Free 'logs' for your fireplace! Make them yourself!

My neighbor chops a bunch of firewood and whenever he goes on vacation I go and steal all his firewood. I don't steal enough that he will notice but a fair amount. Ironically he asks me before every trip to check over at his house every once in awhile so that no one gets into his garage or home. I'm a good neighbor. He hasn't had one break in.

What a fabulous idea. I use all my old magazines and stuff like you mentioned to burn in the fireplace but I haven't rolled it and contained it in a tube. I recently bought a shredder to dispose of my unwanted paper...including old invoices and statements...I keep these for 2 - 3 years.I think shredding is the best way to get rid of stuff that has names, addresses and other confidential info like account numbers etc - apart from burning them that is. My intention was to use the shredded stuff for kindling and also as garden mulch.

that is great idea. and it is free . there is nothing better than free. awesome that it worked so good.

There's actually something you can buy to do this with newspaper and all those fliers and stuff. My parents used to have one, it was like a half tube with a bar down the middle and a handle to turn. You put the first piece of paper in the slot on the bar, start turning and add more paper as you turned. When you were done, you could tie them tight with twisty ties then pull the handle out and slide the "log" off. In the end they had a hole down the middle about 1" in diameter. We usually made them about half an inch thick, to use as kindling for the fire, but the size of the "device" would allow for something much larger -- about 8 inches in diameter.

LOL! It is so hot today here, I struggled through reading this discussion! The last thing I want to think about is a warm fire ... However, I think it's wonderful that you have found such a great way to save money and recycle waste. It's a really great idea, and I'm going to remember it for winter. I love the dryer lint suggestion made here too. I can't believe that someone has actually found a use for that ball of grey fluff!

We did something similar to that in our house. We would use paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls and fill them with dryer lint. I don't know if it burns better than the magazine papers or not! Just another suggestion :)

This sounds like a good idea. We don't have a fireplace in our apartment, but we try to save by wearing warm clothes. I don't have very many money saving ideas - we just avoid spending money, so we don't really think about it. Right now, all of our money after paying bills goes to paying off our credit cards - 2 down, one big one to go.

i don,t have a fireplace where i llive now but when i did have one i loved it i use to cut my own wood.i made my own fires it is so romantic to have a fire place.

I read another idea similar to this though it sounds a bit more fiddly, but apparently the result burns like a wood pellet for wood burning stoves. You have to tape paper round one end of the toilet roll tube, fill it quite tightly with sawdust (which you can probably get for free from wood working shops and other places) then tape paper round the other end. Your Idea sounds simpler and cheaper if you can't find the sawdust for free, and less messy to make, but I did read they are exactly like the real thing if you have a stove that uses the pellets.

Hello, mentalward. That was a really nice idea. Here in Brazil, there are a lot of people giving free fliers. It is their job, to give away, let's say, a thousand fliers. You can usually get one or two from each. In one day, you can get a lot of fliers if you walk around a lot. That'd be free firewood. However, I am not sure about the environmental benefits. You are not saving trees, because paper comes from them anyway. But is the smoke that is released from the paper too prejudicial to the planet? I mean, imagine if it is really bad for our planet! Respectfully, Munhozmib.

That's a great idea!! Want to make a dollar? To to day tipper dot com and submit that tip, I'll bet the accept it and pay you a dollar to your paypal account! I have a gas fireplace so I can't burn those but it's a wonderful idea!

Lol that's a brilliant idea! Too bad we don't have a fireplace! We get almost nothing but circulars! Well, I don't know anything free, but a cheap decoration for the house. If you are craft inclined, more specifically needlepoint, or want to learn, you can make coasters, placemats, tissue box covers, pencil cups, and all sorts very cheaply out of plastic canvas and yarn. I do it myself, mostly as a hobby, but I do sell my stuff to anyone who is interested. It's a good relaxer and not too pricy. If you know how to crochet, hand making sweaters, blankets, washrags, pot holders, and other things like that is another good inexpensive thing to do. Instead of buying a bunch, just buy some yarn and keep it around. If you need to replace something that gets torn frayed or dirty beyond cleaning, just make another. I can't think of others off the top of my head, but I imagine there are a whole slew of things you can do either free or very very inexpensive.

thats a really good idea.. too bad i dont have one or my parents to where i could tell them lol

That is a great idea and a very smart way to get rid of all the junk mail that people are receiving these days. There are days that my mail box will be full and not one thing in it is not junk. I will have to try that out and see how it works. Thanks for sharing that with all of us.

