Stop Squishing Your Friendly House Spiders. Okay, Thanks.

There's nothing quite as terrifying as coming face to face with a hairy, scary spider. One's first instinct is usually to shriek and reach for the nearest shoe/book/vacuum cleaner. But there's one excellent reason you should lay down your weapons and let that spider live.

Now, hear us out. Lord knows spiders haven't amassed the greatest reputation over the years. Aside from Charlotte and the spider that bit Peter Parker, arachnids get zero love in pop culture. In movies, they usually look like this:

Seriously...not cute.

But unlike other household creepy-crawlies, spiders serve a higher calling. Spiders are built-in pest control.

Spiders feed on common pests like roaches, flies, clothes moths, and mosquitoes. Spiders also kill other spiders; when two arachnids meet they often battle it out, with the winner eating the loser. Letting one spider walk away un-smushed could save you a bundle in extermination fees.

Now, if you have a full-blown spider infestation, do not try to make nice with the enemy. But one or two spiders aren't gonna kill you - in fact, they probably won't even bite you! And they will keep unwanted pest guests at bay.

So the next time you find yourself in a standoff with a daddy long-legs, just walk away. Here's hoping you handle the encounter better than this guy.

Also on HuffPost: