How to Get Rid of Ants

Fill a spray bottle with equal parts white vinegar and water. Label it so nobody mistakes it for cleaner later. Shake it once and you're ready.

Spray directly along the line of ants and any spot where they're squeezing through - baseboards, around outlets, under window sills. The vinegar erases the pheromone trail other workers are using to find the food, so the line breaks up fast.

Pop open a TERRO liquid bait station and set it right on the active trail or wherever you keep finding ants. The sweet sugar pulls them in and the borax mixed in is the kill agent.

You'll see way more ants in the first day or two - that's the bait working. Workers are carrying it back to feed the colony, including the queen. After about 48 hours the visible activity drops off hard.

Walk the room with the ants and look at the bottom inch of every wall. Tiny gaps where siding meets a slab, a missing chunk of caulk around a window, a hole where a wire enters - those are the doors.

Run a bead of exterior caulk into each gap. Smooth it with a wet finger so the line looks clean. You can paint over it later if it ends up somewhere visible.

Take out the trash. Wipe down the counters with a soapy rag - get the spots behind the toaster and under the fruit bowl too. Run any food scraps down the garbage disposal instead of leaving them in the can.

Pet food bowls are a big one. If your dog grazes all day, switch to scheduled meals or pour fresh food on a clean mat. Ants love kibble crumbs.

Step outside and follow the trail back. Where do the ants come from? Most of the time it's an outdoor trash can pushed up against the siding, a planter touching the foundation, or a tree branch resting on the roof.

Move the trash can a few feet away. Trim any branches off the house. Rake out leaf piles next to the foundation - colonies love nesting under that kind of cover.

Hit the entire foundation line with a residual outdoor spray like Ortho Home Defense. Walk the wand along the bottom of the wall, around every doorway, and a few inches up either side of garage and patio doors.

The active ingredient bonds to the surface and keeps killing for a couple of months. Mark your calendar to reapply every three to four months, especially heading into spring and summer.

For the colony itself, push a few outdoor ant bait stakes into the soil near the trail or right next to the visible mound. The TERRO outdoor stakes look like little plastic spikes and go in like a tent stake.

Workers grab the bait and feed it to the queen. The whole colony collapses in a week or two without you ever getting close to the nest.