5 Frugal Ways to Make Diy Fire Starters From Supplies You Already Have on Hand. These Are a Must for Your 72-hour Emergency Kit or Around the Fire Pit.
I was in the dollar store the other day when I happened upon a package of cotton makeup removers. There are 80 in the package for $1 do they are about a penny each. Now I don’t really need 80 cotton makeup remover pads because I’m mostly a natural girl. What to do with them?
And a light goes off in my head.
If I can make waterproof matches, I can use my spent Scentsy wax to make DIY fire starters with these. It couldn’t be more frugal or easy.
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Fire starters are handy to have around during the summer for those backyard fire ring nights. They are handy to have around during the winter if your area is prone to blackouts. You can buy them as sticks at the outdoor store, but these homemade ones are so easy to make, I just can’t see spending the money.
During an emergency, it makes sense to have at least two kinds of fire starters with you. In addition to a flint starter
, these DIY fire starters are a must for your 72-hour emergency kit.
You really have no excuse – get prepared! Once your DIY fire starters are finished, make yourself a compact, waterproof kit. Vacuum seal several of them with waterproof matches.
Frugal Way#1 – Cotton Pads
Just dip a cotton pad into the spent wax and let it dry on a piece of wax paper. I kept a small area free of wax for easy fire starting. I’ve also seen them cut or torn before lighting. It doesn’t take much wax to make your DIY fire starters, so keep a few cotton pads close and make them as you go.
Frugal Way#2 – Waxed Cardboard
This is an idea from Hunting Outdoor News in their article 12 Ideas for Making Your Own Fire Starters. Save your old cardboard. Cut it into 3”x 3” pieces. Dip them in wax and let them dry. They stack easily for storage. I always have extra cardboard around, how about you?
DIY Fire Starters -Way#3 – Twisted Paper
This is a tip from Martha Stewart. Make a Twisted Newspaper Fire Starter. Using newspaper to get a blaze going usually results in just another flash in the fireplace. An old-fashioned solution is these newspaper twists.
Tightly roll a sheet of newspaper, bend it in half, twist the ends together, and fasten with twine. Mine aren’t as pretty as Martha’s but they’re functional!
Frugal Way#4 – Egg Cartons
I can always rely on this old standby from my Girl Scout days. It’s great because you can make these from supplies that are already around the house.
Related read: Preparedness in the 1954 Girl Scout Handbook
Gather egg cartons, shredded paper, saw dust, or dryer lint, and candle wax. I think I have enough shredded paper to make 1,000 of these and I bet I could use my Scentsy wax for this too! One drawback – this method uses the most wax.
Just stuff the dryer lint, shredded paper, or saw dust into the egg cartons, pour the liquid wax on top until well soaked, then cut each section apart and store them in a ziploc bag. If you’re using saw dust, just let it air dry first.
Related read: 14 Clever Uses for Shredded Paper Around the Homestead
Frugal Way #5 – Toilet Paper Rolls
Cut a toilet paper roll in half. Stuff dryer lint into each piece. Roll it up in wax paper and twist the ends to close. Use the wax paper as the wick. See this Ready Nutrition post for another version with wax.
The wax version will burn up to 30 minutes and start a fire even with dry wood. It takes more time and effort to make than wax paper toilet paper roll firestarter, but it is well worth the effort. Just keep it stored in a ziploc bag to avoid moisture.
If you are more of a visual person, here’s a clip on how to make the melted wax toilet paper roll fire starters.
…and here are even more ideas if you’re really into this!
Apartment Therapy.com three DIY alternatives to purchasing fire starters
Mother Nature Network has a happier, healthier, hearth with these fire starter alternatives.
Rural North Carolina has instructions for mop head wicks – cool!
- Hand sanitizer is also a good DIY firestarter that you can use in case of emergency; just use a product that has alcohol in it as there are some alcohol-free hand sanitizers out there, and they’re are worthless as fire starters;
- Cardboard strips imbibed in melted wax are also a cheap fire starter alternative if you’re drowning in cardboard boxes (online shopaholics might relate);
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What is your most effective (and frugal) way to make your own fire starters? Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear from you!
Fiber egg cartons are excellent fire starters. They absorb hot wax, are easy to light and the little cups can be filled with crumpled brown paper, sawdust or any decent combustible material. Cut the cups apart, crumple and pack little pieces of the egg carton lid into the cups, and, using tongs, dip the filled cup into melted wax. These resist water and work well in a hunters daypack or backpack.
Thanks for stopping by Ken. I also like the egg carton fire starters and always keep some in my camping kit. They take a lot of wax to make though, so I like to have some other easy ways on hand too.
I use egg carton. Put about a tablespoon of cooking oil in it and light. The carton acts like a wick drawing the oil up the sides. Burns for about 15 minutes.
Wax and dryer lint.
that works really good, i did it and it worked for more than 1 hour
i fill my egg crates with saw dust then wax burns 10-15 mins.
In a pinch, an empty toilet paper tube stuffed with paper towel, then olive oil drizzled in to the paper towel and lighted works.
