---

Don’t you just love this time of year? The flowers are in bloom, the trees providing shade from the afternoon sun, warm sunshine, ants invading your house…okay, so the last one is really just a giant nuisance but what’s a girl to do??? Those little ants seem to come in overnight and by the hundreds!

First things first, check your home’s maintenance. It is always a good idea to properly seal up your house every year. Checking the caulking around windows, doors, any wires or pipes entering the structure, and at seams. Check your weatherstripping and the sweeps under your doors. This is a best practice to keep many pests out of your home as well as prevent energy loss from heating and cooling escaping from gaps in your home.

Finally, trim any vegetation or tree limbs in contact with your home’s exterior. These only encourage pests to enter your home!

Okay, so you did the maintenance and you still have ants bugging you (yea, I couldn’t resist)? I personally do not like spraying a bunch of smelly pest sprays inside my home. First, if you read the warning labels, you need to pay attention to the appropriate application and safety precautions. I have, and no thank you!

So, where does that leave me? A green alternative. Most things in nature have a natural deterrent or predator to keep them away. For ants, there are certain scents they do not care for and avoid, such as orange, lemon, clove, cinnamon bark, peppermint, and spearmint. Additionally, the essential oils will confuse the ants attempting to follow the trail left behind by their predecessors.

My Recipe:

---

• 30 drops of peppermint essential oil
• 50 drops of orange oil
• distilled water
• Clean spray bottle

Step 1: Combine the essential oils into spray bottle.

Step 2: Add distilled water to the essential oils, leaving some room at the top of the bottle.

Step 3: Close lid and give it a good shake. Label your bottle with a pretty label or a sharpie marker. (Always label your spray bottles!)

Step 4: I use a spray stream. Spray the ants directly when you see them. Try to find their point of entry and spray it. The oils will help mask the entry point into your home.

Step 5: You can spray this on the outside if you identified the entry point. Spray the ants every time you see them. It takes a couple days but they will die and stop entering your home! Not to mention it is completely safe and smells amazing!!!

---