7 Surprising Tips for Your Fireplace

What to Do if You Don’t Have a Fireplace Match

To light a fireplace without a fireplace match, or even to light hard-to-reach wicks at the bottom of jar candles, use an uncooked strand of spaghetti. Light the end of it, then use it like a fireplace match.

See also: How to Remove Candle Wax

Fireplace Quick Clean

Cleaning out a fireplace is easy when you line the bottom with aluminum foil. Just wait for the ashes to cool, fold up the foil, and lay a fresh layer out.

How to Deep-Clean Your Fireplace

If you’ve been burning a lot of fires this winter, get your brick fireplace nice and clean with a simple household solution. Take 3 cups vinegar, 3 cups ammonia, and 3 cups borax (available in the laundry aisle), mix the ingredients thoroughly, and scrub the bricks clean. This will work for any bricks inside or outside your home. For some easier ways to clean your fireplace, check out this list of fall cleaning tips!

The Easiest Way to Make Kindling

If you have a fireplace in your home or a fire pit outside, making kindling out of logs is an important skill to master. Luckily, it’s easy with a straight-claw hammer. Turn a log on its side, with a cut end up. Smack the top of the wood near the edge with the straight claw of the hammer, and the kindling will split right off.

Orange Peel Kindling

One of our favorite household items to use as kindling? Orange peels! Orange (and lemon) peels smell delicious when they burn, and they contain oils that not only make them burn longer, but help ignite the wood around them. Finally, they produce less creosote than paper, which will help keep your chimney clean.

Dryer Lint Kindling

Instead of throwing away lint you’ve cleaned out of your dryer’s screen, use it as kindling for your fireplace. It lights quickly and can be stuffed places paper can’t. Place it in toilet paper tubes or a cardboard egg carton (which can also be stuffed with receipts or other paper!)

A Place for Firewood

Instead of buying an expensive container to hold firewood and kindling next to your fireplace, use a ceramic flower pot instead. They’re cheap and easy to find in tons of different designs, and they’re perfect for firewood because they’re hearty yet porous.

Put Out a Fire without Water

You’re ready to go to bed, but the fire you started a few hours ago is still...

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