Je T'aime Baby Wool Dryer Balls
So I am a little obsessed with Amazon.com. OK so I am a lot obsessed with it. This is my first year using Amazon Prime so I try to use the free two day shipping whenever possible to try and get my money's worth!
I am in love with Young Living essential oils and I am always trying to find new ways to use them. Last week I came across these absolutely adorable Je T'aime Baby Wool Dryer Balls with little cute sheep on them.
They also make them with the option of hearts instead of sheep. Let me first say I am not in any way being paid to say any of this or received anything promotional. I just saw them and thought they were so freaking cute and got really excited about them.
I got them in the mail yesterday and already used them for two loads of laundry. They are awesome!!! I added 3 drops each of Lavender and Purification Young Living essential oil onto each of the balls. My cloths came out smelling amazing and they were soft and static free! Best part is that I never have to buy dryer sheets again! And let me say, these balls are BIG! (sorry I had to). They are the size of tennis balls, maybe a little bigger. They will shrink over time the more they are used (again sorry!). They last for over 1,000 loads and you use all 6 for large loads and 3 to 4 for med loads, and 2 to 3 for smaller loads. I used all 6 for a large load of jeans and t-shirts and for my load of towels. The scent lasted for both loads but will probably need to be refreshed after another load. So basically you can get 2 to 3 loads without having to add more oils, depending on how strong the scent of the oil of your choice is. If you really want your cloths to have a stronger scent, it is best to dry them completely first (with the balls in the dryer of course) and then add the drops of oil to the balls and put your dryer on again for a few minutes. This makes the scent even stronger. I like doing this for sheets and towels.
For anyone not familiar with wool dryer balls, they are balls of 100% wool yarn that are wound really tight and then run through the washing machine and dryer a few times in a pair of nylon stockings. There are probably more methods than this, but this seems to be the most popular. The yarn then "felts" and gets so tight and connected that it forms a solid ball. When you add the felted dryer balls to your dryer they help absorb the moisture and dry your cloths faster. They also naturally make your cloths softer and absorb some of the static. People say it doesn't work that great at preventing static for fleece, but lets face it, I have never found anything that gets static out of fleece, including aluminum foil balls! The wool dryer balls cut down on dry time, which saves electricity, plus you save $ on not having to buying dryer sheets, plus you don't use any of the harmful chemicals you typically find in dryer sheets.
I was concerned they were going to make a racket bouncing around in my dryer, but I was pleasantly surprised. They made slightly more noise than normal, but nothing to make it annoying or even that much more noticeable. It cut the drying time down by 5 minutes, which isn't a whole lot, but it might make more of a difference with other size loads or materials (such as jeans or sheets, etc). Hey, 5 minutes a load x 2 loads per day x 5 days a week = 50 minutes a week in electricity saved! Now I can't say I'm not doing my part to lower the electricity bill. Hopefully my husband reads this! They also don't do any damage to the cloths or towels and do not leave any fibers behind.
They also seem very durable. One of them escaped my dryer when folding laundry and the neurotic GSD (German shepherd dog) found it. She of course assumed it was a new toy provided by the laundry Gods and got in a few good chomps and bites before I noticed what it was she was playing with. I expected it to be pulled apart or have giant holes in it from her teeth, but nope! It was in perfect condition, no dents or damage at all. Guess they would make good dog toys too!
Oh and I get great pleasure out of making my dog balance things on her nose or head. Don't worry, she always gets a treat and a "Good girl!"after my torture.
All in all I am really loving these dryer balls. If you are interested in using them, but don't want to buy them, you can make your own. They look like they would be a fun project to do on a rainy day. There are tons and tons of great tutorials on Pinterest. I personally like this one: DIY Wool Dryer Balls. I was having a hard time finding 100% real wool yarn. Everywhere around here seemed to only carry yarn with about 15-20% wool and the rest was acrylic. The 100% wool yarns that I did find were about $7.50 / skein. I think you can get about 2 balls / skein so for 6 you would need to buy 3. You also have to make sure you buy yarn that is NOT machine safe, otherwise it won't felt and you will just be stuck with a bunch of balls of yarn that might make a good cat toy. You could probably use an old wool sweater that you have lying around too!
