Green Living - Homemade Fabric Softner

double batch - Fruit Loops

I've been dying to try making my own fabric softner since the first time I made homemade laundry soap.  I have used straight vinegar before, in the interest of being green.  That works; your clothes are not as crunchy as they are without fabric softner.  But, I missed my fresh and homey scented Snuggle.  I decided that I could make my own fabric softner and add in scents.

This was very easy to make.  You use about 1/8 cup of this mixture with each load of laundry in a regular machine.  I use 1/16 cup in my HE washer.  So, it is definitely very inexpensive per load.  I made 2 batches and scented them like Fruit Loops.  I'm going to use it for the kids clothes.  As soon as I get another container, I will make some for the adult clothing and scent it with a fresh linen scent that I bought.

Ingredients:
2 cups of vinegar
2 cups of baking soda
4 cups of warm water
scent - as much (or as little) as you like

I recommend storing this is a container that you can shake.  I put a pic below to show that it does separate, so you will have to shake this up before using it.  I ended up using a 1 gallon vinegar jug.  I also recommend mixing this up in a wide container in your sink.  The vinegar and baking soda will fizz up.  If you mix in your sink, you won't have to worry about the over flowing.  I added the water first, then vinegar then baking soda, in small amounts to minimize the fizz.

Add the scent last.  Just add a drop or two and see how it smells to you.  You can always add more.  For reference, I made a double batch and I used 1.5ml of scent.

everything you need

use your sink

see how it separates?