still can't get rid of sugar ants - what am i doing wrong?

are you spraying them? that's usually it. Spray kills the ones you see and the rest just reroute. Use a slow-acting sweet bait and leave the trail alone so they carry it back to the nest, it can take a week or more and you'll see more ants for the first day or two, which is normal. Also keep the bait away from where you clean with bleach or vinegar, it wipes their scent trail and they stop finding it.