Ants are pesky little critters. They invade every room in the house, looking for tasty morsels and water. Trying to get rid of them can cause you to pull your hair out in frustration!

If you have little ones running around or simply want to avoid using chemicals to deter ants from entering, check out the 10 home remedies below to get rid of ants. Your house will probably end up smelling really good in the process!

1. Clean up

Ants come in looking for food and water. Minimize ants by cleaning up scraps and crumbs left from preparing food.

2. Vaseline

Since ants leave trails they can follow, smear Vaseline over the trail to cover the scent.

3. Soap and water

Another way to get rid of the trail is to clean it up with soap and water

4. Natural bait

To permanently rid your home of ants, you must get rid of the ant colony. Try making bait from peanut butter, sugar, Borax, and water, and letting the ants take it back to their colony.

5. Vinegar

For those hard to reach places, try making a mixture of one part vinegar to three parts water and spraying it on the ant trails.

6. Cucumber peel

Ants don’t like the smell of cucumbers, so place peels around their points of entry to repel them.

7. Cinnamon

If cucumber isn’t your thing and you’re worried about the peel rotting, ants can’t stand the smell of cinnamon. He recommends sprinkling ground cinnamon around or setting out cinnamon sticks.

8. Peppermint oil

Another yummy-smelling way to repel ants is to spray 2 to 3 tablespoons of peppermint oil mixed with a quart of water around their points of entry.ock

9. Cayenne pepper and garlic

Try mixing cayenne pepper with garlic and water and spray the ant homes with it, thereby getting rid of ants at the source

10. Brush removal

Remove brush and wood piles that rest against your house because these make an easy bridge for ants to enter your home.