I do believe the bay leaves work. My sister bought enough whole wheat flour for 2 batches of her bread. Put the last 1/2 of the buy in tupperware. 2 weeks later she went to use the remainder and her tupperware container was like a sieve. The buggers had found their way out!
For the tiny grease ants that sometime I find under the kitchen sink. I put some whole cloves down and have never had any problem with them since.
Regular ants - I sprinkle baby powder and they disappear you can also use diametatious earth (sp) That is also safe for a person to eat and it will kill parisites you have. Pretty amazing.