Follow these steps to get rid of ants naturally using non-toxic methods including household ingredients and essential oils. Then, keep them from returning by addressing the things in your home that are attracting them.
Natural Ingredients that Get Rid of Ants
Ants are highly organized insects. They send scouts to enter your home in search of food. The scout leaves a path of pheromones. This is known as a scent trail. If the scout finds food, it follows the scent trail back to the nest. Others then follow the path and make their way into your home.
So, the best way to keep ants out of your house once you’ve seen one is to destroy its scent trail. There are several non-toxic, natural household products you can use to do this.
Vinegar and Peppermint
A vinegar-based cleaner disrupts the scent trail. It works even better if you add peppermint essential oil, which is a natural insect deterrent that’s effective against a variety of household pests. Here is a homemade all-purpose cleaner recipe to use.
Borax and Sugar
Borax is a natural mineral salt that has a variety of household uses. It’s available in the laundry section of most grocery stores. One brand name is 20 Mule Team. Borax is non-toxic for humans but may not be safe for use around pets.
To kill ants with borax, you need to mix it with sugar to attract them.
- Combine 3 tablespoons of powdered (confectioner’s) sugar and 1 tablespoon of borax.
- Sprinkle this powder where you often see them. The scout ants will consume the mixture and also take bits back to the colony where other ants will eat it, too. Eventually, the borax will poison the entire colony.
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is made from soft sedimentary rocks that contain silica. Although it looks like a fine powder, it actually has sharp, microscopic edges that cut through insects’ exoskeletons and digestive tracts. You can find Diatomaceous Earth online or at garden centers.
Ants won’t walk through diatomaceous earth since it tears up their exoskeletons. So, sprinkling a light line of DE on windowsills and near entryways is an excellent way to keep them out of your home.
Chalk
Like diatomaceous earth, chalk is a sedimentary rock that contains minerals — in this case, calcite. It also has a similar structure to diatomaceous earth and a similar effect on many insects.
You can purchase powdered chalk or grind it into powder yourself then sprinkle it in cracks or around windowsills. A rolled piece of paper used as a funnel makes it easy to get the chalk into tight spots.
Or simply use a stick of chalk and draw a thick line on your windowsills, door thresholds, and other places where ants enter your home.
Other Foods That Get Rid of Ants
A few other common household ingredients can also help deter ants, though not necessarily kill them. Some work by disrupting the scent trail, while others they just don’t like and will avoid.
Lemon juice can be used like vinegar to disrupt the scent trail. It is highly acidic, though, so do not use it on natural stone or other easily damaged surfaces.
Cinnamon is an unpleasant scent for ants. Tuck sticks of it near windowsills or in cupboards where you see them.
Pepper — black pepper, chili peppers, or cayenne — is effective. Use ground pepper, whole peppercorns, or dried chile peppers.
Damp coffee grounds disrupt scent trails. Leave a shallow bowl of them on your kitchen counter, and keep it moist. Or sprinkle used grounds around the base of your home to keep ants from coming indoors.
Cornmeal, cornstarch, or baking powder. All three of these can damage ants’ exoskeletons, so they will not walk through them. Sprinkle them where needed and reapply if they get moist.
How to Keep Ants Away for Good
In addition to using home remedies to get rid of ants described above, you also need to avoid attracting new ones.
Clear out Their Hiding Places
- Toss or recycle any stacks of newspapers that have piled up in your home — ants love to hide in them.
- Keep pet food in air-tight containers, and wash your pet’s food and water bowls daily. A thin coat of petroleum around the base of the bowls will keep ants from climbing into them.
- Keep dirty laundry and towels off of the floor.
- Inspect pipes under sinks, behind appliances, and in your basement for leaks or condensation that may be attracting ants indoors.
Get Rid of Ants in the Kitchen
Everyone gets an ant in their kitchen now and then, but seeing several is a sign that something is attracting them.
Since ants are continually foraging for food and water, finding an infestation in your kitchen means it’s time to do a deep cleaning. (Related: Kitchen Cleaning Checklist.)
