Make your own Fabric Softener & Dryer Sheets WITHOUT Hair Conditioner!

I do laundry once a week (or at least my HOPE is to only do laundry once a week) and that day's Today... Yuck!!  While I began my first load, I started thinking I haven't written a blog post in a while...  Well, what better to write about than what I'm doing today, right?  Here goes... 


I've made a blog post once before telling you how to make your own fabric softener but the recipe used Hair Conditioner.  There are TONS of recipes out there, and most of them tell you to use hair conditioner.  The recipe worked GREAT!!  Well, since I've started living a little more "Green", I've stopped buying hair conditioner.  I use ACV to rince my hair and Coconut Milk Conditioner to deep condition my hair.  Without buying conditioner, I've been trying out new ways to soften my laundry & "de-static" it. 

First, I tried putting straight vinegar into the softener tub in my washer..  It worked great, but I was going through tons of vinegar!  I wondered if I could get by with using less...  So I tried!  I started filling it halfway up with vinegar, and it worked!  Soooo...  Then I decided I wanted it to smell better.  I started adding essential oil.  I was pretty happy with the results!  Then, I wanted something in my dryer.  I started filling up a spray bottle with vinegar & essential oil.  I would spray the towels and socks in the loads I was drying.   My clothes came out static free & smelling very nice. 

So then I got tired of seeing all this stuff on top of my washer & dryer AND got tired of all the steps.  Come on....  isn't washing & drying & folding & hanging & putting up enough steps as it is?  So now, here's what I do:

Fabric Softener:

Ingredients:
1 gallon of half empty white vinegar
vinegar
water
essential oil.

Take the half gallon of vinegar & fill it the rest of the way up with water.   Add your choice of essential oil to make the scent you like!  Mix it all up & add it to your rinse cycle with every load, or fill your softener tub everytime you wash!

Dryer Sheets:

Fabric Softener (same as you made above)
bowl
wash cloths

Instead of spraying all the socks, washcloths and towels with each load, I decided to start making reusable "dryer sheets".  All I do is put my wash clothes in a bowl and pour my fabric softener over it.  Make sure they're saturated.  Squeeze out any extra and put them outside to dry!  Keep them in an airtight container until you're ready to use.  Add a washcloth to your dryer when you put your load in!  One washcloth should last 3-5 dryer cycles. 

So now, I have 3 containers sitting on the shelves above my washer & dryer; fabric softener, dryer sheet container & my laundry detergent!  It looks WAY less cluttered now! 

Oh, by the way, I also use homemade laundry detergent.  I didn't make up this recipe myself so to make your own, go HERE.

What's your laundry routine?