Hi folks,
I’m honestly at my limit and could really use some advice.
I’ve been dealing with ants in my house on and off for years, but lately it feels nonstop. I clean, wipe counters, seal food, and they still show up—kitchen, bathroom, even the bedroom sometimes.
I’ve tried sprays, DIY tricks, blocking entry points… some things help briefly, but nothing sticks long-term.
I feel this. Ant problems are exhausting because they make you feel helpless. In my case, nothing changed until I stopped reacting to where I saw them and started paying attention to where they were coming from outside.
Same situation here, especially in apartments. You can do everything right and still get ants if the building has issues. I realized my place wasn’t the only source, which helped explain why it kept coming back.
Not gonna lie, quick fixes never worked for me. Anything that just kills the ants you see seems pointless. Once I focused on disrupting their paths instead of chasing them, things slowly improved.
I had ants for YEARS in an older home. What helped most was consistency. Not one treatment, not one weekend cleanup—more like weeks of sticking to the same approach. It’s annoying, but that’s when I noticed fewer trails.
@HomeFixDan one thing to consider: do you notice them more after rain or temperature changes? That was a big clue for me. Turned out they were moving indoors temporarily, not actually nesting inside.
I’ll be the downer here—sometimes there isn’t a “magic solution.” I chased one method after another and kept getting disappointed. Once I accepted it was about control, not instant elimination, it got less frustrating.
This might sound weird, but over-cleaning actually made it worse for me. I removed all scents, so they just kept scouting harder. Leaving one controlled spot and addressing the source helped more than constant wiping.
@OldHouseNate Totally agree on consistency. I quit halfway through so many times because it felt useless. The time I finally stuck with it, the difference showed up weeks later, not days.
Document what you try. I didn’t realize what wasn’t working until I wrote it down. Patterns became obvious after a while.
@ApartmentLogic Weather-triggered ants are real. Once I stopped panicking every time they appeared and focused on long-term prevention, my stress level dropped—even before the ants fully disappeared.