Mealybugs

I have never dreamt that I will be battling with indoor plants' bugs daily. I refuse to use any insecticides hence I was patiently brushing away those little disgusting bugs wrapped in silk on my croton. We first discovered spider mites on Harry (Acreca Lutenscens - I give all house plants names). BTW, the croton is called "no name". I washed Harry's leaves weekly to control the spider mites - they are so tiny invisible to naked eyes but you can see the white dots at the back of the leaves, which are the little silk purse they created to protect their colonies and eggs. That weekly cleaning persisted a few month but spider mites are not getting any less - I eventually gave up. After all, Harry looks reasonably happy. We have to live with the bugs as long as they are not killing the plants. No name is in the corner of the living room initially then I discovered there are loads moldy spots and white silks around its branches and the back of the leaves. Some yellowish skin tone bugs are moving under the mold - um that's our first encounter of mealybugs. Weekly cleaning didn't do any good. I was getting very impatient - spraying soapy water, brushing vinegar, non of those worked. I found a almost empty bottle of mosquito off spray and thought if I diluted it with lots of water, that might drive away the annoying bugs. I did and the leaves and stems of No Name turned black. Really upset, I was really upset and going on and on about it, Jon got really annoyed with me "For God's sake it is only a plant!" so he ran to the kitchen got a pair of scissors chop the blackened stems off No Name. Saying if I said another word about the dying plant he is going to chop off another stem. Auntie Yee advised we should not over water the plants and it is better to keep the plants. We move No Name to kitchen where there are plenty of sunlight and breeze, stopped water it for weeks - a couple months later - no name is growing new leaves! Charlie (another big plant) in the living room where No Name used to be is getting mealybugs - I just discovered. Searching the internet for remedy, this time I was using the robbing alcohol to kill the mealybugs one leave at a time. Hope this is not going to infect Borgi (she is our favorite plant in the balcony).