I have been deep cleaning our apartment recently. Room by room, closet by closet, I'm scrubbing and getting rid of everything we don't use or have a sentimental attachment to. Don't worry, I'm not going too overboard...I'm still squirreling away some junk for my crafts later. I even have a special drawer for those items now! :)
It's been quite a process though. I knew we had a lot of stuff, but I never quite realized the full potential our small apartment had for hiding crap. I don't even know where it all came from!
Anyway...have you seen my sister Tricia's post about the makeup brush holder yet? (If not, click here to see it!) I loved that idea, but I didn't have a cute little container to do it for myself. I was going to run to Goodwill and find one, then realized my whole point of deep cleaning was to get rid of the junk I kept bringing in all the time. {I've never claimed to be very bright.} I decided that if I wanted to make a brush holder like my sister's, I was going to have to find something to use that we already had in our apartment.
I wasn't coming up with anything until I came across this old candle. It was perfect! Large enough to fit all my eye-makeup brushes, yet small enough that it didn't take up a whole lot of room. The only downside was that it was still holding a ton of wax at the bottom. I don't like cleaning candle wax. I used to try to melt it down in the oven, then pour it out and chip away at the leftovers once it cooled. Then, I would get frustrated with the streaky residue always left behind after scrubbing.
Well, guess what? I now have a tip for you that will forever change the way you feel about cleaning candle jars! {That is, if you actually keep your candle jars. You may think this is another one of my hoarding moments, but honestly, some candles come in really cute jars and you can reuse them in really unique ways! Try it.}
Directions
Choose the old candle that you want to use.
Place it in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
When you pull it out, you will see it pulling away from the edge and cracking slightly.
Take a butter knife and gently break a chunk.
Use the knife to push and slide, and break more frozen wax chunks.
Dump the wax in the trash.
(Or, if the scent is still strong enough, re-melt it for another candle or to make some scented wax cubes for your melting pot.)
Wash it in hot, soapy water and everything will come right out! No joke!
If you are having a hard time removing the residue (which is unlikely), use our DIY Goo-Gone/Gunk Remover. {Click here to learn how to make it.}
You now have a perfectly clean candle jar, and nobody will guess it took you such little effort to clean!
Look how perfect it was for my brush holder! (Thank you, Tricia for this idea!!)
I now have another candle (with a lid!) that I've been burning down just so I can use the jar for cotton balls. :)
Cute! Glad you liked the idea!!
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