Update to "Static"

It worked! I mixed up the fabric softener liquid by putting 1/4 cup of cheap fabric softenter (to cut down on cost, I bought the cheapest fabric softener refill I could find) in a wide mouth mason jar and then added two cups of water to it and shook it to mix. I cut up a regular kitchen sponge into fourths and stuck them down into the water. I was really surpised at the tiny amount of displacement that the sponges made. There really must not be much to a sponge!

When I used them in the dryer, I pulled out one sponge, squeezed it just enough so it wasn't dripping and threw it in the dryer. It worked awesome. Everything was soft and there was little to no static in the laundry. Very easy!

Static

I hate fabric softener and used to use dryer sheets begrudgingly.  I don't like the slimy feel fabric softener leaves on fabric and the scent makes me want to puke.  If I wanted to carry smell around on me all day I would wear perfume, not fabric softener.  When I decided to start making my own laundry soap I also decided to quit using dryer sheets in the dryer.  That way, everything I used to do laundry was homemade.  It worked great for a while.  But now that the house is full of dry heat, the static is driving me nuts.  I was trying to dig through a clean laundry basket a while ago and got shocked a few times, not to mention having to peel clothes off of the fuzzy blankets I washed.  It is time to remedy the dryer sheet issue.

I read that you can take a regular kitchen sponge, cut it into fourths and dip it into a solution of one part fabric softener to eight parts water.  When the sponge is saturated, wring it out lightly and throw it into the dryer, like you would a dryer sheet.  When the drying cycle is over, just put it back into the solution until it is time to use it again.  

I have to go out this afternoon and will need to stop at the grocery on the way home to get a few gallons of milk before the "white death" strikes.  I will also pick up some fabric softener and try this.  If it works, I may look for my own fabric softener recipe.  I'll let you know how it works.

BTW...here is my laundry soap recipe.  At first, I used a recipe that created laundry gel, but found that I wasn't using it as much as I would like because it was so time consuming to make.  Here is my laundry powder recipe that I've found works really well.

1 cup fels naptha soap, grated into little pieces (if fels naptha is too strong for you, I heard Ivory

 soap works.  Fels naphta does smell strong, but I used it directly on my skin to help dry  up poison ivy, so I don't think it is particularly harsh.)

1 cup baking soda

1 cup washing soda

1 cup borax 

Mix all together (it won't be anywhere near homogenous because the fels naptha will want to settle out...just mix it as best you can) and use 1/8th of a cup in each load.  For those who can do their math, this should make about 32 loads of laundry worth.

If the load is really dirty, such as ketchup stains, caked on mud, etc., add a 1/4 cup of oxy clean powder to the load.