I love candles and I go through one every couple of weeks or so. Scents and music always bring back memories for me. I know if Dashboard Confessionals come on I immediately think back to driving in my first car. If I smell Cinnamon I immediate think of fall and all the awesome things that come with it.

With going through a lot of candles comes a lot of containers. I love that Bath & Body works makes their containers so simple. There is so many different uses for them.

I started looking online a while ago for ways to clean out my candle containers and found so many. Most of them are very similar, but I felt like they either did not work well or I felt like they were missing some steps. I tried the bowling pot method and almost broke the container in the pot. The others say to just remove the paper sticker on the bottom, but what if it doesn’t come off super easy? I would have to go find another tutorial on how to remove a stubborn sticker.

I decide to put together my own how-to with a method that works great everytime I use it.

SUPPLIES:
Candle
Butter Knife
WD-40 or something to remove the stickiness.
There are other things out there that work as well, but I feel like WD-40 does the job perfect.
(Other items that would work: vinegar, baby oil, olive oil, or orange solvent).

OPTIONAL ITEM: Pliers

STEP 1:
Freeze the candles. It not only causes the wax to shrink and detach from the side, but I also find that it helps for the pieces to break into bigger sections.

STEP 2:
Take the candles out of the freezer. WAIT until candles reach ROOM TEMPERATURE. If you break it up right out of the freezer, the glass will break.
After the candles reach room temperature, begin breaking up the wax with your butter knife.

STEP 2.5:
Once you have all the wax removed. Some of the wicks may or may not be left. They are usually glued on pretty well and it is not unusual for one or all the wicks to be left.
If they are stuck you can either:
– Try to pull them up with your butter knife.
– Pull them up with pliers.
– Got to step 3 and remove then.

STEP 3:
A hot bath. Fill your sink with hot water and have the candles soak for about 10-15 minutes.
This helps loosen up the stickers, any stuck wicks, and any remaining wax.

STEP 4:
The clean-up. At this point you can pull off the labels. The paper labels may be a little crumbly, but you can easily remove them with a rag or the nonrigid side of your knife. Any flat item would work. The wicks should also be much easier to remove with your knife or pliers if you could not pull them out in the previous step.

STEP 4.5
If you still have sticker residue on your glass container, you can use your WD-40 or similar product with a rag and the reside will easily be removed. Wash your candles in the sink or your dishwasher and they are ready to you to use!

There are so many different uses for the containers, but here are a below are a few ways
I re-used mine. I even added a drawer pull I put and added to the top using E6000 glue.
You can find a ton more ideas on Pinterest HERE