It’s February, and the days are getting longer. Yay for more sunlight. But it’s also the time of year I begin to notice the wear and tear from all of the candles we use around the house to keep a bit of light in our lives. We have a candelabra hanging from our living room ceiling, lit with candles. And we also have a ton of candles on tables, and hanging from the wall; they are a part of our décor.
But the problem is the wax. Even though we do not buy drip candles, there are still those crooked candles that drip and spill over the edges. Wax on the sofa, wax on the table, and even worse, wax on the wooden flooring can be a cleaning nightmare. Here are a few tricks I have learned about cleaning wax.
1) Wax on carpeting or other soft fabrics: Take several brown paper lunch bags or a larger grocery bag. Lay above the wax and grab your iron. Set your iron to medium heat and iron the top of the bags. The wax will transfer from the fabric to the brown bag. You may need to repeat this several times.
2) Wax on upholstery or laminate flooring: Use ice cubes on the wax to make it as stiff as possible. Grab a credit card and use it to chip off the wax.
3) Wax on wood furniture: Use a hair dryer to soften the wax, and then wipe up as much wet wax with a damp cloth as possible. You will need to throw away your cloth when you are finished, so choose something you won’t miss. Give a last wipe down with some diluted vinegar. You can also use the ice method on the wood furniture, but be careful when you scrape the wax off, as you don’t want to scratch your furniture.
4) Wax on wood floors: You want to be careful not to damage your floor, so take it slowly. If there is only residual wax, you can use diluted white vinegar to remove the wax. If there are larger clumps of wax, try the ice solution mentioned above. Use ice to make sure the wax is solid. Then use a credit card edge or another straight edge to gently scrape the wax off. Do not use a knife or your fingernails. Doing so could leave scratches and damage the wood. Don’t expect to get the residual wax off with a credit card. You can wipe down at the end with some diluted vinegar.
