DIY Chemical Free Reusable Dryer Sheets
Why buy dryer sheets when you can make them better for pennies? These DIY, Chemical Free, Reusable Dryer Sheets work perfectly without all the harmful crap.
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DIY Chemical Free Reusable Dryer Sheets
It seems like everyone hates doing laundry. I hear that complaint a lot. Want to know a secret? I actually don’t mind doing laundry. I usually do a few loads in a day, throw them all on my bed as they come out of the dryer, lay them out nicely then fold and put them away all at once while watching some Netflix on my laptop! It’s the best.
One thing I DO hate about laundry is dryer sheets.
1. They are such a waste.
2. They end up ALL over my house.
3. I don’t like any of the alternatives. I tried dryer balls and I didn’t like them. If they work for you GREAT! I’m not saying they don’t work, I’m just saying they were not for me.
4. The store bought ones are FULL of chemicals.
I love finding ways to DIY around the house and when my dryer sheets ran out I decided it was time to find a new solution. I made my own reusable dryer sheets and I am loving them! They make me so happy. I know it’s dumb to be happy about something so silly, but believe me I get happy about the really small things in life.
Let’s Make These DIY Chemical Free Reusable Dryer Sheets
First step for reusable dryer sheets is to find some cotton or knit fabric to cut up. Other fabric will probably work but I haven’t tested them. There are a number of things you can use for fabric. You can use an old towel or an old shirt. If you already sew you can use fabric scraps you have laying around.
This is what I chose to do because I have so much scrap fabric laying around all of the time. Also, I figured fabric scraps with patterns on them might be easier to find among the laundry. Not sure if that’s true or not, but that’s what I told myself.
I decided to cut up some minion fabric I had left over from some PJ’s I made for my son. I wanted all my dryer sheets to be made from the same fabric because, again, they would be easy to spot in my laundry, but you can use ANY fabric you like.
Cutting up an old t-shirt would be great because you won’t get any strings in your clothes. When I cut my scraps, I used pinking shears. They make a zig zag pattern along the edges which reduces strings coming off of the fabric. Either way works great.
Supplies You Need
- Fabric scraps, an old T-shirt or towel cut up into small squares. ( mine are about 5X6 inches )
- Glass jar with a lid – you can use a smaller jar than I use, but I like the bigger, wide mouth Mason jars because my hand fits, making it easier to pull the dryer sheets out.
- water
- vinegar
- essentail oils
How to Make Your Dryer Sheets
- First cut your fabric into roughly 25-30, 5 x 6 inch squares.
- Fill a glass jar with a 1/2 cup of water and one cup of vinegar.
- Add essential oils, about 3 to 4 drops of each (I used lemon, lavender, peppermint and tea tree oil. Sounds weird but this combo smells amazing!)
- Add the fabric squares to the jar so they can soak up the liquid. Give a little shake to distribute the liquid.
Once the scraps are in the mixture there should be some liquid left at the bottom. The reason for this is so that when you use a dryer sheet and it’s all dry, you just add it right back to the jar. It soaks up more liquid and is ready to use again. Seriously it is THAT easy folks!
I have been using two of these sheets at a time. I have not noticed a difference in my clothes which to me seems like a WIN! They may even be softer now but I haven’t been using them long enough to notice.
Again, I’ve been doing laundry for two weeks now with these and I haven’t run out of liquid in my jar. I have been using two to three dryer “sheets” at a time depending on the size of the load. Y’all have to try this and let me know how you like it.
DON’T FORGET TO PIN FOR LATER!
Here’s the thing…if I can make dryer sheets cheap, they are reusable and better for my family and the environment, then why not do it? It just seems like a no brainer to me. The more chemicals I can get out of my house, the better.
So go make some DIY Chemical Free Reusable Dryer Sheets and then pat yourself on the back for getting rid of one more thing in your house that can give you cancer!
I don’t use dryer sheets for the smell but for static cling. Does your DIY take care of that? Thanks for covering ghis topic. always wondered.
Katie says she hasn’t had any problem with static clean since switching to these homemade dryer sheets. I’ve honestly never used dryer sheets before but I’m really excited to make my own and test them out.