My grandmother handed down a simple way to make an effective firestarter with just a few items. They will burn for a long time and will stay relatively water-resistant for quite a while. Start by saving all the lint from your dryer. When you get about a quart or so, tightly press it into the empty egg spaces in the bottom half of cardboard egg cartons. Then melt and pour paraffin over the top of the lint, saturating the lint and the cardboard. After the concoction cools, cut it up into 12 individual firestarters. They can be easily lit by the top edges.