There are lots of chemical ant repellents these days, the problem is these are full of toxic Ingredients, bad scents and some of them are expensive. Luckily there are a lot of homemade effective solutions for getting rid of this problem.
Remedy for ant trails:
Follow the trail of ants to find out where they are entering your house, then when you find the source a good remedy for disrupting the ant trails is to sprinkle some herbs like: chervil, lavender, mint, thyme and juniper on them, so they will stop following and then you can use remedies for repelling, on the list bellow.
1. Lemon juice
The intense scent will repel them, and disorient them.
How to do it: by squeezing fresh lemon juice onto windowsills and doors also in the cracks between appliances and walls, they will stay outside of your house.
2. Cinnamon / Peppermint
Other than giving your house a nice scent, the ants wont cross it.
How to do it: sprinkle ground cinnamon use cinnamon sticks on garlic in the most invaded areas or spray cinnamon essential oil all around the doors, windowsills, floors, etc.
3. Boiling water and dish soap
How to do it: Fill with water and a little bit of liquid dish soap a spray bottle.
Spray it on any visible ants
If you find the trail or see any ant colonies you can pour a kettle of boiling water on it and it will kill thousands of them obtaining instant results.
4. Chalk
It is made of calcium carbonate, a nontoxic substance, chalk particles can puncture ants skin and slowly kill them by dehydration, so they wont cross.
How to do it: draw a chalk line around doors, windows, floor.
5. Vinegar
Vinegar has fungicidal properties that help repel ants either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar will work.
How to do it: Pour it in a spray bottle and spray on areas where the ants are.
Sources
source
source
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2012/03/you-tell-me-natural-remedies-for-the-ant-invasion.html
Book: Natural Remedies For Healthy Living, Reader’s Digestt, 2011.