Then take some daily steps to keep them out of your kitchen in the future.
- Don’t allow dirty dishes to accumulate.
- Scrub your sink and run the garbage disposal to eliminate food residue. (Related: How to Clean a Garbage Disposal)
- Never leave food out. Store dry-goods in airtight containers in your cupboards, and wipe sticky messes on jars.
- Wash the kitchen trash can weekly.
- Sweep and mop the floor at least once a week. (Related: Homemade Floor Cleaner for All Types of Hard Floors.)
Get Rid of Ants in the Bathroom
Ants in the bathroom are primarily searching for moisture, but they may also be attracted to various odors and other less-obvious food sources like soap grime and dead skin cells.
To get rid of ants in your bathroom, you need to clean thoroughly. Try this homemade bathroom disinfectant recipe which combines borax, vinegar, and essential oils for powerful ant-control that also leaves your bathroom surfaces clean. (Related: Bathroom Cleaning Checklist.)
Once you’ve eliminated what’s attracting them to your bathroom, here are a few additional steps to keep them away for good.
- Clean your bathroom drains to remove biofilm and other residues that attract ants. (Related: How to Clean Stinky Drains.)
- Wash the bathroom trashcan weekly.
- Hang up damp towels and bathmats so they can dry.
How to Get Rid of Ants in the Yard
You may notice ants in your home more often during periods of heavy rainfall. In some areas, invasions during March and April are predictable due to heavy rains.
They may also invade your home during especially dry, hot months like July and August, because the ground is too hot for their comfort, and they’re in search of water.
Locate and Destroy their Nest
You can’t completely eliminate ants in your yard — nor should you want to. Ants help improve soil structure and prey on other pests like termites and ticks.
But when a colony in your yard is leading to an invasion of your home, you need to do something or you may wind up with an infestation too big to control on your own.
Signs of Colonies
Look in your yard and along your home’s foundation. You can recognize black ant colonies by the soft, fresh soil on top of it. Carpenter ants build nests in damaged or moist wood. So, inspect your home’s siding, woodpiles, damaged trees, and rotting stumps.
Use Boiling Water to Destroy It
You can destroy the ants’ colony or nest by pouring boiling water on it. You’ll need enough water to soak the area. The easiest way to do this is by moving a beverage cooler next to the ant colony. Fill it with pots of boiling water, closing the lid between trips. Once you’ve accumulated enough water, open the cooler and tip it onto the ant colony.
Use Diatomaceous Earth
Sprinkle diatomaceous earth on top of and around ant nests to kill them. Add a heavy line of it around your home’s foundations to act as a barrier to ants. Reapply after heavy rain.
Use Other Home Remedies
Other things you can apply to outdoor ant colonies include powdered chalk, coffee grounds, and borax.
You can also try sprinkling the colony with baking soda then pouring white vinegar on top of it. This can kill plants, though, so save its use for areas where the soil is bare.
Keep New Colonies from Forming
Once you’ve eliminated colonies, you can keep ants from forming new ones with some basic lawn-maintenance tasks.
- Mow at least once a week during the growing season.
- Water your lawn regularly, especially on hot days, so ants don’t enter your home looking for moisture.
- Keep shrubs trimmed and rake leaves away from your foundation walls, so they don’t have a shady spot to nest.
- Pick up fallen wood and pull tree stumps to avoid attracting carpenter ant nests.
- Don’t grow ant-attracting flowers (like peonies, clematis, lilies) or vegetables (artichokes) near your home’s foundations.
- Use caulk to seal gaps around windows and pipes and replace worn weatherstripping.
Stay Prepared to Get Rid of Ants Naturally
Remember, if you know your home is prone to invasions certain times of the year, it’s a good idea to have a ready supply of the household ingredients that kill ants.
Combine their use with preventative cleaning to keep ants out of the kitchen and bathroom, then hunt down and destroy any nests you see outdoors.
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Laila says
Thank you for your advice, borax and sugar mixture is wonderful, ants are my difficult problem every year in warm weather. For years, I tried different natural stuff and chemicals, but no way , thanks.
Katie Berry says
Hi Laila,
I’m happy to have helped!
Sharon Snyder says
I have a large cement planter outside on my patio full of dirt. The planter has only dirt in it. I was going to put in a plant, started to shovel and discovered a full blown nest of tiny black ? and eggs. How do I get rid of these without ruining my planter?
Katie Berry says
Hi Sharon,
I’d just dig in some diatomaceous earth. It’s an organic pesticide that is safe for plants and should kill those ants in about 48 hours. Happy gardening!
BETH says
NEVER HAD ANTS IN MY HOME/ HAD A NEW CERAMIC FLOOR PUT IN AND AFTER A FEW WEEKS I SAW SOME TINY ANTS/ SPRAYED AND THEY WERE GONE. JUST HAD A NEW CERAMIC TILE FLOOR INSTALLED IN MY KITCHEN A FEW WEEKS AGO AND CAME HOME TO TINY ANTS ON MY COUNTER???? WHATS UP? IS IT THE CEMENT BOARD UNDER THE TILE DRAWING THEM IN???
Katie Berry says
It’s probably not the cement board but the time of year. Ants like to invade our homes in the spring and autumn. Give your floors and counters a thorough cleaning then try the peppermint spray.
Monica Chavez says
My husband and I have had a problem recently with ants in our home. We can’t quite figure out how to get rid of them. I like your tip to destroy the scent trail so that they can’t follow a path left behind by other ants. The problem is that we can’t find a specific pattern in the way that they’re moving. It would probably be best if we just called a pest control service to take care of the problem.
Katie Berry says
That’s odd since your URL (which I removed) indicates you operate a pest control company. Lousy advertising for you. Go spam elsewhere and stop being a human cockroach.
Katie says
A 50/50 mixture of sugar and borax works great at killing ants. The ants carry it back to the nest too. I’ve used it succesfully on those tiny black ants. For years my parents had tons of ants crawling in and out of the foundation of their sun porch. I mixed up a batch and sprinkled it all along the perimeter outside and they were gone. If ants are dying at the site of the mixture, cut back on the borax. And since this has sugar in it, please be sure to keep it out of reach of children and pets!
Katie Berry says
Thanks for the tip!
Debra says
I used left over coffee grounds and leftover coffee, outside, when I see a mound. They seemed to move on. I poured the left over coffee along sidewalk cracks, perimeter and along the foundations. I could not begin to tell you if you have to keep on doing it, since I did it whenever I had them. I was doing it in Michigan, have since moved to Tennesse and this will be the first year here. I also had my sister try it on the giant (at least a foot tall) mounds at her house in Florida. Worked like a charm. The big plus for me was that the coffee and grounds acted as a soil amendment.
Katie Berry says
Great tip, Debra, and like you said it’s a great soil amendment, too!
Wendy says
The borax mixture works great, except I use maple syrup instead of the sugar because they can’t resist the sweet smell, then I soak the mixture up with cotton balls & place them in the problem areas
Katie Berry says
Thanks for sharing that tip!
Brenda says
where do I get the lavender scented item? and is it peppermint scented extract?
Katie Berry says
Both are essential oils, not extracts. You can find them at Target or Walmart sometimes, along with hobby stores (Michael’s, Hobby Lobby). I buy mine on Amazon.
Katie Berry says
Thank you for hosting, and for the feature!
CJ Huang says
What great hints – I’m especially liking the lavender and peppermint since they’re wonderful scents. 🙂 Your post was also voted most on Inspire Me Monday today! Congrats! 🙂
Katie Berry says
Thank you! I love those scents, too. 🙂
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says
I’ll definitely try the lavender and peppermint on the tiny ants that have just shown up here for the first time.
Katie Berry says
Oh, those tiny ones are so annoying, aren’t they? Just remember to spray daily so the scent stays fresh. 🙂
Krista says
I do have this ant issue every so often. Finding out how they are getting in is key. You had some great tips. Thanks
Katie Berry says
Thank you for visiting!
