Have you brought any new plant(s) or pot(s) into your home in the past few months? Mealybugs love to travel and can hide in the tiniest places without being noticed. They even like to hide under the rims of planters/pots.
I don't keep too many plants inside my house because the house is old and doesn't have a lot of natural light, so the majority of my plants stay outside on the pool deck and covered porch year round. I live in a humid climate which mealybugs love but I've rarely had a problem with them, except many years ago when a large, prized plant was covered in those white blobs! I sat for hours with q-tips and alcohol removing every sign of those little cottony critters!
This year for some reason I've had infestations of aphids on a couple of Hoya plants. I have many, many plants but these creepy crawlies have only seemed to attack two or three Hoya's for some reason. I keep a small spray bottle filled with isopropyl alcohol out on the deck just for crawlies! I do have the BATS (Bayer Advanced Tree and Shrub) which is great for keeping many insects under control, but I'm so lazy I never seem to remember to mix up a batch. Last year I mixed a batch in a 5 gal bucket on my back deck and dunked a lot of plants, just as a preventive. I probably should do it to the Hoya's that the Aphids seem to be attacking!
