Cedar Sawdust

• Pet stores typically carry cedar sawdust for use in animal bedding to keep odors and pests at bay. Home improvement stores and sawmills generally have an overabundance of sawdust they may give you without charging. Contact these businesses and inquire about cedar sawdust. Alternatively, make your own sawdust by sawing cedar lumber yourself.
  
  

Pests Repelled With Cedar

• Cedar will repel an array of annoying and sometimes disease-carrying pests from in and around your home. Rodents -- such as mice and rats -- find the scent of cedar unpleasant and will avoid it. Insects breathe through their bodies, and when they get a whiff of cedar, they close off their lungs and flee the area. Blood-sucking insects, such as bedbugs and mosquitoes, stay away from cedar wood, oil and sawdust. Cedar naturally repels fleas and ticks, and also keeps hungry moths away from your clothing.
  
  

Outside Cedar Uses

• Sprinkle cedar sawdust along your fence line -- or property line -- to prevent fleas in neighboring yards from entering your lawn and infesting your pets. Incorporate the cedar shavings in the mulch around plants, trees and shrubs to keep various insects away from the vegetation. Stuff the cedar shavings inside small cracks around the foundation of your home to keep rodents from entering. Place the cedar sawdust in locations where pests tend to congregate to keep them away.
  
  

Inside Cedar Uses

• Pests will scatter through the home, inside cabinets and along baseboards. You can use cedar sawdust in a variety of ways indoors to keep these pests out. Fill small fabric sachets with the cedar sawdust and hang them where you want to keep pests away. Another option is to place the sachets inside drawers and cabinets where bugs can hide. For out-of-the-way areas -- such as behind appliances and furniture -- sprinkle the cedar sawdust on the floor. To keep bedbugs away, sprinkle cedar sawdust on top of the box-spring that the mattress sits on. When the time comes to remove the cedar sawdust, suck it off the surface with a vacuum or use a broom to sweep it into a dustpan.