The Pioneer Woman Has the Most Clever Tip for Using Up Empty, Old Candles

I love The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) for her thrifty, easy recipes that use store-bought items to help make unique and delicious homemade meals. I also love her for her clever home and storage hacks (like the ingenious way she stores pots and pans in her kitchen), and her latest DIY is one I can’t wait to try. Drummond shared on her Instagram a simple, creative step-by-step for making DIY wax melts out of old candles, and it looks so easy.  

“I didn’t want to waste all that delicious smelling wax,” Drummond said in the video, showing how one of her candles hadn’t melted all the way down despite the wicks burning entirely. So she “melted it on a sheet pan on the stove — kind of an ambient heat situation,” she said.

“And then I let it cool a bit and poured it into this styrofoam egg carton. You’ve gotta let it cool or, obviously, the wax will melt the egg carton and you’ll have a mess.” (If you’re not ready to use your wax warmers yet, you can pop the egg carton into the freezer and keep it in there until you’re ready to melt the candle again.)

Drummond’s determination makes her the queen of using up what you have until it’s absolutely finished. “That wax would have just wound up in the trash,” Drummond said. “So, I’m so happy to have these … and my kitchen smells so, so good.”

While Drummond used a wax melter that she received as a gift, you can also grab a fragrance warmer from The Pioneer Woman’s Walmart collection. The Amelia warmer comes in two colors and features beautiful vintage-inspired embossing on the glass exterior. Just add a lit tea light, and you’re ready to go.

“Great idea!” one person commented on Drummond’s post. “I needed to see this. I have three candles that are super low that I can’t let go of. Now I just need to buy a wax warmer.” Another added, “Tell me why I bought a wax melt mold when I could’ve just used an egg carton. Where were you 2 weeks ago Ree?!?”

Turn all your just-about-finished candles into wax melts and continue to enjoy those cozy scents until they’re actually gone.

Buy: The Pioneer Woman Amelia Fragrance Warmer, $21.88