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 Bill Lauto is an Environmental Scientist and Energy Consultant who has been teaching how we can save our money, energy, environment, and health, since 1982. Mr. Lauto operates GoingTrueGreen.com and his work has been published in magazines such as: Consumer Report, Kiplinger's Financial and Business Ethics. |
| Is your house being invaded by ants? Warmer days this time of year will send ants out far and wide looking for food. You can have everything sealed off in your house, except for the one bowl of dry cat food and ants will find that bowl. To battle back, I strongly suggest avoiding chemical warfare, especially if you have pets and little children in your house. Some of those sprays and ant poisons are worse than having ants in the house. Therefore, I want to share a few “Natural” solutions to ward off any ant brigade on the march into your home. First, just try sprinkling ground red pepper along any entry point. If you do this outside your window or door, the red pepper must be replenished after each rain fall. Second, try peppermint oil. Many people prefer using the peppermint oil because the aroma is very pleasing. A third method is the use of ground cinnamon or spray cinnamon essential oil all around the entry points. Also mixing cinnamon and cloves will keep the ants out and your house smelling wonderful. An additional way to keep ants from entering your house is chalk lines! Just draw lines anywhere you can and ants will not cross. Make sure the line is wide and thick, because sometimes a thin chalk line will be crossed. If you use chalk outside your window or door, the chalk lines may wash away, thus the need to redraw the lines after each rain fall. The last way to prevent ants from entering your house is coffee grinds. Place coffee grinds into the cracks or at any area you see ants coming in. Now coffee grinds and all previous methods presented do not kill the ants. These are natural barriers that keep ants from crossing. If you have a serious infestation of ants living in your house and you need to kill them, perhaps you may wish to consider one of the following possibilities instead of store bought chemical sprays. Place a mixture of baking soda and powdered sugar in a plastic bottle cap or dish. Locate these bottle caps or dishes around the area where the ants live. After a week or so, you should see a difference. Make a mixture of white vinegar with salt have a ratio of 3 to 1 and pour into the cracks you found as the entry points to the ant colony. A third way to kill ants inside your home is to use cream of wheat. The consumption proves to be too much for the ants small body after the digested wheat expands. With these methods we can save money and live healthier compared to chemical sprays being used around our homes. |
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20 lucky winners will win $500 each in prizes totaling $10,000. 