Maybe you don't all feel the same, but my philosophy has always been, if I can make it/do it myself without much hassle AND for less cost out of pocket, why not? A lot of times when you make something yourself, you're able to keep out extra things that aren't good for you like preservatives and other chemicals. So in that case, they're also better for you.
I used to always use dryer sheets. Until the day the guy fixing my dryer told me how dangerous they were. Because of the chemicals in them, they leave a film on your lint screen that, if left unchecked and not regularly cleaned, becomes the number one cause of dryer fires. In order to check and see if your lint screen has this issue, take it out and run it under water in your sink. If it holds water rather than letting it run through, then you already have the film on there and it needs to be cleaned. You can easily clean it with warm soapy water and verify that it's fully clean by running it under water again to be sure it runs through the screen. The other thing the chemicals are known to do is to make your clothing less fire-retardant, which is never a good thing.
Now I don't know about you, but even without the fire-retardant clothing issue, who has time to clean their lint screen all that often? And who wants to sit up at night wondering if they clean it often enough to always be safe? I'll be honest. I have FOUR kids, soon to be five. The last thing I think about most days is all the smaller, routine home maintenance stuff like dryer lint screen cleaning.
All that being said, I was also hesitant when someone first told me I could simply use vinegar in place of fabric softener. I don't care for the smell of vinegar. And I LOVE the smell of freshly cleaned clothes. But I thought, well I'll try the vinegar. It worked. It was simple. It didn't make my clothes stink like vinegar. But they weren't overly soft, either. So I wasn't thrilled. Enter this recipe from Jillee over at One Good Thing. (I love her site!!) This allows you to get the inexpensive benefit of vinegar but also the softness and more enticing smell from hair conditioner! That's right, hair conditioner. It goes like this:
3 cups vinegar
2 cups conditioner
Gently mix all 3 ingredients in an extra large bowl OR a 1 gallon jug. If you're too fast in mixing it you will get bubbles, so be sure to be gentle. Once it's all mixed, use it just as you would your store-bought variety! Easy Peasy! Now, I will say that I chose to make the recipe in half, simply because I wanted to reuse my old store bought bottle and it's just over a half gallon size. But feel free to make it in the full version if it works for you. I always find that I use more shampoo than I do conditioner so it's easy for me to use up conditioner faster this way. If this is not the case for you, just find whatever brand of conditioner smells good to you and use that--as this is what your clothes will smell like when you're done.
If you'd still rather use dryer sheets than liquid softener, you can! Simply take your homemade softener and completely dampen (but not to dripping) 5-10 clean old wash rags/scrap towel pieces. Let them air dry, then keep them in a bin or container in your laundry room until they're needed! Each rag should work for at least 10-15 times before it needs to be re-soaked and dried. This is not the method I use, simply because the liquid version works for me. To make dryer sheets would be an extra step I don't need to take.
Hopefully this has encouraged you to to grab the ingredients (because you likely have them on hand) and take 5 minutes--yes, only 5 MINUTES--and try making your own! It's so easy and so inexpensive! And that's always a beautiful thing!
Note:
*I prefer to mix using a whisk as it seems to blend it a little easier.
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| After Mixing |
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Before Mixing |
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