Homemade Dryer Sheets

This brilliant idea was another one from Pinterest, specifically from the blog One Good Thing By Jillee, an article featuring how to make your own Rosemary Mint Fabric Softener. And I'll be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what fabric softener was... But I really liked the idea of having my fabric softened by a homemade mixture that smelled like Rosemary Mint. So I did a little research, and apparently the liquid is something you put in the wash. At some magical point. And that some people somehow know when that point is. People. Not me. My concept of doing laundry is as follows:

Sort dirty clothes in two piles (lights and whites) and (brights and darks). Dirty pile goes in washer. Add a detergent pac. Wet clean pile goes in the dryer. Add a sheet. Take out, fold, put away. 

This is pretty advanced stuff as far as I'm concerned. I never move the dial off of "Warm", and I always set it for Heavy Duty Wash. I know there are other options. I just can't be bothered. And I have to tell you, that is far beyond what my Darling Husband used to do. (I say used to because he really has moved beyond this, but it's funny, so I'll tell you.) It used to be that DH's concept of washing the clothes was putting the clothes in the washing machine, and adding the pac. But the steps from washer to dryer, dryer to folded, folded to upstairs and put away... these were all elusive steps that didn't always happen. More than once I would open the washer to start a load and find clothes already in there. They had never been moved to the dryer, so they had dried in the washer. No bueno. But again, he's moved beyond this. Not fair to tease a man in his 30s for the transgressions of his youth. And if I'm teasing him about it, I should mention that I also did that. Once. Maybe. Maybe twice. 

But I digress.

So I really didn't know what fabric softener was. Truth be told, I still don't. No idea when to add that magical liquid. But now I know that if you soak a wash cloth in fabric softener, and let it dry, you'll have homemade dryer sheets. And that is something I know when to use! 

Super Easy

So I set about making up the magical liquid, and it was a snap. 

The recipe calls for 

• 6 cups water


• 3 cups white vinegar


• 2 cups Suave Rosemary Mint Conditioner (Ironic,  seeing as this was the very thing that drew me to this pin, and I changed it)
  
  
  
  • I used Suave Naturals Conditioner, Refreshing Waterfalls Mist (which is 15oz, and not 2 cups at all, but it was fine)
  
  
  
  

I did wish I had found a recipe that was entirely homemade, and didn't call for using a bottle of conditioner. I'll keep you posted on that with future batches. 

Stir 25 Times Clockwise

The mix made up pretty simple (and where her jars show her liquid to be clear, mine came out a light blue). I keep the jar on my dryer, so the sheets can be re dipped as needed. And the sheets are just white square bar cloths from Target. I did go ahead and embroidery a small yellow lazy daisy on them so it would be obvious that they were the dryer sheet and not just a random washcloth in the load. The washcloths were soaked in the liquid, squeezed out, and then hung to dry. The first time I dipped them I dried them on the back porch, in the wind and the sun. The second time I dipped one, I just clipped it to a hanger and hung it from the bar over my washer. It was all pretty no fuss no muss.

 



Who Could Ask For Anything More

I've been using them for about three weeks now, and I'm in love. I see absolutely no reason to ever go back to commercially prepared detergents and dryer sheets. I even took a small jar of my homemade laundry detergent and a ziploc baggie with one single dryer sheet with me to the beach. My clothes are clean and soft, and smell nice (and it's not as overwhelming a smell as many commercially made dryer sheets.) And in terms of the time it took to make... maybe five minutes to mix the fabric softener, and maybe another five to dip, squeeze and hang the dryer sheets. Certainly not prohibitive.



 

For The Low, Low Price Of

I'm not quite sure how to break down the cost for you... The conditioner was .99¢, I have the water on tap, my big old jug of vinegar was 128 oz for $2.79 (so .35¢ for the vinegar) and the dishcloths were maybe $5 for 8 (.63¢/ea) Total materials was $6.34, I have 8 sheets and considering each sheet can be used (Jillee says) 40 times.... That's less than .02¢ per sheet. Not bad when most brands are more than .05¢ per sheet, and kind of toxic. Now I do need to charge about $75/hr for the embroidered flowers on the sheets...