The best part of my job as your humble columnist is the mail I get from my loyal readers. I had to laugh today when the first two letters I pulled from my inbox requested help with ants and sharks.

Dear Mary: Once again, this summer I am dealing with an invasion of ants in my kitchen. Please advise. Exterminators are terribly expensive. — Lola

Dear Lola: You're not the only one! I've been hearing from so many readers who are anxious to know how to get rid of carpenter ants, sugar ants, fire ants, acrobat ants, big ants, tiny ants — every kind of ant imaginable, even crazy ants!

Fortunately, I have solution for you that is inexpensive, natural and completely safe to use around kids and pets. It's a very effective tactic I wrote about recently, and I am happy to share it again.

Food-grade diatomaceous earth, or DE, will take care of this problem and continue to work as long as it stays dry. It is available in most garden centers and home improvement stores, and also online on Amazon. I just checked, and you can get a 10-pound bag on Amazon for $22 with Amazon Prime free shipping.

DE is an off-white, talc-like powder made of fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton. If you could take a look at it through a microscope you'd see that it resembles shards of glass. When sprinkled on bugs that have an exoskeleton (such as centipedes, bedbugs, ants, cockroaches, and fleas) or placed strategically so they crawl into it, the DE cuts into the exoskeleton, which causes them to dehydrate and die. The amazing thing about DE is it kills bugs but doesn't hurt mammals. In fact, many people add DE to their daily diet to promote good health!

Sprinkle the DE powder wherever you have seen ants crawling — edges, corners, cracks, baseboards and floorboards. Pour a line of DE across doorway thresholds and on all windowsills. Sprinkle it in the cabinet under the sink, and behind drawers and baseboards. If the DE gets wet, clean it up and reapply.

Caution: Only use food-grade diatomaceous earth that's used for pest control, NOT the diatomaceous earth found in pool-supply stores. If it doesn't say "food-grade" on the label, it has been chemically altered to be used in swimming pools. Non food-grade DE is ineffective against creepy-crawlies.

Dear Mary: Awhile back, you wrote about your top-rated vacuum cleaner. I clipped that article, but now that I need it I cannot find it. Could you tell me the make and model again? I have had several vacuums over the years that I have not been happy with. I am desperate to find a good one. — Trudy

Dear Trudy: The brand is Shark. That's the easy part. What's confusing is that Shark makes numerous models of its vacuums and other floor-cleaning devices. And it manufactures vacuums with model numbers that are unique to stores like Costco and Bed Bath & Beyond. But not to worry, I can make this simple.

It is the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Professional. The model on Amazon is NV356E. This Shark is robust, reliable and relatively inexpensive for a top-of-the line vacuum. I use the Lift-Away feature regularly to vacuum stairs. Should you be looking at Shark vacuums in a store, don't expect to find that exact model number. Instead, look for the words "Shark," "Professional" and "Lift-Away" in the name. I just checked, and as I write this the price on Amazon is $145 with Amazon Prime free shipping. That is a serious bargain!

Mary invites questions, comments and tips at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or c/o Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Suite B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com, a personal finance member website and the author of "Debt-Proof Living," released in 2014. To find out more about Mary and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.