Smelly Solutions

Note that the title of this post is "Smelly" Solutions not "Stinky" Solutions. I did a post back in July about the cost effectiveness of making your own laundry detergent along with the recipe for making said laundry detergent. You can find it here. I'm still using that first batch I made, by the way. Ok, ok, back to the subject at hand. (I have something akin to Squirrel Syndrome, huh? What? Oh yea......)

The homemade laundry detergent works amazingly well for what you spend to make it but unless you add an essential oil or a fragrance oil to it, there's really no "smell" to it. I'm one of those people that likes to have my clothes smell like something when they come out of the dryer, be it flowers or the ocean or a light spring rain. (I could do this for hours, just so you know. Dang squirrel syndrome again.) I have found an awesome product that you can add to your wash cycle that totally replaces the need for dryer sheets, and doesn't have to be put in that little, gods be danged, cup in the washer or in a little ball that I never seem to be able to keep up with. The product is Purex Crystals. They are these little, well, crystals (yea, go figure, right?) that you dump a cap full of them into the wash cycle. And your clothes come out smelling AMAZING and the smell LASTS. YAY!!! So I've listed the pros now the only cons I've come up with are the fact that the large bottle costs $8 and doesn't last near as long as I want it to. But then again, this IS PnP after all, so you know I found a way to make it work.

There was a reason I mentioned the laundry detergent in the first of this post. And now I'm finally getting to the point. As I was sitting here bemoaning the fact that I was gonna have to fork out another $8 bucks for yet another bottle of the crystals, I got the bright idea that since they dissolve in the washer (I use the cold cycle for everything) that if I dissolved them in warm water and mixed that water into the laundry detergent, it would go a long way towards saving me some money. 

I got out my biggest mixing bowl and dumped the whole bottle of the crystals into it. (I already said I like for my clothes to smell good. DON'T JUDGE ME!!! :p) I slowly ran warm water over the crystals until there was about an inch of water over the top of them. I grabbed my wooden spoon and set to stirring. It really doesn't take these things long to dissolve in cold water and warm water REALLY speeds up the process. It took a grand total of about 10 minutes for the entire bottle to dissolve. After everything dissolved to my satisfaction, I opened up my laundry detergent bucket and poured it in and stirred the water in. Eh, yea it makes the detergent a little soupier than I'd like but I can deal with it until I make a new batch.

I figure on the next batch I will dissolve the crystals in the water that is called for to make the detergent instead of adding it in after, that way I get the consistency I want. Another great thing is, even if you are a line person, you get clothes that smell amazing.

If you had rather stick to dryer sheets, you can make those at home to. TipNut is the absolute BEST possible place to find A LOT of DIY stuff. Here is one of their links for DIY fabric softener.

Frugal Fabric Softener Recipes & Dryer Sheet Tips

Happy DIYing Everyone!!!