- You Will Need:
- Peppermint Essential Oil
- Cotton Balls
Summer time is when most people look for help and advice on getting rid of ants in the house.
Not Me.
We do battle with the ants in the winter. The colder and snowier it is, the bigger the problem. As far as we can figure things out, they have an underground nest next to our basement wall where the furnace is, and the warmth draws them into the house. Pesky Ants!
And so once again as our temperatures here in Michigan dipped down into the single digits last week, the invasion began. They’re the teeny tiny ants and the first place we spot them is always around our fireplace hearth.
In years past we’ve always relied on D-Con Ant Killer. And this year I might have done the same thing – except I looked all around the house and couldn’t find it! BUT – what a blessing in disguise that turned out to be because I discovered a natural remedy that works just as well, maybe even better!
Using Peppermint Essential Oil To Get Rid of Ants
To get rid of the ants I put about 5 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil
Yeah, the room smelled a bit peppermint-y. But it was actually quite pleasant and was a HUGE improvement over the smell of a commercial ant killer spray.
So how did it work? Pretty darn awesome. I didn’t see any ants until a few days later when I spotted just a couple random ones hanging about. So I repeated the peppermint oil treatment again and that seemed to do the trick. So far, I’m VERY HAPPY with this new method and I’m willing to repeat it every few days if that’s what works.
More Natural Remedies To Get Rid of Ants
If you’d like to get rid of ants naturally, here are some more ideas to try:
1. Other Essential Oils. I chose the peppermint oil, but if you have another fragrant essential oil, give it a try. The scents make it hard for the ants to follow their trails, and the smells may be unpleasant to them too.
2. Cinnamon. Cinnamon is said to be one of the scents that repels ants. Try sprinkling some ground cinnamon around the area where you want to keep ants away.
3. Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, or Chili Pepper. These strong smells can also discourage ants from coming around and can be sprinkled in the area where the ants are a problem.
4. Vinegar. Here’s another strong smell that ants hate and that will remove the smell of their trails. You can put some vinegar on a cotton ball and wipe it around, or if you are using vinegar and water as an all purpose cleaner, spray some around the area where you want to discourage the ants.
5. Chalk or Baby Powder. You can also try making a barrier with chalk or baby powder which naturally repel ants.
I’m pretty jazzed about my new peppermint oil discovery and would love to hear if anyone else has a favorite natural home remedy for getting rid of pesky ants. Please share with a comment if you do!
I'm Bev and I love to share ideas for living a more creative and resourceful lifestyle with homemade alternatives we can make for ourselves. 
The Stocked Kitchen: One Grocery List . . Endless Recipes
Nice to read about a pleasant smelling, non-messy trick to deter
the ants – many thanks.
I recently sprayed vinegar on our bathroom ants and they disappear for several days. When a few come back, I spray them again and they disappear again. It works as good as, or better than real ant poisons we’ve used in the past, which tend to draw MORE ants to the area before it kills them off for a few days. (I’ve found Windex works, too. must be the ammonia)
Good to know the vinegar works. I hadn’t tried that one yet but suspected the smell would do the trick. Thanks for sharing!
Good to know this oil works for ants too. I use it as a spray with water in all my windows to keep spiders out. It works well. I spritz all the way around my back door -outside- with a vinegar/water mix in early spring every few days for about a month. I haven’t had ants come inside in several summers.
I’m going to remember this for help with spiders! Thanks!
Vinegar works for us only to kill the ones around. I’ve never found it to be effective in preventing their return.
I’ve tried so many things for ants! I mixed aspartame with honey, hoping they’d carry it back to the queen and kill the colony, no avail. I have to keep the honey standing in water. Our pesky ants are so small that they can get in a tightly closed jar of honey by walking around the screw top rings.
One thing we’ve found effective is to line the base of the house with diatomaceous earth in the spring. DE is safe for pets and people, although you do not want to breathe in the powder or get it in your eyes. It is razor sharp to bugs (vets use it internally for pets for worms). They can’t build an immunity to it.
I’ll have to remember peppermint next spring when we begin to have problems again (no winter ants here). Thanks, Bev.
Using oils works on ants and other insects not because of the smell, but because it dissolves the waxy cuticle on their bodies, causing them to die nearly-instantly from dehydration. Commercial orange oil sprays are recommended for ants for this reason and are 100% pet/child safe since it is just a food-derived oil.
Superb ideas
I also use the vinegar/water spritzing to erase ants’ trails.
But even more effective is baking soda/bicarbonate soda.
We had an army of ants coming through the brickwork near the front door. I sprinkled some baking soda all along the ants’ paths, especially the cracks and holes. Gone were the ants! And the spiders didn’t like it either.
That’s good to know that baking soda can be so effective! It would save a lot of money too.
I have been crawling all over your blog and your pinterest today and I have to say I am in luv! U have the greatest ideas I can’t wait to have ants so I can try this… lol
Thanks so much for sharing Bev
So glad you are having fun checking out all the info here Lizz. And the ants will probably show up sooner or later
This is the first winter we have had the tiny ants “pizz ants” they are HORRIBLE around our stove !! It seemed very unusual to have ants during the winter but since I read this post it made more since about the warmth & since our kitchen is on the center of our home that has to be the reason! I am going to try this !! Thanks for sharing !!
another formula:
1cup sugar
3 Tbsp boric acid
3 cups warm water
Mix dry ingredients, add warm water, stirring to prevent lumps. Put cotton in a jar lid and pour solution to saturate it. The will take it back to the nest. Can be stored in a jar until ready to use. (do not disturb ants climbing on the jar lid to drink the solution – let them drink and go back to their nest.)
Thanks for sharing that recipe Lois!
i have never heard of using cinnamon before. i use garlic powder that i get at the dollar store. the ants stay away for awhile. i have also pored plain white vinegar in their holes and watched them dissolve. i have also been told that poring some Borax down their homes works as well because they take it to other colonies and they then get destroyed as well. hope this helps
this idea also works for mice too. we just put the cotton balls all over the kitchen and where ever the nest maybe i have even found them in my dresser before after returning from vacation.