10 powerful home remedies for getting rid of ants

Ants are pesky little critters. They invade every room in the house, looking for tasty morsels and water. Trying to get rid of them can cause you to pull your hair out in frustration!

If you have little ones running around or simply want to avoid using chemicals to deter ants from entering, check out the 10 home remedies below to get rid of ants. Your house will probably end up smelling really good in the process!

Ants come in looking for food and water. Minimize ants by cleaning up scraps and crumbs left from preparing food.

Since ants leave trails they can follow, smear Vaseline over the trail to cover the scent.

Another way to get rid of the trail is to clean it up with soap and water.

To permanently rid your home of ants, you must get rid of the ant colony. Try making bait from peanut butter, sugar, Borax, and water, and letting the ants take it back to their colony.

For those hard to reach places, try making a mixture of one part vinegar to three parts water and spraying it on the ant trails.

Ants don't like the smell of cucumbers, so place peels around their points of entry to repel them.

If cucumber isn't your thing and you're worried about the peel rotting, ants can't stand the smell of cinnamon. He recommends sprinkling ground cinnamon around or setting out cinnamon sticks.

Another yummy-smelling way to repel ants is to spray 2 to 3 tablespoons of peppermint oil mixed with a quart of water around their points of entry.

Try mixing cayenne pepper with garlic and water and spray the ant homes with it, thereby getting rid of ants at the source.

Remove brush and wood piles that rest against your house because these make an easy bridge for ants to enter your home.

If chemicals aren't your thing, use one of these ideas to help rid yourself of ants in a nontoxic manner.