I've Gone Country A blog about a city girl learning a whole new world

I helped with a function the other day at church.  We had some little candles on the tables…and you know how they always look when your finished.

The candle always burns down and then it is almost impossible to get that out of the candle holder…..right?

I can’t tell you how many times I have scraped and chipped away at melted candle wax so I could reuse the holder and it not look yucky.

YEARS and YEARS ago a lady told me this trick.   You will absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this if you don’t already know about it.

Put ice and cold water into the sink.  The water only has to go to the level the wax is.  It doesn’t even need to go inside the holder.  If you have one that has wax smeared all over the sides…then go ahead and sink it in the ICE cold water.

The COLDER the water is the better.

Check the candle after about 3 minutes…if it comes out…great it will do like this.  If it doesn’t….then put it back in the water for a few more minutes.

I have worked with bigger ones that had more wax in them and I just put them in the water and went to do other things.  Sometimes the candle will just come out in the sink if it is at an angle.

Look how clean that votive is.  Amazing…

SEE….isn’t that cool.   (No pun intended)

Even though they come out clean as a whistle….I usually drain my cold water out….then fill with warm sudsy water and clean the glass real well.  You shouldn’t have any wax on the glass at all at this point.

If you have any wax on the glass it is going to smear and be gross due to the warm water.  So get all the wax off in the COLD water.  It usually just POPS right off.

The sudsy bath is just to make the glass shine, removing finger prints and all.

I let them dry by themselves if I have the time.  No smears that way.

DONE!!!!  I pack them away…and I’m so glad the next time I need them…that they are READY to go.

And all it took was about 10 minutes total! WOO HOO

I even did this one to show….we have all had these.

neat huh?

These little ones are about a dollar with the candle already in them…but being able to reuse it is nice.

A couple of years ago I found some citronella votive candles in all kinds of neat colors that you could match with your outdoor living decor.  These holders would be great for using them outside.  They aren’t fancy..but they are not as fragile as some of the others either

Anyway…Next time you have a bunch of candle holders needing cleaning….give it a try!