Make Your Own Fire Starters
Heating the house can be expensive in the winter months. That’s why we have a wood stove to heat our home. It makes a nice cozy warmth throughout the house without breaking the budget.
But sometimes getting a fire going can be hard. I know my parents purchase fire starters to make getting a fire going just a little easier. But what if you could make fire starters, with two items you already have a good supply of?
Two Item Fire Starters
I make our fire starters with two item we usually just throw away or recycle. I’m sure you do the same at your house too. It’s really easy to make these fire starters, you only need an empty toilet paper tube and lint from the dryer, to make them.
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Yes, that’s it just two little items to make your own fire starters. I can’t remember where I learned to make them. I’m thinking it must have been in The Tightwad Gazette, since I’ve been making them for years now.
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Easy to Make and Store Fire Starters
To make the fire starters easier to make, I take our empty toilet paper tubes and place them into a container on the back of our dryer. Then when I’m cleaning the lint trap of the dryer, I just stick the lint right into the empty toilet paper tube. Once the tube is stuffed full, I move it to the storage box near the fireplace.
My storage box is really high tech, it’s an old shoe box with the lid. I hide it under our china cabinet, so it’s out of sight. I can store about 16 fire starters in it, without it being too bulky and in the way.
If you like this storage idea but it’s not going to be concealed like mine, wrap the shoe box in some inexpensive wrapping paper from the dollar store. It will make it blend in. Or if you can find a nice basket with a lid or photo storage box those would work well too.
If you burn wood like we do for heat, don’t buy fire starters. Make your own out of items you are already throwing away. Then give yourself a nice pat on the back for finding a way to save money.
What do you heat your home with? Gas, electric, wood, or oil? How do you save on your heating costs?
PS, these are also great for taking camping with you to get your campfire started too.
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This is a great tip, Shelly. We don’t have a wood stove or fireplace, but I will pass this tip along to those that do! 🙂
Might want to store those fire starters in a metal
Box instead of a flammable paper shoebox. Thanks for the idea.
I like this idea, Shelly. We put the lint in paper egg cartons and then put melted wax on them. This idea is a lot simpler. Might have to do some of both in the future. Our fire is almost always going during the winter though so we don’t need a whole lot of fire starters.
Lydia, that is a great idea for fire starters too. We have warmer and cool days here, so we use fire starters about once a day. Sometimes twice, if I start a fire in the morning and then need to start another fire in the evening.
I put my dryer lint in egg cartons and use my old wax from the warmers. Lol it even smells good. Then you have a new home for the wax.
Great tip, Teresa! Thanks for sharing!
We have a heat pump and a wood stove. The stove is in the basement, so it takes several hours for its heat to reach the upper levels. We mostly use the heat pump for this reason, besides the fact that the stove is hard to start without setting off the smoke detectors!
I’ll have to give these fire starters a try and see if it’s easier to get a fire going 🙂
Hi
Great idea for my fireplace for winter which I use. Ash from the fireplace goes in the garden so nothing is wasting in this world.
thanks
almas
Old girl Scout trick. This has been around forever. We just added one other ingredient And we used a cardboard egg carton. 🙂
I would melt some vaseline and soak the lint also then it will burn for a long time and really start the fire well
Thanks for the tip!! i was looking for an inexpensive activity to do in guides!!!
Your welcome Grace.
We tried this but it made a horrible smell of burning hair. I guess my mom and I shed a lot. Is there anything you can do to keep that from happening?
Jessica, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ve never had this problem before with the lint from our dryer. I do have to give my vacuum beater brush a hair cut about once a month from all the hair that gets tangled up in it from my daughter and myself but I’ve not had the problem with the hair in the dryer lint. I guess it all gets caught in the vacuum. 🙂 If there is a lot of hair in the dryer lint then it would smell when it burned. Maybe see if someone outside your home can save you dryer lint to make these? That’s all I can think of, sorry I couldn’t be more help.
I asked friends to save lint for me and I get more than I need. Others are so willing to find a recycle outlet for their lint!
You could try wood shavings like pet bedding with some wax then no hair smell
Finally, a way to use that gross lint. Thanks for sharing, this is going to save me on camping trips!
I will try this geneous idea. I will even upgrade it by stick some of the last bit of my burned down candles. Pure energy normally thrown out with the garbage.
Thanks for this suggestion! Hubby finally set up the fire pit he bought a while back, but we couldn’t get it burning long enough to keep the wood alight…this worked just perfectly!
Yeah! I’m so glad they worked well for you too!
I make my fire starters using egg cartons and old candle wax. We have 2 wood stoves heating our house. I store them in the big “popcorn” tins.
Loretta, Thanks for sharing how you make your own fire starters. I’ve not tried making them with wax and egg cartons. Great idea to store them in the popcorn tins. ~Shelly
If you drain your fried food on paper towels, you can use it for fire starters also. Roll it up and store in metal container. It starts well and usually lasts long enough to get fire started. Also save grease in plastic bottles to pour over wood to help catch on fire. Little messy but helps recycle.
Thanks for sharing that tip Sharon!
This is a great and easy tip for our fire pit!
Hello I was looking to make a fire pit and ran across your article and all the great responses and was wondering just what exactly does it do besides saving money and recycling. I was just going to use lighter fluid.
Annetta, when you put the fire starter below the kindling and you light the fire starter it burns slow and long enough to get the wood started. So you don’t have to use lighter fluid. Hope that helps. ~Shelly
i knew using lint was good for fire starters but didnt think of putting it in toilet paper rolls. might can use an ammo container to store them in. i cook outside in summer as,we dont have ac or heat.
Nice idea, another one I use for camping and the home: old candles, saw dust and paper egg cartons. Melt the candles in an old pot, fill the egg trays with saw dust and pour the melted wax over the saw dust. Once cooled and solid cut them appart. One of these will start the fire without a hesitation whether it is stove, fireplace or outside firepit.
Jean, thanks for sharing your idea for making fire starters. I’m sure other readers will find it helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to share your tip too.
Great idea but one has to have sawdust, candles (more and more people hesitate to use candles these days due to the toxicity and smoke stains on ceilings) many people return egg cartons to the original vendor (better use of recycling where toilet tissue holders are not in demand) and requires several steps, melting wax, adding to trays, cooling and then cutting up. It starts to turn into labor pretty quickly. Why not try the tissue holders and lint. Both are items no one will ever want again and, it’s so, so simple and quick!