Simple DIY Fire Starters You Can Make in Minutes

Depending on where you live, winter is coming. While it’s been much warmer here than last year, we’ve had to start a fire a few nights already.

We are in love with our wood stove. Starting a fire in it, however, it not always a simple matter.

Right now, we’ve had no snow so our woodpile is still relatively dry. It’s not hard to get a good fire going with only some paper, kindling, and a match. Once the winter weather sets in, it’s a different story.

That’s where a good homemade fire starter comes in. These fire starters will save you time and frustration. They are also created entirely from waste materials found in almost any home.

Gather Your Materials

For this project, you will need a few simple items:

• Dryer lint (We save ours in a bag until needed.)
• Burnt out candle bits (We save these in the same bag as the lint.)
• Empty egg carton (If somehow you don’t manage to have any of these, I’m sure a coworker, friend, or neighbor has one they’d be happy to give you.

That’s it! These are all items that would otherwise be tossed, composted, or sent to recycling. (There’s some debate on whether or not you should actually compost dryer lint due to possible contamination with micro plastics.)

You will also need either a pot or some kind of container to melt the wax in. If you don’t want wax in your nice pans, you can set up a simple double boiler with a glass mason jar in a pot with some water. I purchased a cheap pot from the thrift store I can melt wax in and don’t need to worry about getting completely clean.

Make Your Fire Starters

The most time consuming part of this project is collecting supplies. If you keep a bag or basket in your laundry room that you can add dryer lint and candle ends to throughout the year, you’ll have everything on hand when you’re ready to make your fire starters.

First, melt the wax. I melt the wax in a pot over low to medium low heat. Don’t worry about getting the stickers and metal plates off the candle ends. Once the wax is melted, they are easy to fish out.

While the wax is melting, stuff dryer lint into each cup of the egg carton. Feel free to cut off the lid. I usually do and then set the cup section inside the lid to keep the wax that soaks through from getting on the counter.

Once the wax is melted, pour it over the lint in the cups. You don’t need a lot! With this much melted wax I was able to make two full egg cartons of fire starters.

Then let the wax dry.

We store ours in a cabinet in our kitchen and tear/cut off one cup to use when we need to start a fire.

How to Use

To build your fire, simply use one cup in place of the traditional crumpled up pieces of paper. We always make sure to add kindling on and around the fire starter. You could even use some paper if you like. The point is that the fire starter will keep you from having to baby a fire in order to get it going. Light the fire starter and you’re good to go!

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