How to Get Rid of Ants in Your Home Using Borax

GET RID OF ANTS!

I opened my kitchen cabinets one day last week and found this:

Ants, ants, ants. EVERYWHERE!

Was I mad? Frustrated? Grossed out?

Oddly enough, no.

I actually got kind of giddy about it.

See, the last time I had an ant infestation in my kitchen (over two years ago), I stumbled upon the single greatest method for getting rid of them quickly and safely. I was actually excited to use this method again! And, of course, I took pictures along the way just so I could show everyone how well this technique works.

And work, it does!

how to get rid of ants in your home with borax

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Steps to get rid of ants quickly and easily

First, clean out your cabinets, pantry, or countertops… wherever the ants may be. Remove all items one at a time, cleaning off each item as you remove it. You don’t want any ants hitching a ride to the kitchen island or dining room table! I know this step may seem tedious, but think of this as a chance to reorganize a small part of your kitchen.

Next, in a large mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Borax, and 1 1/2 cups of warm water. Stir well until all the sugar and Borax has dissolved. Once thoroughly mixed, add about 10-15 cotton balls to the mixture and allow the cotton balls to absorb the liquid.

Gently squeeze a little moisture out of each cotton ball and place them in your cabinets, or wherever the ants are. Space them about several inches to no more than a foot apart, making sure to place plenty along the walls or in the path of the ants.

For extra security, you can also mix 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter with 1 teaspoon of Borax.

I place this mixture in bottle caps or on a small piece of paper and also place around the cabinets. Some of the ants might not be attracted to sugar, so the peanut butter mixture might appeal to them.

Then, walk away.

The sugar (or peanut butter) will attract the ants and they will carry the Borax (poison) back to their nest. All the ants will be exposed and will die.

Turns out, my ant guests were not fond of the peanut butter, but they flocked en masse to the sugar mixture!

Luckily, we already had plans to go out on this particular evening, so I didn’t have to worry about cooking dinner while the ants ate theirs. I simply left them to feast and I went out on the town. By the time I got home, there were only a few ants roaming around. I was tired, so I let them be. The next morning, I went into the kitchen and found not one single ant anywhere! Not even a dead ant!

They were ALL gone!

I simply threw away the cotton balls and the peanut butter bottle caps, wiped down the cabinets really well, and returned my items to their rightful places.

No more ants, and a newly cleaned and slightly reorganized cabinet!

Not too bad for around 20 minutes of work!

A few warnings

Borax is often used in household cleaning and can be purchased in the laundry detergent aisle of the grocery store. Though it is all-natural, it is, in fact, lethal at 5 grams for children and about 15-20 grams for an adult. This recipe calls for less than that, but it should still be handled with care. (Borax is not the same thing as boric acid, which is MUCH more harmful to the body.) Make sure to wash your hands with soap and water after handling. Keep out of reach of children and pets. Make sure to wash any surfaces thoroughly after they have been exposed to Borax. Borax can cause skin, eye and lung irritation, so limit exposure.