I'm told boiling socks will whiten them (I've never tried it because by the time my socks are this old, they're so threadbare there isn't anything left to stain).Another good way to reduce the incidence of cats spraying the furniture is to neuter them (the cats). ;)
Rice grains in the salt is a must here in the South.
We also paint our porch ceilings blue to try to fool bugs into thinking it's sky so they won't nest on it. I don't know that that works, though (I do know that ours is white and we're always sweeping cobwebs).
Someone told me a roach remedy that involved separate bowls of dry plaster (perhaps with sugar in it?) and water. They eat the plaster and then get thirsty, and plug themselves up. Never tried that--I'd probably get my dog instead, the little pig.
My personal reaction to roaches is to spray them with Windex. It kills even three-inch palmetto bugs ("flying roaches") and doesn't fume as badly as bug spray.