Well, well, well.  After years of having been a "vinegar snob" when it came to laundry, I have changed my tune!  Honestly, I have cleaned with it for years now, preferring it to the commercial cleaners!  I just could never convince myself that it would make our clothes adequately soft AND not smell like we fell into the pickle jar all the time!  :)

Yesterday I was reading another blogger's post about what she was making for Christmas gifts, and one of the things was vinegar fabric softener.  So, I thought, "Eww, most of our extended family would turn up their noses at a bottle of vinegar that I tried to pass off as fabric softener".  But then, the wheels started turning, and I thought, "Wait, if you can flavor vinegar, why can't you scent vinegar for the laundry?"  So I did!

I found a great Australian site some time ago that I visit ever so often, and there was my answer for scenting vinegar!  Basically, you just take 1 litre of white vinegar and add 1 tsp. of essential oil.  Shake it up each time before you use it.  Works like a charm! 

The best part?  Well, with this rinse and my homemade laundry soap, it costs me only about 10 cents to wash a load of clothes (not counting water, of course) ... 10 CENTS!!!!!!   Amazing!  And the clothes are CLEAN!  If you like lots of scent, you might be disappointed, but I certainly am not.  Don't get me wrong - a year ago I didn't feel like our clothes were "clean" unless they smelled "Springtime Fresh" or some other chemical-based scent.  Now I know different and I am tickled to NOT smell that chemically manufactured smell in our laundry!  Now we just need to be able to hang the clothes out to dry in the fresh air and sunshine!  Soon.