How to Get Wax Out of the Carpet by:Tara Aronson
Few things are as relaxing as dining by candlelight
.And few things are as aptly called a rude awakening as finding the drippings on your carpet the next morning. But don't stress on this one. You can fix this annoying problem easily enough.
You'll need ice cubes, a plastic bag, a spatula or spoon, an iron, a few plain brown paper bags, dry cleaning fluid and a squirt of hand dishwashing liquid.
Put the ice cubes in the plastic bag and cover the spot until it hardens to the touch. Then gently scrape away the excess with your spatula or spoon. Repeat on each waxy spot on your carpet.
Now set your iron on low heat. Over the residue, place a brown paper bag without any writing or designs. (Any ink may transfer to the carpet, which would be even worse than dealing with leftovers and curdled reminders of lingering dinners past.)
Press the iron on the bag for no longer than a couple of seconds. Be sure to keep the iron heat on low so carpet fibers don't get scorched. Or the bag.
Is it working? You'll know it is if you look under the bag and find a candle-colored smear of success. Keep repeating and replacing the bags as necessary until there's no more transfer to your bag when heated. You're almost there.
Now blot the remaining blights (if you have any) with dry cleaning fluid. Sparingly, to prevent damage to carpet backing. Resist the urge to substitute gasoline, lighter fluid or carbon tetrachloride for dry-cleaning fluid. These fire and breathing hazards aren't meant for indoor carpets.
Now blot with a solution of one-quarter teaspoon dishwashing liquid and one cup of warm water to remove all traces of cleaning fluids past. Rinse and blot dry. Now go enjoy a candlelight dinner! (But don't forget the dripless candles.)
About the author
Tara has appeared in numerous magazine, newspaper and online articles featuring her lifestyle, organizing and cleaning expertise in addition to writing her twice-monthly column, Coming Clean in the San Francisco Chronicle. Tara is also regularly a guest expert on news, feature, and talk-show programs across the country. She most recently appeared on the "Rachael Ray" Daytime talk show Feb. 4, 2009, in New York City. Tara appeared as the guest expert on Human Lab: Laundry.
In addition, Tara also puts her well-tuned journalistic skills to use on the road, writing travel articles about her as frequent as possible road trips to venues across the United States and abroad. Tara is a proud mom to three who cleans and writes in West Los Angeles.
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