Fresh Laundry

To me, spring and summer bring all sorts of fresh smells to my senses. One of my favorites smells is the laundry after it comes off of the line. There's nothing like it. During the winter months, we try to duplicate that smell by adding scented products to our laundry. In my opinion, those products are costly, full of chemicals and come in hard plastic containers that aren't good for the environment. If you're looking to get rid of some of those products, the best place to start would be the fabric softener. I'm going to share a recipe for homemade fabric softener that is inexpensive, good for the environment and can be made to smell like your favorite scent:

Homemade Fabric Softener:

1 cup baking soda
6 cups distilled white vinegar
8 cups water
10-15 drops essential oils in the scent of your choice.

You will need a one gallon container.
First add the baking soda to the plastic container.
Next add 1 cup of water to start with.
Slowly add the vinegar to the bottle as the vinegar and baking soda will start to fizz.
Then add the rest of the water swirling around & cover venting the top a few times.
Last add the essential oil.
Add 1 cup in your final rinse cycle for each load but give the bottle a good shake to stir up the essential oil if using.

It is very important to follow the directions well. If you cover the mixture too soon, it can explode due to the reaction of the baking soda and vinegar. It will calm down once it's done reacting, but until then... be very careful.

This mixture will leave your clothes soft, static free and smelling wonderful. Enjoy!