The following is a post from Angie.

When ants show up in your home, often your first reaction may be to grab the phone and call the exterminator.  (Or, perhaps that is your second reaction, as your first reaction may be to want to squish them all.)  Before calling the exterminator, save yourself money and chemicals in your home by trying a simple, three ingredient solution for getting rid of ants in your home.

After adding a screened-in porch, we started getting ants in our home from time to time.  We tried ant solutions that we could buy at the store, as well as numerous exterminator visits (spending almost $300 one winter because of multiple visits).  This three ingredient solution was the cheapest method, using only items that I happened to have at home.

Supplies Needed

• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons  Borax
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• Cotton balls or paper towel

Instructions

1. Mix the Borax and sugar together until well combined.

2. Add the mixture to your warm water and mix constantly until the powder has been completely dissolved.

3. Seal the mixture in a jar or container for future use, and use only what you need in the next steps (and save the rest).  It is important that you clearly label the jar, as it will just look like water.  Do not leave this where children can get to it.  (Because this is such an easy solution to make, however, I only kept what I made until after the ants had been gone for a week or more.)

4. Fill some jar lids, milk caps, or other shallow containers with cotton balls or a wad of paper towel.

5. Add the sugar-Borax solution to the prepared lids making sure to soak the cotton balls (or paper towel).

6. Wait.  It may take the ants a while to find the solution.  But, once they do, let them feast (and take the solution back to their home).  At our house, to speed up the finding process, I placed a couple of the soaked cotton balls directly on the ledge in my kitchen where most of the ants were.

Be prepared – more ants will probably show up once they find the solution.  However, within a day, you’ll probably see much fewer ants.  Over the course of just a few days, all of the ants should likely be gone.  Because we had watched the ants quite a bit, we noticed where they were coming from and made sure to use a sealant to seal the area to stop them from coming back in the future.

What other solutions have you taken to solve an insect problem in your home?

You could also try this method for how to get rid of black ants.

More posts from Angie

photo credit

Don’t forget to scroll down for a giveaway!

I recently received some Seventh Generation laundry products to try in my home.

Now you all know I am picky about detergent. My HE machine and I haven’t always gotten along and I’ve searched to find a detergent that cleans my clothes and doesn’t leave them smelling bad.

I decided to try out the Seventh Generation detergent with some very dirty, stinky, shoes that my son wore into the creek. To my surprise they came out of the washer clean and didn’t smell like Florida lake water!

I then tried a slip cover from my chair and washed it on the delicate setting. It also came out clean. I was thrilled that the Seventh Generation detergent was able to handle the tough super dirty boy stains and delicates like a slip cover.

Need some laundry inspiration? Here’s a pinboard for you. 

This month I’m partnering with Seventh Generation and The Lorax to help raise ecological awareness for adults and children. As the Lorax says,

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

Every single person can make small changes in their life that help sustain the environment. You don’t have to drive an electric car or cook in a solar oven to help the environment. (Although those things work too)

Here are a few facts about Seventh Generation detergent.

• Biodegradable formula
• Hypoallergenic
• Free of optical brighteners, dyes, perfumes and synthetic fragrances
• Non-toxic
• Designed for standard and high-efficiency (HE) machines
• USDA Certified Biobased Product (96%)

Seventh Generation and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax have joined forces to inspire families to conserve the earth’s resources with conscious consumption.

If every U.S. household replaced just one bottle of 50 oz. 4X concentrate petroleum-based laundry liquid with Seventh Generation’s 50 oz. 4X concentrate plant-derived product, we could save enough oil to heat and cool 15,700 U.S. homes for a year.

Make a difference by choosing high-quality and effective products from Seventh Generation, now offering free shipping for any purchase over $50!

How do you live like the Lorax? Tell Seventh Generationbelow and be entered to win a Green Your Home prize pack! 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Seventh Generation. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.