Scented wax melts are one of my favorite ways to change the energy in the room.

Scents can pick me up or calm me down depending on the fragrance.

However, something that’s bugged me for years is how to quickly change out the scent in a warmer without much hassle. Once the chunk has melted it’s difficult to get the wax and the smell out of the little bowl.

Wax melt sections are huge and can be quite expensive. I’ve picked the wrong scent before and my place smelled like… well, horrible!

I wanted to start over but it takes a lot of effort in order to change to a completely new fragrance let alone do it quickly.

Then one day it dawned on me – it’s so easy!

First, you need to get the old wax out of your bowl. Here are some options for that:

1. Freezing Option:

Put the bowl in the freezer for an hour and it will pop out easily. Turn it upside down and give it a slight wack on the counter. If you have issues use a butter knife or spatula to get it started.

2. Heating Options:

 Microwave: Put the bowl into the microwave (make sure there is no metal in the bowl). Start with 15 seconds and repeat a couple of times. Then drop the time to 10 seconds and repeat until it melts. Microwaves vary depending on the power, so it’s best to start slowly. It will melt quickly so be careful.

 Oven: Put the bowl into a conventional oven set on 170-175 degrees (F). Put the bowl on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels (in case of spills) until it melts. Be sure to monitor it while in the oven at all times. Again, it will melt quickly so be careful.

After melting, pour the liquid wax into paper towels before it cools. Then, using a couple more clean paper towels quickly wipe the bowl out. Paper towels help to absorb the wax so it doesn’t make a mess of your garbage container. 

Note: Sometimes a very slight fragrance residue is left. Not to worry though, see below. 

Removing Fragrance from the Bowl

The good news is... that once the wax is out of the bowl you can get rid of most of the smell right away by:

Reheating again. After the initial melted wax was poured out and wiped down, return the bowl to the oven at 170-175 degrees (F) for another 15 minutes or so which will help most of the remaining fragrance to burn off as well as melt any left over wax. Wipe out with fresh paper towels again.

OR: Wipe down with “Goo Gone” and wipe out with paper towels. Follow up with dish soap and water so that you can get the “Goo Gone” off the bowl, otherwise it will smell like orange engine cleaner and I don’t think that’s the scent you’re going for – lol!

OR: Let the bowl sit for a few days. The scent will fade over time, but this isn’t really necessary unless it was particularly hideous. Even then, heating or Goo Gone are really your best bets.  

Once you get the wax out of the bowl feel free to use the bowl immediately. Any lingering scent will also tend to dissipate the first time it’s heated by the candle or heating element (if using an electric warmer) and should be gone within a few days.

Now, the Quick Change Solution…

Instead of putting the melt directly into the warmer’s bowl, I used a spent aluminum tin from a tea-light candle for each scent. Whenever my tea-light candles finish burning, I pull the wick out and save the tin in a bag for future melt holders.

Save money by cutting the melt in half

Commercial melts can be silly expensive and you don’t really need to use a whole cube or wedge. There are loads of different wax melts out there and they are all super concentrated.

1. Cut a melt in half and put it into an empty tea-light tin. I have found that a 1/2 cube of melt will fit nicely in a 1/4″ high tin.

2. Place tin into your warmer’s bowl – TaDa! You’ll find that it will still fill your room with glorious fragrance while only using half as much.

3. After they’ve cooled, you can keep them in separate plastic bags or jars for use later on.

This also works with electric warmers!

When the fragrance in the tin has been used up you can either:

1. Pour the melted wax into a paper towel and put it in the trash. Then, just refill the tin with a new chunk of the same fragrance.

2. Or: Recycle the tin. Because the tin is made of aluminum, you can also put it in the recycle bin after removing the wax.

That’s all there is to it!

No more heating bowls, using cleansers, or taking time out of your already busy day to focus on something that’s supposed to bring you peace. Now you can change scents on a whim and focus on more important things like, getting on with your day.

Here’s To Fragrant Moments.