handy, so If I see a fly, I’ll get the bottle and spray it until it dies a sanitary death.

If it’s night time I just turn the light off in whatever room I’m in and turn a light on in another room, the fly will go towards the light.

Belt it with a ping-pong paddle, \swat it with a damp towel, trap it in another room. Lead it to another room by switiching on lights in sequence.

Flies can be irritating, especially those blue arsed buggers. I normally just open a window & shoo the pesky bug outta there. Now with a wasp….a whole new ball game. Those tiny taliban terrors are going to get sprayed. Anything I can lay my hands on, shaving foam, hairspray, silly string XD

Rubber band gun.

Close all lights in the house and open your microwave (which has a light). The fly will go in, close the door – set it to 2 minutes and problem is gone.

@stevie1145 Do the flies explode when they get nuked? I’ve always wondered about that, or if it makes a mess in the oven. It would be worth it to find out.

@woodcutter I would suggest lining the inside with wax paper first

@woodcutter Zapping bugs with a magnifying glass will make a popping sound, but no visible mess. Then again, microwaves are a wholly different animal.