Ants In The House.

Following on from a Re-Mind from the most wonderful Shannon222 I thought I would pass on this wonderful little tip I learned a few years ago. 

Ants... They can be great out in the wild but in your house? Not so much!
If you have ants in your house you can help get rid of them with the careful use of vinegar. 

Now, before I start I just want to say that this is NOT a one-shot cure-all. Vinegar will NOT harm the ants directly, unless you drown them in it, obviously!
No. Ants, like many insects, do not like strong smells. Vinegar has a very strong smell and it's one that lingers, too. The thing that ants do not like is that, while the smell is not hideous to humans, to ants it is truly offensive!
The other thing is that ants communicate via pheromones. They also navigate through pheromone tracks laid down by scouting ants. When an ant finds a good food source they use that pheromone track to find the food. 

So, how to get rid of ants?

Clean your kitchen regularly with a 1:1 mix of distilled white vinegar and cool water. Don't worry if you find the smell of vinegar to be unpalatable, it will dull itself to your senses soon enough, but to the ants the smell will linger for quite a while!
A simple wiping down of counter tops, kitchen cupboards and doors daily, and a mop of the floor at least once a week is all you need. This will stop any scouting ants getting back to the nest and will stop any raiding parties in the future. 

You can also use this mix if you have ants in other parts of the house. Simple carefully spray near doors, windows, vents and wherever you see them moving. They will likely abandon the nest and move elsewhere. This is what happened to us!

One thing to note. Neat vinegar won't damage fabrics but you may want to avoid soaking any furnishing if you can avoid it!

Don't expect this to be over in one day though. If you have ants in your house this may take a few days of constant fighting... But it is a fight you can win!

In all fairness you would be better off using the vinegar to clean your household and help stop them getting a foothold in the first place!
Vinegar is a natural cleaning agent and it contains no nasty chemicals. Perfect for the nature concious person. 

#Cleaning #vinegar #Ants #Nature #problems #LifeHack