If you've ever had ants come indoors, you know what a nuisance they can be when they crawl across kitchen countertops, invade your pet's food bowl, and get into garbage cans.

So, what should you do? Outsmart the ants.

Ants are usually looking for food, water and shelter. Although spraying a pesticide may seem like an easy solution, this won't get rid of the reason the ants are there, and they will be back.

Instead, here are some other things you can do to keep them out and make your house less attractive to ants:

• Find where the ants are entering, then caulk cracks and crevices both indoors and out.
• Wipe up ant trails with soapy water as soon as you see them.
• Store food...