Whether you are a hard-core prepper or a happy camper, you are going to need a means of starting a fire. Whether you are planning a camping trip, getting organized for coping with a natural disaster, or making your bugout kit for last-minute evacuating, an essential element in your kit is therefore going to be a survival firestarter. Why? You need it for preparing food, boiling water for washing (or for delivering babies) and for disposing of rubbish.
You can buy these at the store or online fairly economically. One form that is popular comes packaged with parachute cord that is fashioned into the shape of a bracelet with a fire starter attached. You can use the paracord to tie your food up and hoist it up a tree to keep it safe from bears or as a clothesline. This type saves space and multitasks for you.
Sometimes, you can find a fire starter as part of a bigger kit with other stuff in it, like a sewing kit, or one that has a carabiner and parachute cord along with needles, sterile wipes and other small, handy items. One thing you can be sure of, you will never get that word wound in the same way as it comes in the package.
One of the simplest and cheapest fire starters around is common dryer lint. Yup. Dryer lint is a great fire starter for the very same reason that you have to be diligent about cleaning it out of the dryer. It lights up at the very whiff of a spark, which you can generate with a simple flint. It burns readily and cleanly and will ignite your most robust kindling, which may sometimes be difficult and frustrating to light.
The nice thing about lint is that it is easily compressible. This means you don't need a huge container to put it in. A leftover yogurt pot or butter dish will do nicely. Here's a useful tip: if you can convince the kids they are helping you prepare for Armageddon or even just a camping trip, they will happily wash a week's worth of towels just to produce lint.
Another major advantage to using dryer lint is that it eliminates the need to use a flammable liquid to help you start a fire. This is particularly important if you have small children. It only takes a small lump of lint to get the fire started.
Of course, if you are building up supplies for the long term, you will need lots and lots. Make it a fun project by trying to produce dryer lint in different colors. Have a contest to see who can make the deepest red or the most interesting combination of colors. Shape the lint into Christmas decorations. Who knew that dryer lint could be so much fun? You could even get the family together to make a do-it-yourself lint-making kit, package it and sell it online as an extra of earning spare cash to pay for the rest of your prepping supplies.
Prepping doesn't have to be expensive or boring. Like the lint fire starter, you can save money and have fun making other essential items. One way to practice is to wind your own parachute cord.
You can buy these at the store or online fairly economically. One form that is popular comes packaged with parachute cord that is fashioned into the shape of a bracelet with a fire starter attached. You can use the paracord to tie your food up and hoist it up a tree to keep it safe from bears or as a clothesline. This type saves space and multitasks for you.
Sometimes, you can find a fire starter as part of a bigger kit with other stuff in it, like a sewing kit, or one that has a carabiner and parachute cord along with needles, sterile wipes and other small, handy items. One thing you can be sure of, you will never get that word wound in the same way as it comes in the package.
One of the simplest and cheapest fire starters around is common dryer lint. Yup. Dryer lint is a great fire starter for the very same reason that you have to be diligent about cleaning it out of the dryer. It lights up at the very whiff of a spark, which you can generate with a simple flint. It burns readily and cleanly and will ignite your most robust kindling, which may sometimes be difficult and frustrating to light.
The nice thing about lint is that it is easily compressible. This means you don't need a huge container to put it in. A leftover yogurt pot or butter dish will do nicely. Here's a useful tip: if you can convince the kids they are helping you prepare for Armageddon or even just a camping trip, they will happily wash a week's worth of towels just to produce lint.
Another major advantage to using dryer lint is that it eliminates the need to use a flammable liquid to help you start a fire. This is particularly important if you have small children. It only takes a small lump of lint to get the fire started.
Of course, if you are building up supplies for the long term, you will need lots and lots. Make it a fun project by trying to produce dryer lint in different colors. Have a contest to see who can make the deepest red or the most interesting combination of colors. Shape the lint into Christmas decorations. Who knew that dryer lint could be so much fun? You could even get the family together to make a do-it-yourself lint-making kit, package it and sell it online as an extra of earning spare cash to pay for the rest of your prepping supplies.
Prepping doesn't have to be expensive or boring. Like the lint fire starter, you can save money and have fun making other essential items. One way to practice is to wind your own parachute cord.