786
Thank you for these! Just one concern: the math is off by ten thousand percent (literally). If the bitlets cost one dollar per eighty bitlets, they cost one and a quarter cents, or 1.25 cents each, not .0125 cents each.
Easily rectified anyway. In the meantime thanks for one of the most informative blogs I’ve had the pleasure to read, mashallah.
with a $ sign in front it is $0.0125
I heat up petroleum jelly till it is a liquid and then dip cotton balls in it fully submerged so it absorbs all through it. Then set it on wax paper till it dries. You just pull one side so it frae’s the add a spark from your Ferro rod or lighter. Should last anywhere from 7 to 11 minutes of high flame. Pluse you can use halfs or the whole thing.
When you are prepared for a fire, just place one in the centre of your fire ring along with kindling and lightweight and firewood the paper. The sparks you make must be able to burn your collections of kindling, when you utilise the emergency fire starter. Starting a fire has never been easier, with Flint Fire Starter kit. The fire starter is made out of magnesium, which is a flammable and cushioned element.
I cut toilet paper tubes in half. Fill each with dryer lint then put a dollop of Vaseline on each end. Store several in a ziplock bag. My husband actually said they were the best firestarters he’s ever used.
Pine cones dipped in wax are also good for firestarters
Cheap Long Burning Firestarters/Emergency food cooking.
Very dry (used) coffee grounds –
Wood stove pellets –
(Mix both together at 1:1 ratio – approx. 2 cups of each,
stir in gradually)
Gulf Wax (1 block, melted) –
Thin cardboard (cereal box) –
Bathroom cups (10) <200/$3 at Kroger or $.015 per cup)
1) Stir pellet and grounds mix gradually into a bowl of melted gulf wax until saturated.
2) Place a thin, waxed strip of cardboard into a small bathroom drinking
cup to make a wick.
3) While still hot, spoon in mix around wick and pack down firmly, leaving about 3/8″ headroom, and at least 1/2″ of wick showing.
A burn test of one of these cups, once cooled and hardened, yielded an almost twenty (20) min. burn time. This would easily heat a can of soup or water for dehydrated meal, coffee, or tea, etc…
For around $8, depending on where you buy cups, wax, and pellets, I reasoned making about 50 of these. Good (and cheap) for day hiking, camping, and emergencies (if you don’t keep firewood in the backyard) 🙂
DISCLAIMER: THESE ARE MEANT FOR OUTSIDE USE **ONLY** WHERE FRESH AIR CIRCULATION IS OPTIMAL. THIS ITEM CAN BE A FIRE OR INDOOR AIR QUALITY HAZARD. USE WITH CAUTION AROUND CHILDREN. Popping can occur during burn.
I dip pine cones in wax too. I use scented wax to make them for gift , put them in a pretty bucket or bag. I use them in the wood
Stove/fireplace.i save candle stubs in an old covered pot, melt it on the wood stove when I have enough, pour into clean milk cartons for easy storage.
Get yourself a few plastic drinking straws, cut them into 1 inch sections take some cotton balls and infuse them with Vaseline, then tear off pieces and stuff them with a toothpick into the straw sections. until it is about 2\3 full. Using a pair of needle nose pliers hold the cotton filled tube at the ends with about 1\8 of an inch of empty tube showing and then melt the end closed with a lighter or iron…After doing this with both ends you have a sealed firs starting “capsule” that when one end is cut open you can use for easy fire starting. I carry these, about a dozen or so, in my backpack when i am on a hike that I expect will last several weeks or months…These are great and burn long enough to ignite even wet or moist tender.
Are any of these safe to use in indoor fireplaces?
All of them Kerry!
Hm. I read that the lint is carcinogenic. There are loads of chemicals in lint that when inhaled causes a number of health problems.
I wouldn’t want to use plastic straws or lint from artificial fibers to burn inside! Seems to me they’d either give off toxic fumes or coat the fireplace chimney with chemicals or both.
Good stuff! Adding wax will really make those waterproof. I might try those with my roadeavour flints as well. Thanks!!
We happen to have lots of used and damaged candles that we melt on our wood stove, then pour onto newspaper stuffed into cardboard egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, paper towel cores, or cardboard fast-food drink trays. Some wax always spills in the pouring, so I keep a section of newspaper under the work area to catch the spills, then use that paper as additional fire starters.
Another Fire Starter Idea and Christmas Gift for any Friend. Cup cake papers. Mix wax, saw dust, shreds of paper, chips of pine board, dried pine needles.
They use Shooji or Paper in Japanese houses as room diveders.
It can be used on the external of the house if emergency.
yes that is very true and card board does to use wood let cooking oil soak in to it then dip it in wax it works very well
Dryer lint contains who-knows-what chemicals because of the amount of plastic, dyes and such in much of our clothing. A bag of cotton balls or cotton rounds costs about a buck, and cotton burns much “cleaner” than the chemicals and plastics that are collected in your lint trap. The cotton typically doesn’t smell as bad burning as some lint combinations do.
Saturate the cotton balls or cotton rounds with petroleum jelly – you don’t need to heat the jelly, rubbing it in with your hands is enough – and store in a plastic bag, Altoids tin, the jar in which the petroleum jelly was sold, etc. Fluff them up just before use.