Homemade Fabric Softener

So a couple of weeks ago I made some laundry detergent (you can see that post here), and I wanted to make fabric softener at the same time, but needed vinegar. I finally remembered to pick some up at the store, and immediately had to make the fabric softener.

I found this pin:

Source: A "REAL" Housewife and Mommy via Victoria on Pinterest

Her post actually also has a liquid laundry detergent and an OxiClean recipe in it. I may try the OxiClean at some point too, but for this I was just interested in the fabric softener. 

I've mentioned it before, but anything with just a few ingredients automatically is great in my book. This only takes white vinegar, conditioner, and water. 

I used Pantene, but that's just because it's what I had on hand. Most others I've seen making this have just used whatever scent of Suave they prefer.

 All you do to make this is stir 1 part vinegar and 1 part conditioner into 2 parts hot water. 

EASY PEASY! 

I couldn't get my conditioner to dissolve completely, so my mixture looks lumpy, but it looks pretty uniform, so I'm not too worried about it.

I was excited to try it out, so I immediately gathered a load of laundry and put it in. I used 2 tbsp in my washer's liquid fabric softener section.

Results: My clothes were soft. There wasn't really any scent left on them, which I'm still okay with. They smelled even cleaner than when I used only the homemade detergent, so I'm happy with that. They were fluffy when I pulled them out of the dryer, and felt like I'd used a commercial softener. I do use dryer sheets as well, but I got better results with this than with dryer sheets alone.

Speaking of dryer sheets, I recently saw a pin that recommended cutting dryer sheets in half to make the box last twice as long.

Source: TheFrugalGirls.com via Victoria on Pinterest

Let me tell you, this works great! I feel like I've just been throwing money away for so long. I've seen where people have dipped a rag in fabric softener to make a reusable dryer sheet, but honestly, I'm not even going to go to all that trouble now that dryer sheets essentially cost me half as much as before.

Overall I'm very satisfied with my homemade laundry pursuits. I may get some Unstopables at some point, because I love the smell of those, but I'm really not worried about adding extra scents to my stuff for now. I love the fresh, clean scent my clothes have without all the extra chemicals.


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