Where I live, the temperature has gone from cool and Spring-y (like 60 degrees) to hot and sweltering (80+ degrees and humid) within a week. Unfortunately, that means it’s officially ant season. And they wasted no time in invading my place. I am pretty good about keeping things clean and have never had bug problems before- I wash dishes every day, keep my kitchen counters and floor clean, vacuum, and take out the trash regularly. But they still came. It’s super gross and can honestly test your sanity when you are trying to get rid of them. I tried a bunch of different things, and I think the combination of them all finally worked. The first thing I did was deep clean my entire kitchen and living room, then set traps using this recipe by Angie Kaufmann at The Happy Housewife:

• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Borax
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• Cotton balls or paper towel

Mix the ingredients into a solution, then dip the cotton balls in it and place where your ants are showing up. They will eat it and take it back to their colony, where it will kill the entire population.

Between cleaning, vigorously Lysol-ing everything, and setting these traps, my ant problem has completely disappeared 🙂

It’s been consistently in the 70s where I live for the last week or so; perfect weather for turning off the AC, opening all the windows, and letting in some fresh air. It’s also perfect weather for starting some Spring cleaning. It’s time to get all those tasks that have been piling up throughout the year DONE. But where to start? For help, check out this super useful guide by Elite Team and Sharon Kowitz at Active Rain:

-Wash the windows

-Deep clean carpets

-Clean overlooked surfaces like baseboards, door frames, and walls

-Dust and clean light fixtures

-Safety checks: check fire extinguishes, change batteries on smoke/CO detectors

-Rotate and flip mattresses

-Get new pillows

-Clean all bedding