Candles are always in abundance in my household at this time of year, from tiny , cheap tealights to big expensive designer pillars.

No matter how much you spend on a scented candle, it’s always nice to be able to make them last a little bit longer.

Here are a few tricks to try out this Christmas -

• Freeze candles overnight before lighting them as cold wax will burn more slowly.
• Keep the wicks trimmed down to ½ cm. The candle burn more evenly, and, as a bonus, it will reduces the amount of soot and smoke in the air.
• Finally, if you’ve finished a large pillar candle, you can still use it. Just drop a small votive in the hollow middle. The scent will be gone but you’ll still get the same ambiance of atmosphere from it.