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Gnawing mice will quickly destroy a storage room, and it only takes a few ants to make the kitchen dirty. However, if you see any of these signs—perhaps the bitten horns of the cereal box or some dead ants in the honey jar—it doesn’t mean you need to spend hundreds of dollars on professional pest control. In fact, you can do some simple (and cheap) things to solve your problem.

Cleaning products: The first step is to deep clean the kitchen. You will need all the basics-spray cleaner, paper towels and sponges.

Containers: Use safe, covered containers to protect the food storage room from pests. Our favorite plastic is the Rubbermaid Brilliance Pantry food storage container. But if you have to deal with mice, glass containers are better.

Sealant: Use a sealant and caulking gun to seal any entry point on the siding or foundation of your home.

Ant bait: The most targeted and effective solution for ants is bait station. We have spent years testing various baits, and the Terro T300 liquid ant bait is by far the most effective.

Mousetraps: We like Tomcat Press'N Set Mouse Traps because they can kill quickly, are chaotic and inexpensive.

Peanut Butter: Use peanut butter to trap mice. The mouse likes it.

If you fix the pest before it gets out of control, your problem may only last for a few days. The process involves very little hands-on time-mainly setting up and cleaning traps. But you also need to set aside some time to observe and do some detective work so that you know you are putting the trap in the right place.

Before setting up any traps or placing bait, you should look around first to see if you can spot any intruders in their daily lives. Ideally, you want to know where they enter your home from and where they spend their time. For rats, pay attention to the feces (it looks like black rice grains) or the unpleasant smell of their urine. Also, listen to them tickling your wall at night.

If you see ants, follow them and see if you can find how they enter your house. If you see ant activity related to wood chips, it is likely that you have carpenter ants, which means you should call a professional as soon as possible. The carpenter ant is not an entry-level job and may need to be drilled into the wall.

The first hands-on step of the process-and possibly solving the ant problem completely-is to clean up your living space. "Usually, if you get rid of their food, the ants will disappear," Rollins Technical Services Manager Glen Ramsey told us. Wipe everything, disinfect the trash can, remove debris from the cabinets, and ensure your food is safe. Make sure to use disinfectants, especially when dealing with rat droppings.

If pests enter your food supply and damage a bag of pasta and a box of Cheez-Its, we recommend storing your food in a stronger container. If rats are the problem, glass and metal work best. But plastic containers, such as Rubbermaid Brilliance Pantry food storage containers, will be suitable for insects. Plastic containers may deter rats, but they do have the ability to chew plastic.

If you discover how pests enter your home, you should seal these areas. Ants usually enter through cracks in the foundation or walls, such as around windows or doors. Small entry points like this can be repaired with sealant.

According to Pest Control Technology, due to its elasticity, siliconized acrylic latex sealant is suitable for large and small gaps. We have more suggestions on how to keep mice away from home here.

If cleaning and sealing does not solve your problem, then it is time to start "care" for your intruder. For mice, the best trap we found is Tomcat Press'N Set Mouse Trap. This trap provides a very quick kill and can easily handle the rat's body without touching it. If you don’t like the idea of ​​killing mice, we’ll provide information here on why we don’t recommend using anti-kill traps. For a particular bait, our luckiest is peanut butter.

For ants, Terro T300 liquid ant bait is our favorite. They are small plastic containers filled with syrupy toxins. Ants eat these toxins and bring them back to the colony to share. Within a few days, this slow-acting poison should wipe out the queen and the rest. After setting up the bait station, you may see a lot of ants, but this is a good sign, although it is a bit counterintuitive. As Terro’s Stew Clark told us, “You don’t want to kill these ants....You want them to work for you.” Terro’s baits can be used in various bait stations, some are designed for outdoor use. Yes, some are more suitable for integration with cabinets. We prefer transparent plastic ones because they are cheap and easy to monitor, 12 in a pack.

If you don't see good results after a week or two, or if the number of pests is increasing, it's time to call a professional. They have the knowledge, skills and tools needed to complete the job. Sometimes the pests are too big or too complicated for laymen to solve.

If you succeed and no more signs of pests are found, then congratulations! But your work is not over yet. In a way, it has never been. You need to be vigilant and constantly watch for new signs. If ants or mice have ever entered your home, they will most likely enter again. So pay extra attention to keeping things clean, and prepare a small amount of ant bait and mousetrap. Next time, you will be able to act faster.

Doug Mahoney is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter, covering home improvement. He has worked in the field of high-end construction for 10 years as a carpenter, foreman and supervisor. He lived in a very demanding farmhouse with a history of 250 years and spent four years demolishing and rebuilding his previous home. He also raises sheep, raises a cow, and milks him every morning.

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