I feel morally obligated to tell you about this stuff, and how easy and cheap it is to throw together.
I just can’t bear to pay $6 for a small bottle of lavender bounty any longer, no matter how wickedly delicious it smells.
Recipes like this have been floating around on Pinterest for some time now, and with a new found love for version 2.0 of our homemade laundry detergent, it was time to give this stuff a whirl too.
I looked at several ideas and combined two recipes to make our own. The best part was, I had everything already in my cupboards. In fact you probably do too!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of White Distilled Vinegar
- 2 cups of Hair Conditioner (el’ cheapo conditioner works great here)
- 6 cups of boiling Water
- 10-15 drops of essential oil (optional)
Directions:
- Pour the hot water into a large container/pitcher and add the conditioner. Stir to combine, dissolving most of the lumps.
- Add the vinegar and essential oil and stir well.
- Allow to cool and pour into your dispensing bottle {I love my vintage turquoise ball jars}.
- You’ll use between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of softener per load (during the rinse cycle), depending on the size of your load. Experiment and find what works well for you, and don’t worry about the vinegar…the smell will not linger once your load is done and your laundry is dry.
Considering the wide variety of delicious conditioner scents {think Tahitian Coconut!}, you could really go wild with your choice of softener fragrance. I used a bottle of suave rosemary mint conditioner I had scored for a buck (on sale, with a doubled coupon), and simply added a few drops of rosemary and peppermint essential oils to accentuate the fragrance. It’s lovely.
*Keep in mind…NOT to use your homemade fabric softener on loads that you’re using bleach in. The combination of the two, vinegar and bleach, can create toxic fumes, and seeing vinegar is a natural whitener, you may find you don’t even need to use bleach.
Enjoy your wild frugal skills while washing those little knickers.
