Frugal Fridays: Candles

We all like candles. Nice scented ones that perfume your whole house. Long tapering ones that create a romantic mood for dinners. What we don't like is the price.

So how can we reduce spending on candles? Here are two basic tips:

1. Put them in the freezer. Freeze your candles before you burn them. Then they will burn longer and more steadily, and smoke less. It sounds odd, but it does in fact work.l

2. Make your own candles.
There are two ways to do this. The first is to buy wax and cord etc etc and make candles using all of these lovely materials. But the point of this is to SAVE money. And there isn't really any point. What you should do is save up all of the leftover wax from candles that you have already used. Keep them all in a jar of some sort. I sometimes sort mine into unscented, and different scent types (for example, fruits will go together).
When you have enough wax bits melt them in an old double boiler. I stress OLD. The inside container will never be the same, so don't use your favourite fondue set one. Get a piece of string and tie one end to a pencil. Lie this string in the container that you wish to pour your wax into, with the pencil on the top (so that the string will hold steady and not move while the wax is setting). Once your wax is all melted, mix in any other scents that you want and food dye if you would like. Pour into your container and allow to set. Keep all of this OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN! Molten wax is VERY HOT and if they get a hold of it it could scar them permanently.

There you go! Your own (virtually free) candle!