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Few things compare to scented candles for freshening your indoor air and adding ambience to your living spaces. However, they always leave wax behind. What to do with the leftovers?
Please don’t toss old jars and their valuable contents in the rubbish bin, where it’s only destined for a landfill. Instead, embrace one of these nine fun ideas for what to do with old candle wax.
Candles come in various shapes and sizes. If the one containing your favorite scent burned down to the wick with plenty of wax left around the sides, why don’t you concentrate the good stuff into a smaller container.
You can remove the old wax from the original jar using one of the following methods:
The oven method is most likely quickest and easiest if you have steady hands to manage the pour. Otherwise, you can press the removed wax into the shape of the new container.
What if you don’t have spare votive holders lying around? You can use numerous household objects like small wine glasses and cups to make your new masterpiece.
Do you have a wood stove or fireplace? You know that matches and newspapers aren’t the best ways to spark a flame.
However, you can take cotton facial cleansing pads and dip half of them in your old melted candle wax. When it’s time to torch, light the clean end and toss it in your fire pit. The wax will make the flame burn slower, giving your kindling ample opportunity to ignite.
Do your door’s hinges announce your presence without you having to say a word? Put that old candle wax to good use correcting that annoying squeak.
Start by removing the hinge pins from the door. While you dismantle the hardware, melt your old candles using the oven method above. Dip the pins in the wax, coating them, repeating as often as necessary until your door closes without a whisper of a creak.
Why spend a fortune on wax melts when you have leftover scented candles? Once you remove the old stuff from the jar, you have the same thing.
All you need is a small ceramic bowl or plate. Pop the wax inside and sit it on top of your radiator or by a heat vent. As the wax melts, it will fill your room with fragrance.
If you live in a snowy part of the country, shoveling with a layer of ice is a bear. You can dent your equipment and still have a dangerous driveway.
However, you can outfit your gear with leftover candle wax. Rub some of this along the blade of your shovel and it will cut through frozen gunk without bending or snapping off at the handle.
Remember the good old days when carrier pigeons delivered correspondence sealed with a wax emblem? You might not have aviary help, but you can still bring back the charm of yesteryear.
Use a dab of old candle wax to seal your holiday cards this year. You get bonus points if you get a stamp made bearing your family crest (or one you invent) for a true medieval touch.
Do you catch a draft when you sit by your living room window? What you feel is your electric bill rising. How can you fix it in a pinch?
Turn to trusty leftover candle wax. This stuff makes an excellent substitute for caulk in a pinch. Rub the wax into the seams anywhere you see cracks or feel a chill.
Do your teens live to skateboard? They can damage their gear if it gets scraped up along curbs. They need to wax their board.
Melt down leftover candle wax for this purpose. A few drops of vegetable oil added to the mix creates the perfect consistency.
Try as you might, that cork will not go back in that bottle of wine. What to do?
Mold some old candle wax into a makeshift cork to keep your vino fresher. You can shape many waxes by rolling a ball of the leftover stuff between your palms long enough to soften it, then molding it however you desire.
Scented candles add beauty and ambiance to your home, but they create unnecessary waste. Instead of contributing to landfill fodder, get creative with your leftover candle wax. Try one of these nine fun ideas for giving it new life.
