Forget putting them upside down in a warm oven — my preferred method for the longest time. It’s a mess, not to mention the fact that the only fire we’ve ever had in the kitchen was started when my son (then a wee lad) turned on the oven without looking inside first. It was never serious, but it sure scared him.
I wish I knew where I read this, so I could give proper credit. It certainly wasn’t my idea. But, since I’m de-waxing a neet jar right now, I figured I’d write about it ’cause it’s easy peasy. And I’m especially happy because I hate to throw things away — my family is going to want to kill me when it comes time to clean up my stuff after I’m dead. I’m sure they will be happy to throw it away!
But . . . I digress . . .
Boiling water. Just pour boiling water into the jar — or anything else you want to save after the candle is long gone. That’s it.
Hate surprises? Okay — I’ll tell you what happens.
The boiling water melts the wax, and also does a pretty good job of getting the other ickies out of there, too, like the black stuff that collects on the side when the candle gets burned down so low you can’t trim the wick.
Leave the jar, let the water cool, and what do you have? A nice, neat glob of wax that you just lift out of the jar. Of course, most jars are smaller on the top than they are on the bottom, so the disc of wax you end up with won’t come out in one piece. Stick a table knife in there, break it in half, and remove the pieces.
That’s it.
I usually do this twice to get any bits that really really don’t want to leave home.
It’s cleaner, faster, easier and more effective than the warm oven method, and you don’t have to mess with wax in your sink or worry about it getting into your septic tank.
Kewl, huh? 