You can take toilet paper rolls and fill them with dryer lint for firestarters. It works really well. It does not burn real fast either.

This is a Great Idea! I have done the same for my Dad's Insert fireplace. I know this response is rather dated but I had to add that my Dad gets the local news paper daily. They really pile up. Generally, i take them to the Wildlife Center twice a year as they use them for the bottom of the rescue cages. What I did was I took a section of the newspaper and rolled it. Then I took another one and rolled it around the first roll. I kept doing this until I got myself a nice round. I used thin wire to secure the roll. two pieces, one at each end. This is a terrific way to save on firewood. Although my Dad has an abundance, free from his property and otherwise it is still useful in that sometimes it is a great thing to use to get a inactive fire roaring again and they do burn relatively slow. I think the tighter your roll it, the longer it will burn. I love them! I like the idea of using old flyers. Good idea. Plus they will make pretty color flames with the ink. My Mom has a cool recipe for Yule logs. That once they are made and start to burn, they too make all sorts of lovely colored flames. Another way to save money is to conserve power. Turn off all lights when the room is not in use. Reduce the lighting per room. If a chandelier has five bulbs, unscrew two of them. Close doors to rooms that are not in use. This will save having to heat them so the heat goes only to rooms being used. I had to do this this past winter. It is amazing how cold the bathroom is. Sucks all the heat out of the living room. I closed the bathroom door and then the living room wasn't cold any more. Unplug electric items when not in use. Including cell phone chargers. It is amazing how much power you can save if you unplug the t.v., computer, radio, lights when not in use. I checked this out one day. I hit the breaker for everything but the fridge. I checked the meter and it slowed an amazing amount. I went back into the house and hit the breaker for the fridge, just to see and the meter stopped turning all together. Instantly saving power. Of course I needed the fridge so i let it run. I started hitting the breaker everyday on my way out. No sense in having it turning if I am not home to use the power that was being consumed, right? Electricity is only increasing in cost. So why not? When you brush your teeth, don't stand there brushing with the water running. Especially if your water is on a meter. When you feel like chicken for dinner, get yourself a whole frying chicken. Roast it and have a meal. A t least four more meals can be made out of the remaining chicken providing two are dining. Make sandwich for lunch. Make fried rice for dinner and boil the rest for a nice pot of soup. When we are out shopping or on the road, take a snack and a drink from home instead of stopping at a convenience store or restaurant. Buy recycled clothing. Shop around at other internet providers and then barter with your internet service provider to have your monthly bill reduced slightly. Shop with coupons. Use www.save.com for coupon mailed directly to your mailbox. If you are in Canada use www.save.ca.

i used to roll paper logs for my parents when i lived at home. they still get the paper but i wonder why they dont do that anymore? i should ask them. eat lots of soup! soups an inexpesive way to feed your family and it warms you up too!

You're a girl of many talents, my friend...way back in the day's of the inception of Mother Earth News they sold "log rollers" for newspaper, but cautioned against using junk mail! All I ask, my dear friend, is to try & source the inks, and the laws for printer's ink in your state, and make sure that there is NO toxic fumes from this source. Cheers!

I use empty paper towell tubes for just this thing. They are great for when you are starting fires. We haven't used kindling in years. We always use these handmade logs to get ours started. I live on a large piece of ground that we gather our own firewood from so I don't have the expense of buying firewood. The only drawback to using them that I have found is the ashes build up faster. But that's ok with me. I can empty the ashes out a little more often for free kindling. Oh and by the way if you spread the word you will be amazed at how many people will save their newspapers for you. I have a whole side of my basement stacked with them and on days I that I have time I just retreat to the basement and make logs! LOL Stay Warm!

I don't know if anyone told you here but those colored papers are full of chemicals and can not only be toxic but they can coat your chimney and cause a fire in the chimney. Which can fill you're house with smoke, maybe worse. You can do the same thing with the black and white papers though and you can even buy a hand rolling machine to help you roll them really tight. You can find a used one on ebay for a little over 10.00. If you don't get a newspaper, ask your friends and relatives to save them for you.