Anyways, I am off to do another load of laundry! If you make your own Wool Dryer Balls let me know and send me a picture. I am interested in case I make my own sometime!
Take care!
~Blossom~
I am in love with Young Living essential oils and I am always trying to find new ways to use them. Last week I came across these absolutely adorable Je T'aime Baby Wool Dryer Balls with little cute sheep on them.
I got them in the mail yesterday and already used them for two loads of laundry. They are awesome!!! I added 3 drops each of Lavender and Purification Young Living essential oil onto each of the balls. My cloths came out smelling amazing and they were soft and static free! Best part is that I never have to buy dryer sheets again! And let me say, these balls are BIG! (sorry I had to). They are the size of tennis balls, maybe a little bigger. They will shrink over time the more they are used (again sorry!). They last for over 1,000 loads and you use all 6 for large loads and 3 to 4 for med loads, and 2 to 3 for smaller loads. I used all 6 for a large load of jeans and t-shirts and for my load of towels. The scent lasted for both loads but will probably need to be refreshed after another load. So basically you can get 2 to 3 loads without having to add more oils, depending on how strong the scent of the oil of your choice is. If you really want your cloths to have a stronger scent, it is best to dry them completely first (with the balls in the dryer of course) and then add the drops of oil to the balls and put your dryer on again for a few minutes. This makes the scent even stronger. I like doing this for sheets and towels.
For anyone not familiar with wool dryer balls, they are balls of 100% wool yarn that are wound really tight and then run through the washing machine and dryer a few times in a pair of nylon stockings. There are probably more methods than this, but this seems to be the most popular. The yarn then "felts" and gets so tight and connected that it forms a solid ball. When you add the felted dryer balls to your dryer they help absorb the moisture and dry your cloths faster. They also naturally make your cloths softer and absorb some of the static. People say it doesn't work that great at preventing static for fleece, but lets face it, I have never found anything that gets static out of fleece, including aluminum foil balls! The wool dryer balls cut down on dry time, which saves electricity, plus you save $ on not having to buying dryer sheets, plus you don't use any of the harmful chemicals you typically find in dryer sheets.
I was concerned they were going to make a racket bouncing around in my dryer, but I was pleasantly surprised. They made slightly more noise than normal, but nothing to make it annoying or even that much more noticeable. It cut the drying time down by 5 minutes, which isn't a whole lot, but it might make more of a difference with other size loads or materials (such as jeans or sheets, etc). Hey, 5 minutes a load x 2 loads per day x 5 days a week = 50 minutes a week in electricity saved! Now I can't say I'm not doing my part to lower the electricity bill. Hopefully my husband reads this! They also don't do any damage to the cloths or towels and do not leave any fibers behind.
They also seem very durable. One of them escaped my dryer when folding laundry and the neurotic GSD (German shepherd dog) found it. She of course assumed it was a new toy provided by the laundry Gods and got in a few good chomps and bites before I noticed what it was she was playing with. I expected it to be pulled apart or have giant holes in it from her teeth, but nope! It was in perfect condition, no dents or damage at all. Guess they would make good dog toys too!
Oh and I get great pleasure out of making my dog balance things on her nose or head. Don't worry, she always gets a treat and a "Good girl!"after my torture.
All in all I am really loving these dryer balls. If you are interested in using them, but don't want to buy them, you can make your own. They look like they would be a fun project to do on a rainy day. There are tons and tons of great tutorials on Pinterest. I personally like this one: DIY Wool Dryer Balls. I was having a hard time finding 100% real wool yarn. Everywhere around here seemed to only carry yarn with about 15-20% wool and the rest was acrylic. The 100% wool yarns that I did find were about $7.50 / skein. I think you can get about 2 balls / skein so for 6 you would need to buy 3. You also have to make sure you buy yarn that is NOT machine safe, otherwise it won't felt and you will just be stuck with a bunch of balls of yarn that might make a good cat toy. You could probably use an old wool sweater that you have lying around too!
Anyways, I am off to do another load of laundry! If you make your own Wool Dryer Balls let me know and send me a picture. I am interested in case I make my own sometime!
Take care!
~Blossom~
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