Homemade laundry stuff

[Chocolate Lover]

I'm experimenting with homemade detergents, but what do those of you that do this use for fabric softener? I've been using vinegar, but I am still getting lots of static electricity. Any suggestions?  

[Tennesseer]

Increase the humidity in your home during the winter?

[Chocolate Lover]

Generally, I don't need to  Deep South and all, this winter has been mean though. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Happy Friday, CL!!! 


We live in the high desert and run a humidifier in our bedroom every night.  This time of year, though, we still get shocked touching anything and everything, including each other.   The humidifier is from BB&B, and has filters we change every so often.

ETA:  But then, we can say our love is electric. 

[MarionTh230]

I'm in the Deep South too.  I don't do homemade laundry detergent, but I do use vinegar for the rinse.  But even with that I have always had to use a dryer sheet in the dryer because of the static.

Maybe someone who has some experience with homemade laundry supplies can chime in with an alternative to store bought dryer sheets?  I'm thinking adding something on the dryer side may help more with the static.

[Sam_2.0]

I wrapped two tennis balls in foil and toss them in the dryer. Seems to work well. I still use a dryer sheet or two sometimes if its really bad.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[jeep108]

Alumiuim foil balls seem to work for me.  I use both vinegar and the foil balls.

[Chocolate Lover]

I'll give the aluminum foil balls a try, thanks!

I'm getting used to the "is it time to commit her yet" looks from the family, I will bet they love this one.

ETA: Maybe I should ask how much foil you guys generally use.

[jeep108]

www.ehow.com/how_7962935_reduce-static-dryer-foil.html

[jarma]

Feb 7, 2014 12:20:23 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

I'm experimenting with homemade detergents, but what do those of you that do this use for fabric softener? I've been using vinegar, but I am still getting lots of static electricity. Any suggestions?  

I recently read an article about a family required to spend significant money on plumbing repairs necessitated by the use of homemade laundry products.  They were using the powdered version and apparently a great deal of it made it into their pipes, undissolved, and caused a major blockage. The writer stated she'd heard from other people, who had similar problems, using a liquid version in which soap shavings failed to completely dissolve or re-solidified in the pipes and caused plumbing blockages. Cautionary tale. 

[tcu2003]

I use wool dryer balls. If I have fleece in a load of laundry, I'll also add some a bit of vinegar to the washing machine's rinse cycle, which helps.

[Tiny]

Could the static problem be because you are 'over drying' your clothes? I'm not saying you need to pull damp clothes out of the drying - but maybe re-evaluate how long is long enough in the dryer. Over drying clothes is wasting electricity/natural gas and yeah it may only be a few pennies - but I'm assuming you are concerned about those 'few pennies' since you are making your own laundry soap.

Does your dryer have a 'moisture sensor' or 'dryness sensor' that you can set?

[Sam_2.0]

I use this method too, especially in the summer when it's so humid and things take forever to dry:http://www.ehow.com/how_7741742_put-towel-dryer-aid-drying.html

[Chocolate Lover]

Feb 12, 2014 12:23:58 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Could the static problem be because you are 'over drying' your clothes? I'm not saying you need to pull damp clothes out of the drying - but maybe re-evaluate how long is long enough in the dryer. Over drying clothes is wasting electricity/natural gas and yeah it may only be a few pennies - but I'm assuming you are concerned about those 'few pennies' since you are making your own laundry soap.

Does your dryer have a 'moisture sensor' or 'dryness sensor' that you can set?

I'm more concerned with sensitive skin than the pennies, and I always use the settings with the sensor, and check on them sometimes.