Minh says
Peppermint and lavender scents is not something I realized would help. I will definitely have to give this a try this summer. Thanks for the suggestion. #TTT
Katie Berry says
They really help!
Jessy @ The Life Jolie says
Thank you for sharing this- every spring we have a week or two where no matter how clean I keep our home, the ants come in. It drives me nuts! I’ll be pinning this for that time!
Katie Berry says
Our ants seem to show up in the first two weeks of March, year after year. I try to go through this list at the end of February for that very reason. 🙂
Brenda says
I just noticed some today in my pantry….. I wanted to cry….. I am a clean freak!…..Will use some of these wonderful tips… Thanks!
Katie Berry says
You’re welcome! It’s that time of year when even clean freaks are likely to see ants, so don’t get down on yourself. 🙂
Olivia says
Ants are brilliant, industrious, little workers. That’s about the only thing admirable about them. Your tips are excellent as well. I have two more that you might like to add to your post later on. Bay leaves and cinnamon are deplorable to ants. My grandmother used to lay bay leaves out when the ants began coming inside. She kept bay leaves tucked around inside of the kitchen cabinets and sprinkled ground raw cinnamon on the paths that the ants marched one by one. I think the bay leaves work a little better than cinnamon.
Thank you for sharing with us at Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
Olivia, co-hostess
Reinvented Collection
Katie Berry says
Excellent tips. Thank you for sharing them!
Jamie @ Medium Sized Family says
It’s so tough to get rid of those things once they find their way in! Last year I found that Borax was really the only thing that would do it for us.
Katie Berry says
Borax is wonderful stuff!
Merciaa says
Please keep me updated on latest ant home made pesticides
Satabdi Chatterjee says
When I see the ant I feel irretated. Do you give me any suggestion/home made easy process which I use at the time of daily floor cleaning for avoid ant/any other insects?
kimsch says
Cornmeal is also a good way to get rid of ants. They can’t digest it once they eat it, and they take it home to their nests to share! In the Spring we had a lot on the front walk and a nest in the yard. I sprinkled cornmeal and then they were gone. It’s good because it’s not poison and won’t harm the birds or squirrels.
Katie Berry says
I hadn’t heard that one. Thanks!
aajayunlimited says
It will not work on the TINY black ants that we have been faced with. They seem to be immune to the natural or clement remedies that work for medium and large sized ant species. Admittedly, cornmeal has worked in the past. It just will not work for these. These are some very, very “determined” TINY ants. Bleach and/or mop cleaner don’t even destroy their scent trail/thwart them. Once it dries, they are back as if you did nothing at all. I don’t know if they are protein or sweet ants, because they seem to have no presence at all. Anything made of liquid(including water itself) kills them on contact instantly–far more quickly than larger ants, but larger ants are far, far easier to get rid of. Am trying cologne now; maybe that will work.
Donna says
The peppermint works on the little ones. I tried it once and have used it every year since then. If I don’t use it then we are infested with these little nuisances around our home. I take the oil and mix with a small amount of water and wipe down all surfaces then I mix a small amount with water in a spray bottle and spray around windows, doors and appliances every day, sometimes several times daily and pretty soon the ants are gone. Not to mention this makes your house smell amazing!
Suzan says
Great info about the lavender scent that ants don’t like! Ants always make me just a little twitchy (I have been known to cry about ant invasions) and while I have found something that works to get rid of them once they have arrived, knowing what repels them is super!
Katie Berry says
Ants make me twitchy, too. Ever notice how, once you see them, every little itch makes you jump around because you’re certain they’re crawling on you? Ugh!
Fiona says
I feel the same way would apple cider vinegar work to kill the trail
Katie B of HousewifeHowTos.com says
It should, yes.
Rhonda says
I have also found that peppermint is good to keep spiders away. We had a problem with them and our bug man told us what to use add peppermint to a little water and spray everywhere that spiders go and it really works well.
Katie Berry says
It sure does. I cover that in How to Get Rid of Spiders Naturally. 😉