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How to Take Wax out of Carpet

In spite of my best efforts to warn people of the dangers of burning candles, I receive a dozen or more emails each year asking how to remove candle wax from carpet. With the holidays quickly approaching let's go over some important points to prevent accidental fires and candle wax from attacking the carpet.

First here are a few candle burning precautions:

NEVER burn a candle near flammable material. They do not belong on window sills, next to walls or near lamps or furniture. Here are a few tips for safe handling:

1) Place all candles, burning or not, on a glass plate. Wax sweats even if it is not being burned and will leave un-removable color stains on furniture.

2) Never move a lit candle or one that has been blown out. Heat sets a stain and the color from hot wax is permanent.

3) Look for candles without lead wicks and made from soy. Soy candles emit less smoke and therefore fewer toxins into the air.

4) People love scented candles. Only the scents could be causing lung and breathing issues as well as allergic reactions. Burn unscented candles and instead simmer a pot of cinnamon sticks, cloves or other fresh herbs on the stove. Or place cinnamon sticks in small bud vases around a room.

5) Avoid the scented air fresheners as well. They numb your sinuses so you can't smell odors, the fragrances are often toxic adding to indoor air pollution and the chemicals in them can cause polyps and sinus infections. Plug-ins and the fresheners that go off when you walk past them are even worse.

How to remove candle wax from carpet:

1) Scrape off what you can with a blunt knife.

2) Grab a hair dryer and several white paper towel - never use a printed paper towel

3) Turn the heat on the hair dryer to medium high and beging heating the wax.

4) As the wax softens, dab it with the paper towel.

5) Continue heating the wax and blotting until all the wax has been removed. If the candle was colored, the heat from the wax has set the color and is nearly impossible to remove.

This article may only be rewritten giving full credit to Mary Findley and her website at www.goclean.com. Copyright @ 2010 All rights reserved worldwide


About Mary

Mary Findley is a veteran cleaning expert and Founder of Mary Moppins. Mary built the company on the idea that she could create a way to make green cleaning easier, which inspired her to co-author "The Complete Idiots Guide to Green Cleaning" available on Amazon. The Mary Moppins line of specially designed cleaning tools are eco-friendly, yet industrial strength to give you the cleaning power you need to clean quickly and thoroughly.