We are lucky enough to have a woodburner, and while most days I can get it going with newspaper and kindling, sometimes it fights back and I have to resort to a firelighter.

I hate the paraffin wax ones – they smell, and your hands smell – so we tended to buy the quite pricy bits of … something .. wrapped in raffia.

However, we also own two woks, and use them frequently. We never put detergent anywhere near them, but instead scour them out with steel wool (what? No, of *course* they’re not non-stick. A non-stick wok is an Abomination), then heat them up and clean them with vegetable oil, before wiping out with kitchen paper. And it transpires that this kitchen paper makes brilliant firelighters. Dead thrifty and sustainable, eh? They go in the kindling bucket by the fire, and seem to keep perfectly well.

So, if you have a proper wok and a woodburner, feel free to follow our example 🙂