Making your own fabric softener is so simple, frugal and a healthier alternative to the chemical solutions in the store. All you need is household vinegar and essential oils. Consider your laundry room a private laboratory! Today we are sharing three different recipes depending on what you are looking for in a fabric softener. Consider making all three and having them on hand for all your wash day needs.
Base Ingredient:
Here are the essential oils I recommend and why:Base Ingredient:
- Plain White Vinegar ~ Removes soap/detergent residue and reduces static cling.
- Lavender Essential Oil ~ It is antibacterial and antiseptic while being a delightful deodorizer. I use this in my daily laundering. It is a nice rinse for all of your general washing needs because it kills bacteria along the way. This is my personal favorite (surprise, surprise).
- Lemon Essential Oil ~ It is antibacterial, antiseptic, and anti-fungal. With its disinfecting properties, it is my choice for washing kitchen linens. It also has mild bleaching capabilities making it a nice choice for whites (I wouldn't recommend using this for darks).
- Eucalyptus Essential Oil ~ While it is antiviral and antiseptic, what interests me most is that eucalyptus oil is a deterrent for fleas and ticks. This makes it an excellent choice for articles used by pets or household items in jeopardy of infestations. If you are washing pet beds, etc., I would include a few extra drops of essential oil directly into your fabric softener receptacle for added strength. Another good choice for pets is Orange Essential Oil because of its ability to kill fleas! (source)
Simple Recipe
For every 4 cups of vinegar, add 20 drops of your chosen essential oil. Shake well and let sit for 24 hours to allow the fragrance to spread. A glass bottle is a good choice for essential oil projects because it doesn't leach like plastic (however, if you want to add the drops straight into your vinegar bottle for ease, you could, I won't tell...). Shake prior to each use.
How to use?
Add 1/4 cup of your fabric softener to each load on your HE washer and 1/2 cup per load when using a top loader.
Though the fragrance fades as the laundry dries, the properties of the essential oils have done their duty and doing your wash day duty was far more pleasant, don't you think?
Though the fragrance fades as the laundry dries, the properties of the essential oils have done their duty and doing your wash day duty was far more pleasant, don't you think?
Warning: Do not mix with bleach in your washing machine.
We also included some printable labels for you. One is "general" so that you could make your own fabric softener using the essential oil of your choice. The other four feature the fragrances we discussed in this post. Simply download and print them from the menu below ;)
You may also be interested in a Look Inside Our Laundry Room.
Note: You can purchase doTERRA *quality* essential oils here (which helps to support this site).
"Let’s go to that house, for the linen looks white, and smells of lavender,
and I long to lie in a pair of sheets that smell so."
~ Izaak Walton, Excerpt from The Complete Angler, 1653
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This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: Modest Mom Monday's, Make it Yourself Mondays, Homestead Barn Hop, Natural Living Tuesday's, Teach Me Tuesday, Domestically Divine Tuesday, Raising Homemakers, Make Bake Create, Wise Woman Link Up, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Whatever You Want Wednesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Simple Living Wednesdays, Homemaking Thursdays, From the Farm Blog Hop, Farmgirl Friday and Deep Roots at Home. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. Graphics are courtesy of Reading, Roses and Prose.
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