Steadfast Living: Homemade Ant Trap

While the focus of this blog thus far has primarily been ways to save money while shopping - thus, saving money by spending money - I firmly believe the most valuable way to save money is to decrease purchases overall.  Living like a Steadfast Steward means making the most of your resources, both out of the house and in.

Thus, I plan to share a few of my favorite tips for saving money by re-purposing what you already have to fit what you need.

My first tip comes from a necessity in our own home.  I'm not sure how it happens, but spring always brings an influx of ants into our kitchen.  This is the second year I have employed a home-made bait to put an end to the pests - and my new recipe worked even better this year than last!  At the beginning of last week I saw our first ant and within a few days, they were everywhere around the sink in our kitchen.  I put out the bait on Friday night and by Saturday morning there were no ants.  Two days later, I have yet to see another insect crawling on our counters.

So, if you have the same problem, here's what I reccommend:

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. warm water
• 1 Tbsp. honey (I used sugar last year and it worked well, but not as quickly)
• 1/2 tsp. Borax (if you don't have this on-hand, you should, it has a variety of uses, including a great shower cleaner! - it's only $3-5 for a 4lb box at Wal-Mart - look in the detergent aisle).

 Combine ingredients on an old lid from a plastic container (as in a butter or sour cream lid) and place in prime spot (I put ours on our counter near our sink, where we gather the dirty dishes, so it wouldn't actually be in food-prep area or accessible to children but it would be close to the problem area). 

The ants will be lured by the honey and carry back the good stuff to their nest to share with their friends, spreading the poison at the heart of the problem.

I hope this helps!

Let me know one of your favorite Steadfast Living tips!