Many areas around the country will get a nice surprise from Snuggle today in their RedPlum inserts – a $3.00 off coupon, good on any Snuggle liquid fabric softener (32 load or larger) or dryer sheets (70 count or more). With some good sales, this will surely make for some very cheap fabric softener!

We’ve had a thread in the Utah forum’s to discuss the best places to use this coupon and the deals that are available. We’ve also had some comments from PYP members about how to stretch your fabric softener and dryer sheets even further, and I wanted to share some of those ideas here.

Suggestions for making your own fabric softener dryer sheets:

• Mix 1 cup liquid fabric softener with 2 cups water in spray bottle. Spray a clean rag or washcloth 4-6 times with the mixture and then put the cloth in with the clothes to dry. Wash the rag occasionally to remove build-up.
• Dip a washcloth in liquid fabric softener, then hand to dry. Once dry, put the washcloth in with the clothes to dry. The washcloth can be used a dozen or so times before needing to be washed and re-dipped. You can make your fabric softener last even longer by dipping the washcloth in a mixture of equal parts water and liquid fabric softener. Or try a different ratio to see what works best for your laundry.
• Take a large jar or bucket, cut a sponge into 4-6 pieces, and place them in the container. Add a few capfuls (if using jar) or one full bottle (if using bucket) of liquid fabric softener, then fill the rest of the way with water. When you go to dry a load of laundry, take out a sponge, ring it out and throw it in the dryer. When done, just put the sponge back in the container for next time! (Tip from PYP member, WtrmlnLisa)
• To control static cling, try adding a wad of aluminum foil to your dryer load.
• If using dryer sheets, cut them in half and use only one half sheet per load. That way a box of 80 sheets automatically becomes a box of 160! (Tip from PYP member, tightwadteri)

Even if you don’t want to make your own dryer sheets, you can get extra use out of the commercially packaged ones by using the used sheets to dust around the house or clean bathtubs (they are great for removing soap scum).