Tips Tuesday: Washing Up Spilled Wax

It’s #tipstuesday and today we are talking about cleaning up spilled wax, because hey - accidents happen.

One of the many things we love about coconut/soy wax blends is how simple they are to clean up. For the most part, soap and water will do the trick removing it from almost any surface. For spills on clothing, scrape off excess wax and toss them in the washing machine (or sink) with some laundry detergent and a dish washer tablet. The soap and warm water will clean up the remaining wax and the dishwasher tab will pull the fragrance oils from the fabric.

If wax spills on carpet, you can use one of two methods depending on the supplies you have available to you. 1. Use the same technique above to remove excess wax and moisture. If you have a carpet cleaner, use a small amount of dish washing liquid or dishwasher detergent along with your carpet cleaning solution to shampoo the remaining wax/oil out of the carpet. Or: 2. Apply a thick layer of baking soda (corn starch also works if you don't have baking soda).  Wait for about half an hour to an hour to let the baking soda sit and absorb the oil. When ready, scrub the baking soda with an old toothbrush, grout brush or dish washing brush. The baking soda will likely clump up as it absorbs the oil – which is a good thing. If the stain is a particularly tough one, you may need to repeat this step a couple times. When the baking soda is all clumped up, reapply more baking soda until there is no more oil to soak up.  There should still be some baking soda residue left over on top of the stain. The next step is to apply some soap and water (dish washing soap works wonders on oil) and wash out the remainder of what's left on the carpet.

For spills on hard surfaces, just wait for the wax to dry and scrape it off with a credit card and wipe down with soap and water.  

Check back for more tips & tricks next week!