My obsession with laundry has been moving in the natural direction for a few years now. It started before cloth diapering and has intensified since then. I have been trying out several natural detergents and recently started using dryer balls. Your can purchase dryer balls in various materials like silicone or nondescript ‘urethanes’, but the favorite among most families is wool! Wool is the ultimate fabric fiber. It absorbs nearly a third of it’s own weight in liquid and can even be water proofed with its own lanolin. We use a lot of wool clothing for outdoors wear and baby clothes, so I am happy to use wool dryer balls as well.
The latest brand I had the pleasure of using is Woolzies by Soft By Nature, INC. Woolzies dryer balls are made from New Zealand wool and ONLY wool! They are handmade in Nepal, long lasting, and energy efficient.
Woolzies come in a pack of six and each ball is slightly larger than a tennis ball. They shrink a little bit after a couple uses, but can be used hundreds, even thousands, of times to soften your laundry and reduce drying time. Since wool absorbs water and the balls help aerate the fabrics in the dryer, using Woolzies dryer balls can reduce your drying time by at least 25 percent. They also gently pummel your fabrics, softening them without the need for any fabric softeners or dryer sheets. So, you not only save money on your gas/electric bill and on softeners, but you can avoid all those chemicals in other laundry additives!
I love the size and quality of Woolzies dryer balls. They are large and felted, so they work quickly and do not leave any little wool hairs behind. Our dryer is right below the living room and these dryer balls do not make a ton of noise.
I have never been a softener user, or dryer sheets for that matter, so I usually just dealt with crunchy fabric from hard water by ignoring it. However, I really like the way these dryer balls make our cloth diapers softer. I use a lot of flats and prefolds and the natural fibers get very scratchy in our water. Even if they are line dried, I can toss them in the dryer for five minutes with the balls and get them softened up before folding. I am particularly looking forward to using these wool dryer balls this winter. I usually dry a lot of our diapers and laundry on our radiators and they are so hard and crunchy they can stand up by themselves. I fully plan of tossing everything in the dryer for a bit with some dryer balls this year.
You can just leave your dryer balls in the dryer when the clothes are finished. There are some great ways to make your dryer balls even better for your needs. You can add a ball of tin foil to the load with the balls to reduce static! Normally, you should not have a static problem if you do not over dry, but you can always eliminate the problem altogether with foil. The metal conducts the electricity causing the static and neutralizes it. You can also add a bit of essential oil to your dryer balls for a light fragrance in your laundry. Just put a drop or two on each ball and let it dry before using. I personally like lavender and sweet orange oil. This small amount of essential oil will not harm your cloth diapers or clothing as long as it is dry before use.
Woolzies brand dryer balls are a great price. You get six large balls for just $35.99. I like that they come in a six pack since six is usually the minimum you want for optimal function. I definitely recommend Woolzies to anyone who cloth diapers, wants to green their laundry routine, or just wants to save a little money of softeners and electricity.
How do you ‘green’ your laundry routine?
*I received this item free for reviewing and was not otherwise compensated. All opinions are my own.
Using dryer balls instead of dryer sheets.
I try to wait until I have a full load of laundry to do rather than doing a bunch of small loads
Have never used dryer balls so would really like to try them.
i try to sun dry our diapers as much as possible
I always do full loads and use homemade detergent.
I just wrote a post about my homemade detergent! Hopefully I’ll publish it soon. I really love homemade detergents.
I always hang my diapers whether it’s inside or outside.
We try to make sure we have a full load before we start the laundry
I tried making my ownd dryer balls. They worked but I gave them to my daughter who is using cloth diapers. Would LOVE to try these!
I would love to try making my own dryer balls! I have no idea how to go about it though.
I make my own laundry detergent and I sun/hang dry my diapers!
I make my own detergent.
i use dryer balls but would love a few more. i also sun my diapers and always do large loads of laundry. i don’t like doing small loads.
