Laundry Room Series: Cut the dryer sheets and your dry time!!

Over a year ago I purchased and began using three different types of wool dryer balls.  What are wool dryer balls?  They're large balls of wool used with every load you throw in the dryer.  They replace dryer sheets and help reduce dry time!!  The latter is my favorite part, and they do work.  I can dry two sets of queen size sheets in one cycle if I disperse the balls throughout the sheets when I put them in the dryer.  It's recommended that you use about a dozen wool dryer balls at a time.  Also, if you're allergic to wool, you can still use these because the wool isn't being directly applied to your skin.  First are the Woolzies Dryer Balls.

These are the largest and best priced of the three types I got.  They're handmade from New Zealand wool, helping providing a sustainable living.  They seem to lose their density over time, which also makes them less effective over time.
The second ones I got are Buddha Bunz dryer balls, which are now purchased on The Green Laundry Company.

A cool feature of this product is that you can choose the color(s) you want and a scent.  The scent subtly transfers to your clothes while they're being dried.  You can also get them unscented.  These are handmade in Texas and wool is sourced from North America.  These are still as dense as when I first got them!! They lost their scent quickly, but you can re-scent them with essential oils if you want.  It also may take a month or more for you to receive your order.  I purchased the "Special" which is three balls with a scent of your choice but not color of your choice for $18.

Third, and my least favorite, are Pepper Jack Home dryer balls.

I purchased these on sale: four for $9.99.  I'm really glad I didn't pay more for these because they're not worth it, unfortunately.  They're considerably smaller and less weighty than the other two brands I got, so I don't recommend them. I stopped using these after about 6 months. They paled in comparison to the others.

Here are three types next to each other, so you can see the size difference more clearly:

DIY Option

In DIY Non-Toxic Cleaning Recipes, Mommypotamus explains how to make your own dryer balls, which I'll definitely be trying when I need new ones!!  All you need is a few skeins (packs) of baby yarn to roll into balls.  You can often pick those up on sale or clearance from a craft store, so it would be worth it to try.   They do have to be prepped before throwing in the dryer and she has pictures with tips to make the best dryer balls.

Do you use dryer sheets? Would you like to cut your dry time? What do you like your clothes to smell like when they come out of the dryer?