We’ve featured tips on Tip Hero before about getting stains out of carpets without calling in the pros, but this creative method seems like it could really come in handy in a moment of crisis. For anyone who has ever ruined carpet by spilling candle wax on it (yes, I’m raising my hand), you could use this method for preventing that from happening again.

Here’s what you do:

1. Remove any excess wax that you can without disturbing the carpeting pile.
2. Cut a paper grocery bag to make a flat surface that’s large enough to cover the spill plus some more area. Place this over the wax.
3. Press down on the bag with a warm (not hot) iron and move in small circles. The wax will liquefy and create a grease-like stain on the paper bag.
4. Once an area of the bag has this type of stain, move a clean part of the bag over the stain and repeat until all of the wax attaches itself to the bag.