Frugal Living Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals Recipe

Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals Recipe {2 Simple Ingredients!}

 

Did you know you can make your own Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals like the ones Purex makes? All you need is 2 ingredients too – Epsom salts and your favorite essential oils.
If you have ever used those fabric softener crystals in the store you will know one little container of these will cost you upwards of $5.00-$6.00 depending on the size. My own homemade laundry recipe costs around $20 for a year of detergent and one of the ingredients I use is the Purex crytals.  The Purex Crystals in the recipe is the most expensive ingredient, so I attempted to make my own fabric softener crystals recipe to save money. And I was able to save $4.12 off the recipe.

How to make Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals

 

First  I turned over a container of Purex crystals to read what was inside of them.
Sodium Chloride, PEG Distearate, Bentonite, Sodium Silicate, Fragrance, Silica, Liquitint Red ST, Liquitint Blue HP.  
Okay – so Sodium Chloride is salt. The rest of the ingredients are basically fragrance, colorants and thickeners. Stuff we don’t really NEED, right?  The more natural the better I say, because I have a little girl who has very sensitive skin.

Epsom salts + essential oils for fragrance are all you really need!
Just take your Epsom salts, and pour them into a bowl. A 2 lb. box (a little over 4 cups) of Epsom salts only costs $0.88 at Walmart!

Then add about 40 drops of your favorite essential oils.
I use DoTerra Essential oils because they are therapeutic pure grade. They are very concentrate and pure, and although you can find other essential oils for less,  you get what you pay for. The quality of DoTerra is really amazing. In fact I love DoTerra Oils so much I signed up as a consultant. I find myself reaching for my essential oils several times a day for all kinds of natural healing, they truly have changed my life.

My favorite scent for my homemade fabric softener crystals is a combination of 20 drops of Lavendar and 20 drops of Lime. The combination is heavenly. But you can really just add whatever scent you love the most.  In fact you could probably have it be non-scented if you wanted to as well which would save even more money. The salts alone would soften your clothes.

After you add in the oils, mix it all up until thoroughly blended. It took less than 2 minutes of mixing to be totally incorporated.
And Voila!
You have homemade fabric softener crystals!

Store them in an air-tight container or just pour the whole 4 cups into your homemade laundry recipe. If you use store bought laundry detergent you can just add a small scoop (1-2 tablespoons) of these crystals to your wash to soften your clothes.
Oh and try not to sit and just sniff your jar all day long. I know it’s tempting…. I know.
While the smell is strong in the jar, it’s not as strong on my clothes coming out of the dryer.  Purex crystals were stronger, but they also had a lot of strange fragrances, mine are pure essential oils that I know are good for me to be breathing in.  My clothes do smell lovely still and they are so soft using this recipe.
The next time you make homemade laundry detergent make sure and also make this homemade fabric softener crystals recipe along with it to save you money. This takes the price of my detergent down to just around $16.89 vs. $20.21. Sweet!

Recipe for Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals

• 4 Cups Epsom Salts ($0.88 for 2 lb. box at Walmart)
• 40 drops Essential Oils (about $1.00)
• Mix them together and you are done.

Final price $1.88 for homemade vs. $6.00 for Purex Crystals at the store!

Thoughts? Have you tried to make your own fabric softener before? Have any other great homemade recipes you would like to share?

Thank you to http://happymoneysaver.com for this post!