I have been using dryer balls for the past two years in my dryer. I found them in "Real Goods," a wonderful green catalog. These cut down drying time, keep clothes soft, and completely eliminate dryer sheets or liquid softener. No more wasted paper sheets or plastic softener bottles. Also, no build up on your lint catcher! Dryer balls are green and last a long time. It's a lot cheaper to buy these dryer balls instead of throw away products like sheets and liquid softener.
Source: Real Goods catalog
By Dannie from Covington, WA
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Don't they clunk around in the dryer? I can't stand even a dime banging around in there I think i'd go nuts having to listen to something that big.
I love my dryer balls and they make such a difference in the dryer. No, they don't really make noise. The only problem is they usually get tangled up in the sheets!
Yes, these work well. However, I have found that tennis balls work just as well and are much cheaper. I can get a pack of two or three for one dollar at our local dollar store.
I have heard of these and wondered if they really work. From the post I see that they do, however, does it eliminate static?
I have been using a set of dryer balls for several years and love them. I guess they don't get the laundry to smell good like fabric softener does, but I don't care because I hate the smell of that stuff and it makes me itch. I bought my dryer balls at a Walgreens for around $5.00. They were on an endcap display. I have also seen them on http://www.asseenontv.com.
I liked these, but my dogs kept getting hold of them and I kept having to clean them over and over before I could use them again. Finally they disappeared. While I used them, they worked.
I've been using mine for over a year. They are not quite as hard a plastic as I had feared, and have no rough places to snag the fabric (I saw another post citing that problem with one brand). They do bounce around rather noisily, especially with a small load, but I find the clunking a lot less irritating than the tinkle of a coin; in fact, I've learned to listen for it, to know when the dryer is finished (since I can't hear the buzzer from the next room).
When the first ball came apart in the middle, I thought they only had a use-life of about a year, but kept using it; now both of them have split, and I realize that I have four half-ball shells that are lighter, hence less noisy, than two whole ones. I've never tried tennis balls; it just seems to me that the knobbly surface of the dryer balls has got to be helpful in fluffing towels, at least.
I wasn't aware that they are supposed to speed drying. I guess they would, if your laundry tends to clump. If you shake out each item as you put it in, then I doubt that the dryer balls would help any more.
I've been using dryer balls since they came out years ago. I really like them because they keep my clothes "moving around" and keep them from clumping together. No... they don't prevent static. In some cases they even seem to generate more. And yes, they are very noisy. But I like them.
Also... I include a large dry "junky" towel in my dryer. This was a Martha Stewart type tip I found years ago. It helps soak up excess moisture and it seem to me that drying time is shorter. I reuse the same dryer towel and eventually it turns to absolute tatters. That's when it becomes a cleaning rag :)
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