Green Home {make your own fabric softener}

I love how easy and cheap it is to make my own fabric softener.  All it takes is 3 ingredients and about 5 minutes. I got the ingredient recipe from My Kitchen Escapades through Pinterest.  I loved her ingredients, I just hate measuring!  I like to keep it as simple as I can!  Especially doing laundry for a family of six.

{What you need}
1 bottle of cheap Suave conditioner-I use Ocean Breeze about $1.60 at Target
Distilled White Vinegar- I it at Sam's Club. 2, 1-gallon jugs for $3.58!  You will need about 1/2 gallon.
Hot Water
An empty 150-170oz old liquid detergent or fabric softener container (you're recycling!)

{What you do}
Empty all of the Suave conditioner into the container.  Add some hot water (as hot as you can stand it) to start dissolving the conditioner.  Alternate adding vinegar and hot water until your container is about half full and then shake vigorously.  You will get some bubbles but that's okay.  Add the rest of the vinegar until you have added about half a gallon.  Shake again and then fill the rest with hot water.  Give it another good shake and you are ready to go.  If you have a bunch of bubbles leave the cap off overnight and then add more water in the morning until you get to the top.

You've just made your own fabric softener for $2.49!  My container does about 200 loads which means I'm only paying a little over $.01 per load.  Compare that to the Member's Mark from Sam's at $8.48 and $.04 per load or Downy from Sam's at $11.98 and $.06 per load.  The savings is not only in my pocket book, but in my drying time as well.  The vinegar aids in line drying and not having crunchy clothesline clothes.  I also don't get a film on the lid of my washing machine or the area where you add the softener, so less cleaning!

I promise your clothes will not smell like vinegar and your wallet will be a little heavier!  Your clothes will still be soft and will smell clean.  You can always add your favorite essential oil if you want a heavier scent.  Use it just as you would the store bought stuff and yes you can use it in your HE washer.




You might also like:

Green Home {the clothesline}

Green Home {the clothesline}

I'm going to start posting the ways we have a Green Home.  I mean this is Julie B Green and I bet you have been wondering what the green part is.  Green not only for the planet but for your wallet as well.  Let's face it these have been economically challenging times for quite a few people. This year I will be saving my family over $720 on our electric bill.  We are on an average monthly plan that is calculated by our total energy use over a 12 month period.  They re-calculate ours every December.  In 2011 our electric bill was $200/month, eeeek!  For 2012 it is only $140.  How did I do this?  Simple, I started to use a clothesline.

At this point you are either intrigued or you think I'm completely nuts.  If you think I'm nuts, well maybe I am, but I'm $720 nuts.  We don't have a traditional clothesline hung on metal poles from the ground and we don't have one of those square turning ones either.  Ours is hung along the top of the posts of our back patio and connected to the house.  I don't line dry everything all the time and I don't have crunchy clothes either, ick!  I also don't spend hours more on laundry.  I timed myself, it takes me 5 minutes to take a load off the line and hang a new one up.  That's it, just 5 minutes.

How did we do it?  Well honestly my husband did it after I asked him nicely.  Look at the pictures and then show your phone to the guy at Lowe's :) and ask your husband nicely to put one up for you.  It only cost us around $25.  If he rolls his eyes or looks at you like you're crazy just tell him I saved $720.  Money talks!  You could also figure out what works best for you.  Do you have two trees, or a tree and a fence, or a fence and something else?  Not everyone has a covered patio but you could create one with just about any space.  Ours is really sturdy and has a lot of tension which I think is key.  I also like that it is shaded most of the time being around the patio, although the sun is great at removing stains so I have one side that is really sunny.  If it starts to rain I'm not out taking clothes off the line in the rain.  I think it took him about 30 minutes to get it up.  He's pretty awesome.

I don't have crunchy stiff clothes for a couple of reasons.  First, I don't let them get all the way dry outside.  I bring them in when they are still a little damp and pop them in the dryer for about 10 minutes.  10 minutes versus an hour + per load is the money saver folks.  Second, I make my own fabric softener which contains vinegar.  There's some science behind it and vinegar is a natural fabric softener.  I'll show you how to make your own later.  It's cheap and it works.  Third, I use wool dryer balls.  I make my own, but you can buy them online.  Etsy would be a good place to look.  I'll show you how to make your own on another post.  That's it.  Just three things.  If I goof and leave stuff out too long I wet two wash clothes and throw them in with the load in the dryer.  They provide enough moisture to take out any crunchiness and wrinkles.

Now for the corny part to all this.  I really like hanging my clothes up.  Not just for the money and environment, but because on those days when things seem never ending I can spend 5 minutes outside in the fresh air.  When Jack was really little I would take him out with me and put him in his bouncy seat or his wrap and it forced me outside and made the insanity of having a newborn and kid number four more bearable in the early days of sleeplessness. There is also something very 1950's house wife about it and to be honest I kind of like that part.  It connects you to the earth and mother earth and nature in a spiritual/hippy way that I can really appreciate too.  I really appreciate that $720, more than the hippy part!

He drilled this hook into the rock/ house.

This contraption was so that he could get the tension correct/adjusted.

He also installed support hooks on the perimeter beams so that the line would have extra support.
While I'm waiting for another "I peed in my bed Mommy" load of laundry to go on the line it's drying cute art work.

Another look at the mechanism that holds it into the wall, and my cute lights.