polka dot suitcase

When I asked Sir what I should post about today, he said firmly, “NOT camping.” So, although thoughts of camping have been consuming me lately, I’ll follow a different rabbit trail today…

When I mentioned to a pal that Sir and Mister had had fire duty when we were…uh…sleeping in another location other than indoors, she was aghast. “You let them start the fire?!” Like, how irresponsible. But they weren’t exactly playing with fire. (That came later, once it was roaring.) After all, I was supervising. And we’ve made it fairly easy to get the fire going.

We make these neat fire starters…and it’s recycling, too. How handy. Here’s what you need:

Just a block of wax and your dryer lint collection. Admiring our collection? It’s a beauty, isn’t it? We keep a container on top of the dryer just so we can stick the lint in it and make fire starters. Well, and because Big Fish would leave the lint on top of the dryer anyway so now it’s in one neat place. To make your fire starters, just stuff, melt, and pour:

Stuff the dryer lint as tightly as you can into cardboard egg carton cups. Don’t have a cardboard egg carton? (I know! What’s up with the return of foam cartons?) You can use a toilet paper tube instead. Make sure the lint’s in there tightly.

Melt the wax carefully. Definitely a job for you, not your little Sirs and Misters. The stuff’s flammable, after all. Melt it slowly, over low heat.

Pour the wax over the lint. May want to do this outside or on several thicknesses of newspaper, in case it spills/spreads/dribbles.

Let it harden. Then you’ll have one of these babies:

While they’re not the prettiest things to look at, they’re fantastic at their job. (Sounds like me.) Toss a couple of those in your…uh…backyard fire pit…not like this is a camping post or anything. Light ‘em. Top ‘em with some kindling. You’ve got fire, baby!