SlickDeals.net reports that "Yankee Candle has a 12-pack of Bagged Sampler Votive Candle Collection (fruit) for $10. Place 3 in your cart = $30 - $10 (with code CRM810X) = $20. Shipping is $6."

Total included (in 3 sets):

• 6 Berry Tangerine
• 6 Black Raspberry
• 6 Juicy Peach
• 6 Juicy Watermelon
• 6 Sparkling Lemon
• 6 Vanilla Lime

I love candles! They smell wonderful, create a wonderful atmosphere -- and they looked better than a can of air freshener. Kohl's is having a great sale on 17 ounce soy jar candles. Regularly priced at $9.99, they're being offered at $4.50 each with coupon code NEW425. Your entire order ships for 99 cents. Hat tip: SlickDeals.net

• Holly Berries
• Snowy White Christmas
• Powdered Sugar Cookies
• Woody Winter Pines
• Cooling Spiced Cider
• Ground Cinnamon
• Toasted Pumpkin Pie
• Fresh Yellow Tulips
• Clean Fluffy Cotton
• Sea Treasures
• Sweet Hazelnuts
• Sweet Apple Filled Tarts

Candles are always appealing in home decor. You can use them in any room in the house. Most dollar stores stock a variety of pretty candles and each season brings new wax creations to delight. Rather than plunking one pillar candle into a traditional candle holder, why not think outside the mold? In decorating, things are always more eye-catching or appealing when grouped together and any non-flammable container might serve as a candle holder.

In this example, a carved-look pillar candle was teamed with two gel and wax tea lights and two floating floral candles on a small oval plate to make a display for a botanically inspired bathroom. This particular candle grouping cost about $4.00. The smaller candles are meant for display only, since they wouldn't last long anyway, but that's entirely up to you.

Check out Decorating with Candles to get more ideas to light your fire.

My rule of thumb is to never buy anything at thrift stores that might have come into contact with urine, pet or otherwise. The odor, almost undetectable on a dry winter's day, can emerge from that easy chair like a hungry bear in the humid days of summer.

Lamps are free of that problem, one reason I find them a particularly good thrift store buy. My wife and I have had a great deal of luck recently shopping at thrift stores for solid brass lamps that fit our decor. Although the stores usually have a number of faux-brass pieces as well, these fakes can be easily identified by lifting (brass is heavier than it appears) or by checking under the felt base pad.

I haven't paid over $6 for any of my finds, usually because the electricals are damaged. However, replacing the light socket and cord in a lamp is easy, quick, and inexpensive. Add a cheap lampshade from WalMart, and for under $20 I have a lamp that would sell for $80-100 retail. And it doesn't smell like pee.

We don't burn candles for light, but my wife does like to make her own scented candles. Sadly, the cost of wax keeps climbing, now over $1a pound. Fortunately, we've found from time to time shelves full of old candles, usually holiday-themed, on the shelves of our thrift shops. The styles may be hideous, but they melt down into reusable wax at quite a savings per pound that we can craft into our own visions of beauty.

Lamps and candles -- they're number one on my thrift store list.

In two separate product lines by two different manufacturers, Pottery Barn and Wicks & Petals have issued recalls of decorative candle products.

In the first recall issued Friday, January 17, 2008, The Pottery Barn has recalled approximately 185,000 round and egg shaped decorative candles. The products are described as egg shaped as well as multiple round sizes. The candles can be found in green, gold, and white. They also sport adornments in gold and glitter.