We love to save laundry drying time by using wool dryer balls. Dryer balls help move the clothes around the dryer during the cycle and the wool absorbs moisture to help dry our clothes faster! They’re a natural replacement for dryer sheets and chemical-laden liquid fabric softeners. People also love dryer balls because their action naturally reduces friction and reduces static cling.
For a huge boost in freshness, we add 2 drops of essential oil to each dryer ball about 5 minutes before we load them. This allows the essential oils to be absorbed. Our favorite is Citrus Fresh essential oil blend. But you can use whatever scent makes you happy!
We recently bought a new batch of big, fluffy towels and a half dozen new dryer balls.
I was so excited because I wanted to prove to my husband that we were saving money by using the dryer balls. Of course, we weren’t spending money on dryer sheets (because we use our own homemade fabric softener), but was the drying time really faster? Were we really saving time and energy using dryer balls?
Here’s how we set up our slightly-less-than-scientific comparison
- We used two sets of three brand new towels that had never been washed.
- We washed the first set exactly as described above like our normal wash routine.
- We dried the first set with 6 dryer balls.
- We washed the second set following the exact same steps.
- The second set was dried without dryer balls.
I made sure to set the dryer to moisture-sensitive monitoring so that the dryer stopped automatically as soon as the towels were dry. Of course, I also thoroughly cleaned out the lint trap before each cycle. In addition, I also cleaned out the lint trap about 30 minutes into each dryer cycle because this was the first wash for new towels and I knew they would put off a lot of lint. In case you’re curious, I also made sure to allow the dryer to cool completely so that both sets of wet towels were placed in a “cold” dryer. Both sets were set to dry on medium heat.
The results were pretty convincing.
- The load dried with dryer balls took 61 minutes to dry.
- The load washed without dryer balls took 70 minutes to dry.
Here’s the part that my hubby wanted to know. Does that 9 minutes really translate to money saved?
Dryers can use 1800 – 5000 watts per hour depending on the model. Our dryer is only 2 years old and is pretty energy efficient (2150 watts per hour – 2.15 kWh). That’s a very low number compared to other dryers.
If your dryer is over 5 years old then it will most likely use considerably more energy!
Cost without dryer balls:
2.15 kWh (kilowatts our dryer uses per hour)
X $0.1025 (our price of electricity per kwh)
X 1.167 (hours to complete a cycle without dryer balls)
= $0.26 (cost to dry one load without dryer balls)
Cost with dryer balls:
2.15 kWh (kilowatts our dryer uses per hour)
X $0.1025 (our price of electricity per kWh)
X 1.017 (hours to complete a cycle with dryer balls)
= $0.22 (cost to dry one load with dryer balls)
So we save $0.04 cents per load. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but I think every little bit counts. Since we wash at least one load a day in our family of 8, that’s a savings of at least $14.60 per year for our family. If your dryer uses more energy you’ll save more money. If your electricity costs more than ours then you’ll save even more!
CONCLUSION:
- These dryer balls are saving me some in electricity, but not a ton.
- They’re a little bit of an investment in the beginning, but they’re completely worth it for my family to avoid spending money on fabric softeners that just add chemicals into my home.
- And, maybe more importantly, it’s a savings of more than 50 hours per year that our dryer isn’t running and our house isn’t heating up!
What do you think? Do you love wool dryer balls? Or can you live without them?
how much EO do you apply to the wool drier balls? Apply how much to each?
I add 2 drops of essential oil to each dryer ball. You can definitely add more if you like.
What do you do about static:?
I have been using dryer balls for years. The keys is to not over dry things and don’t put in things (polar fleece) that dry really quick and then cause a static build up. Liquid fabric softener is really bad for your clothing too. Try white vinegar in the rinse….I promise you won’t smell like a french fry 😉🍟
This is great, I love the dryer balls! Thank you for your scientific experiment (Just FYI, at the end when you give the equation with the savings you have a typo and say cost withOUT both times 😉)
You are my new favorite person for letting me know about that typo! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave me a note. I’ve got it all updated now.
I ❤️ The wool dryer balls and the opportunity to Add Any essential oil‼. Manly smell of cedar wood or feminine smell of bergamot ‼‼‼
The balls are amazing. I have not even used fabric softener in over 8 months. My towels have regained their softness and there is no static! So here are the questions: How long does the essential oil application last? Do you have to repeat with each load. Is there residual fragrance if you want to switch oils?
I add oils anytime I can’t smell them anymore on the dryer balls. It varies with what I’m washing and the exact kind of dryer balls I use. I don’t feel like there’s any residual fragrance when switching oils.
I have no smell, so would you say every other load?
You could always add just one drop of oil per ball, rather than 2.
Does the effect of dryer balls diminish over time? I’m getting more static cling.
Hi Ann! The oils do diminish over time and frequency of use. I add more oils if I start to notice I can no longer smell them.
I just started using dryer balls. I put several drops of EO In a 2 quart mason jar, put three dryer balls in the jar and roll around, I keep the balls stored in the jar between dryer loads. Keeps the scent longer. I love cedar wood and lemon! Roll up a sheet of heavy duty foil into a ball to help with the static cling.