Okay here's where I got my recipe.
Very simple. Basically 1 part conditioner, 1.5 parts vinegar, and 3 parts hot water. LET ME, HOWEVER, SHOW YOU MY TRICK.
You buy the cheapest conditioner (and seriously Suave has some great scents but don't do nothin' for my hair -- and if you think I really speak in that manner you have clearly never met me, that is just for effect) in whatever delicious scent you want, and you dump all of it in your largest pot. Then, you fill it up 1.5 times with vinegar, and then you fill it up 3 times with water. RIGHT?!?! Oh man, so great. Here's why this is a good idea:
1. It involves dirtying minimal dishes (i.e. measuring cups which, seriously? You want to squirt conditioner into a measuring cup?)
2. None of the bottles are an even 2 cups, as the website's recipe calls for. It's either a little less or a little more than 4 cups or whatever.
3. By using the container to measure the vinegar and the water, you will get the most conditioner possible out of the bottle.
So do that.
After you add the REALLY HOT WATER, I recommend using a whisk to mix. Now listen - I'm all about least mess, but a whisk will speed up the process and as long as yours is dishwasher safe, it's not such a pain to wash, really. Mix that junk up in your giant pot and then transfer it to a pitcher. "But Cari," you're thinking, you smart person, "why mix it in the giant pot if you're going to make me pour it into a pitcher?" Well, I'll tell you. Because your pitcher probably has a spout. And that will make it easier to transfer into bottles or mason jars or whatever (I save the coffee creamer bottles that I purchased on rare occasions. Gallons or half gallons work super well, or *gasp* YOUR OLD LAUNDRY BOTTLE OF ANY SORT!). Also, because all of it wont fit into the pitcher, so you'd have a big donkey mess (when you figure that one out, you will laugh) to clean up. Whatever, this is what I do, if you find a better way leave it in the comments. Also, just use the NORMAL AMOUNT for laundry. Like it was legit, from the store, expensive stuff. Okay picture time.
Here's my fabric softener in a pitcher. It's the first batch, lavender. It looks the right consistency, right?? Because it IS!!!
Here it is in my giant pot. See? Bubbly and perfect. Green apple this time.
Now behold - all three of these are FULL! (Okay the one in the middle isn't *full,* but mostly. I drew the blue line where it filled up to. Here's some math. The Downy bottle contains 34 oz. The bottle on the far left (an old vinegar bottle. I buy a much bigger size now.) holds 32. Plus the one in the middle, that's at least 12 oz. So that would be 78 oz. of fabric softener made from a $1 bottle of conditioner plus 2 cups of vinegar. Um…how many syllables can you stretch "cheap" to be? Because that's how cheap this is.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
Wrinkle release spray.
This crap is awesome.
So you take a teeny blob, like a teaspoon of fabric softener per CUP of water (guesstimate, people), glob it into a spray bottle and add hot water, shake, and spray the wonder all over your stuff. I use this on our bed, as we have a duvet cover which gets very wrinkled. I also freshen our sheets and pillows with it, and you could probably use this exact recipe as Febreze but there's a fuller recipe here which includes baking soda. Clearly that wont hurt anything so, go for it! I probably will be as soon as I finish these blog updates.
I made both of these. I keep the big one in the bedroom and the small one in the laundry room. If you ever do that thing where you don't take your clothes out of the dryer right away, you can spritz this in there before you run the "mercy cycle" as I like to call it and you're good. ALSO -- I stopped using dryer sheets because of this fabric softener. No joke, friends. No. Joke.
Stay tuned for homemade laundry detergent next!!!
Oh and if you aren't my friend in real life and don't enjoy reading my rambling writing for it's entertainment value deep intellect, here are the abbreviated versions:
Fabric Softener.
2 C. conditioner (any kind, I use Suave)
3 C. vinegar
6 C. SUPER HOT water
Mix (I recommend in a giant pot), pour (I recommend first into a pitcher, then…) into bottles (I recommend old laundry bottles, vinegar bottles, gallon jugs, half gallon jugs, coffee creamer containers, whatever).
Wrinkle Release Spray
1 t fabric softener
1 C hot water
Add to a spray bottle in whatever appropriate proportions (for a 3 C spray bottle, use approx. 3 t. fabric softener). Shake. Enjoy.
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