While not exactly herbal related, a couple of weeks ago, I posted a link about an eco-friendly item on my Facebook page (are you a fan, yet?). In case you missed it, the link is here.
Anyways, I was excited about this product. I’m always looking for ways to help the environment and cut down on my expenses. So, I ordered a pair of these recycled wool dryer balls. Service was prompt – I received a notice of shipment within a couple of hours of placing my order and they arrived within a few days.
Pros: at about 4¢ each for a dryer sheet, the balls would have paid for themselves in about five years – there’s only two of us so we don’t do a lot of laundry. But in larger households, they’ll pay for themselves much quicker. Time is precious in our household and the balls cut down on the drying time by about 15%. Saves time and electricity. Plus, I’m lazy. I just left the balls in the dryer. No remembering to put the dryer sheet into the dryer.
Cons: Fabrics aren’t quite a soft as with a dryer sheet or liquid fabric softener. The only thing about this that really bugs me is the towels. I like my towels fluffy soft. And today, with probably less than a dozen loads of use, I found wool pilling the same color as the balls (red & green) in with my dried (ivory) sheets. This makes me wonder just how long they’d really last.
So, my rating: 2 out of 5 stars. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has any better experiences with them.
1 Comment
Hmmm… I used the ones that I did not know was made from PVC, so was very interested in finding out how these recycled wools ones do. Not that I am in the market, since I use a truly solar dryer now.
Some items of note, two balls are never enough. I used four balls at least. If lots of clothing items, the more you need. But at least four. I have 12 balls that I spread across my dryer loads (at coin laundries).
I never used a softener (especially never used chemical laden dryer sheets!), but my clothes and towels were soft. It is taking some getting use to the really unsoft towels from being dried in the sun! I haven’t been using my usual laundry detergent, using the washing machine sample instead, so that may be part of the problem. It is probably a petroleum product. I think totally plant based laundry detergents cause clothing to be softer. I was using an eco brand that had soybean oil in it and claimed that it acted as a softener. But the Ecover brand that I have been using this year does not use soy and yet my clothes were soft. So I think for my next load I will use it and see if clothes are softer even when dried in the sun.
Bottomline, the recycled wool dryer balls may be as good as the PVC ones, if had four of them.
Or you can use a laundry softener. Ecover makes one…
Thyme
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