I bought my wool dryer balls 4 years ago from WoolDryerBalls.com and we LOVE them!! Hers are undyed so no staining laundry, and they last a really long time- years and years. I havent bought a fabric softener in 4 years!!
I make my own laundry detergent
Pretty much a newbie when it comes to greening the laundry although we always do full-loads. Recently I have started using green detergents, once those are gone, I will give homemade detergents a try.
I use eco-friendly laundry detergent 🙂 Ecover~ I love it!!
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I try to consolidate my loads!
We conserve water by emptying the dehumidifier into the washing machine.
That is a good idea!
I’ve also put diapers in the utility sink our washer drains into and let the rinse water from a clothing load spray over diapers as a prerinse.
I love dryer balls and would love to win some for my mom. We also use biodegradable detergents!
I use soap nuts for soap and I have wondered what to use instead of wasteful, chemical filled dryer sheets. I recently heard of Woolzies and I can’t wait to try them!
I love soap nuts!
We use soaps without chemicals and no toxic dryer sheets!
I try to air dry my nicer shirts and all of our diapers.
We hang dry a good bit of our laundry now. Thanks to cloth diapering and hanging them up we both realized how much we’d save if we did that all of the time! After the clothes are dry we toss them in the dryer for 15 minutes to fluff them up. I’d love to get some dryer balls to help with the loads we don’t hang dry!!! And cut down on the time we put the other clothes in for : )
We are hoping to move in the next two years, and one of my requirements is a yard big enough for a clothes line!
I hang to dry whenever I can. So fresh!
Line dry when I can and homemade detergents
I make my own detergent. 🙂
I make my own detergent and use vinegar as a fabric softener.
I use rockin green!
I ditched dryer sheets about a year ago, and use vinegar as a softener.
Full load, wash and rinse with cold water, organic eco friendly detergent – air dry
I started using a wash ball, which has a lot more usage than detergent.
Wash ball? Describe this to me! I am intrigued.
I love love love to line dry!
Line dry diapers!!
I hope my Rockin Green counts as green. 🙂
I use a local natural detergent and I try to line dry whenever even inside.
I make my own laundry soap, and already have just a couple of wool dryer balls. 🙂
Make my own laundry soap would love to use these to shorten dry time.
My favorite way to go green with my laundry is by making my own detergent AND using wool dryer balls!!!
I really need new dryer balls!
I love Sun & Earth’s laundry detergent….it’s super green!
I had a hard time getting Sun & Earth to rinse out well, but I have that issue with most liquid detergents.
we use the sun instead of bleach
I just got wool dryer balls this week and am excited to use them. I’d love more though.
We try to line dry as much as possible!
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line dry! 🙂
Homemade laundry soap, air dry when possible and of course Woolizes!!
I try to do line dry whenever possible
I dry line my diapers. I would love to have some dryer balls for the inserts and the rest of my laundry.
I actually use woolzies right now, I have 6. I am wondering if I might need more to make the drying time less, but I do love not having to use fabric softner!
I wash in cold water.
I use a HE washer/dryer set.
I use a detergent and dryer sheets free of nasty chemicals.
I love hanging my laundry out to dry.
Even though I live in a small apartment I try to hang dry as much as possible.
Hang drying my laundry!
I hang my laundry whenever possible!
I use vinegar in my downy ball as a fabric softener.
i like to hang dry the laundry too when i’m not being too lazy 😀 , and also by using natural detergents & no fabric softener or synthetic chemicals.
We use dryer balls — but they are sad home-made dryer balls that keep unraveling 🙁
Make my own detergent!
I use dryer balls! I have been horrible about line drying our diapers lately though because of the baby, but I want some dryer balls to pass along to my family to try out!
My husband actually made dryer balls last year…unfortunetly, they started to unravel & got all tangled up in our laundry! These ones look amazing & now I need to replace a few 🙂
hang dry and make my own soap
I have made my own laundry detergent! I love it!
Sun dry my diapers!!! =)