The Laundry Experiment - Part 2

Below you will find my personal take on the Laundry Experiment so far...if anything changes along the way, I plan to do another post.  I have also included a few shots of my Laundry Area which I thought I could whip into a pretty space once I had these glass jars for all my laundry needs...but I am struggling to pull it together just right...

My Reviews:
Laundry Detergent
My soap seems to be working well so far...I have not specifically 'tested' stains; however, Borax advertises itself like Oxyclean, so I have some extra plain Borax left over that I plan to use on stains when needed.

The clothes have a faint clean smell - not nearly as strong as they would usually have with Tide.  I kind of miss the stronger smell.  We think we might be able to just put more bar soap in to add more scent.  April doubled the amount of soap in her recent batch, and she loves it, so I am planning to grate another few bars to add to mine...

As I said yesterday, the recipe said to use 1 tablespoon...April and I are both using 2 heaping tablespoons per load in our HE washers.

Fabric Softener
I read that you can use vinegar as a fabric softener, so I put some into my HE washer's spot for softener, and the clothes seem pretty soft after I dried them.  Vinegar seems to be my new best friend.  Check out this site for all the things that vinegar can do!

Dryer Sheets
So, there are again lots of ideas/recipes for making your own dryer sheets...the main ones that I read about were:

1.  Dip old cloths in liquid fabric softener, let it dry, and then throw that rag into the dryer, and you can apparently use these rags several times.
My verdict:  I personally didn't want to do this b/c I was trying to eliminate buying fabric softener.  If I am going to use store bought, I would just use my Bounce sheets.

2.  Make a mixture of water with ~10 drops of essential oil, and spray a few spritzes into the dryer before starting it up.
My verdict:  I tried this and didn't notice any lavender smell.  (I am wondering if the mixture is too diluted...maybe I need to add more essential oil)

3.  Take a cloth and put several drops of essential oil onto the cloth and throw that in with the clothes.
My verdict:  I tried this (used 10 drops of essential oil), and didn't notice any lavender smell.

4.  If the clothes aren't smelling like the essential oil after the dryer cycle, then it was suggested to spray some of the water/essential oil mixture into the dryer at the end of the cycle and air dry the clothes for 10-20 minutes.
My verdict:  I tried this with my spray mixture, and didn't notice any lavender smell.


Eliminating Static Cling
 1.  I read that you can throw a few sheets of tin foil into the dryer to help eliminate static cling - call me crazy but that makes me nervous. 

 
FINAL VERDICT:  I am still throwing a Bounce sheet or two in IF I don't use vinegar for a fabric softener.


My Laundry Area
Like I said earlier, I wish I could claim a beautiful area to go with the pretty jar, etc.  I have been working on it, but I just don't like it yet...but in an effort to keep it real, here is what it looks like now..

a few details...

If you are wondering what all the bottles are...on top of the dryer, I have a spray bottle with water/essential oil as well as this old kettle that I use as a watering can for my plants downstairs.  On the washer, the green bottle holds bleach, the clear bottle is white vinegar, the small ball jar is left over OxyClean and the enormous jar is my detergent (which, I still want to find a pretty spoon/scoop for!).

Keeping it real shot - Look at the ridiculous white Ikea panel (my go-to solution for just about everything) - I clearly didn't hang it straight and I would need several more of them to cover the entire wall.  One of these days, I am hoping that a better design/arrangement will hit me.  I thought that having these glass jars would make it easy to pull together an area that I liked, but I am really struggling with this one!  It is just one of those many things that didn't come together as I had envisioned...but I guess that is the beauty of the design process...it is ever-changing and evolving, right?