Do home remedies for ants actually work?

Vinegar, soapy water, lemon, cinnamon and chalk

These mostly work by wiping away or disrupting the scent trail ants follow. That's useful, and a damp cloth with vinegar or soapy water is a perfectly good way to clean up once ant activity has stopped.

On their own they don't reach the nest. The ants find another route or lay the trail down again within hours, so they're a tidy-up, not a solution.

Homemade borax and sugar bait

This one can genuinely reach the nest, because ants carry it home and share it. The catch is concentration: too strong and it kills foragers before they get back, which achieves nothing; too weak and nothing happens.

Borax is also toxic to pets and young children, and a sugary liquid left on a bench is exactly what they find interesting. If you have either in the house, this is the remedy to skip.

What works better

A commercial ant bait in an enclosed station does the same job as the homemade version with a controlled dose and a container that keeps it out of reach. Put it on or beside the trail, leave the trail alone while it works, and give it days rather than hours.

Pair it with the unglamorous part: remove the food and moisture that brought them in, and seal the gaps they're using.

When none of it works

If trails keep coming back, the nest is probably somewhere you can't reach - a wall cavity, under paving, or a larger network shared with neighbours, as Argentine ants often are. That's the point where finding the nest beats trying another remedy.