I would be interested in responses myself. I do know there is a thread devoted to this; we could probably do a search. I was in the hospital for 3 days last week and am just now getting back to things, and I noticed our towels are smelling funky, something I have not had to deal with in many years. I did two loads today and chose not to use FS in either one just in case. My main question regarding using vinegar is does it leave a residual aroma/fragrance on the items or does it dissipate in the dryer? I did use Snuggle dryer sheets on both loads today.

Liquid softener products contain oily or waxy fabric lubricants. Vinegar does not. Vinegar is considered a laundry sour. Detergents are alkaline, vinegar is acidic. Vinegar counteracts the detergent alkalinity toward a more neutral pH and can reduce fabric harshness that may occur from residual alkalinity but it does not lubricate fabric fibers as does softener.

I don't know if it still applies to today's machines and products, but years ago when I worked in an appliance store our very own in house Maytag man would say....'nothing goes into the dryer but wet clothes'. No dryer sheets, not ever.

I do admit to using a half sheet maybe twice a year in winter when washing loads of polar fleece outer garments - to stop the snap crackle pop I will sometimes get removing them from the dryer.

ETA: I can't weigh in on the fabric softener. Our water is neither acidic or alkaline and I've never had a need, never purchased one.

Water supply is not so much the factor for laundry alkalinity or acidity. Neutral pH is 7. Pure water is 7. Atmospheric CO2 dissolved in water (such as rain water) may make it slightly acidic (maybe pH 5.2). City municipal water supply may be treated to maintain between 6.5 and 8.5 pH per EPA recommendations (which is not a requirement).

Detergent (high pH, typically 10 to 14) makes water alkaline. Vinegar is an acid (low pH, approx 2.5 for distilled white). The weakened acidity of diluted vinegar in the volume of a washer's rinse water neutralizes any residual detergent alkalinity toward neutral pH.

Laundry sours or neutralizers are often used by commercial laundries, particularly when processing linens such as towels and sheets, in the rinse following the detergent wash to counteract the alkalinity of the (stronger than normal household) detergent. Some neutralizer/sour products also contain fabric softener components, or fabric softener may be added to a subsequent rinse (the neutralizer helps fabric softener function better).

Dryer sheets essentially are wax that melts at dryer temperatures to coat and lubricate fabric.

Hi Ken - I’ve used vinegar on and off. I think it works ok, but we also used wool dryer balls at times. Never dryer sheets which I’ve read cause dryer problems. And I’ve absolutely avoided the over-scented, everlasting scented things of recent years. Those that advertise “fresh smell for weeks.” Ugh, get me outta there.

Well after my partner complaining about the smell of his sleep shirt and both of us noticing how mildewed our freshly washed towels smell, I am doing a load of towels (and his sleep shirt) in one cup of vinegar. I re-read this thread, looked at another one, and read two different articles on the internet. Doing the load first with one cup of vinegar and then re-doing it with a half a cup of baking soda before putting the load in the dryer. I'll come back and share my experience once this experiment reaches a conclusion. I stopped using FS over a month ago but perhaps there has been a buildup that warm/hot water, detergent and Borax could not penetrate. Have still been using Snuggle dryer sheets; I won't with today's load.

armjim - I don't recall which washer you have, but bear in mind (I didn't!) that if you fill the softener compartment to near - or above - the "max" level, the vinegar will get siphoned out in the wash cycle, not later as required. At least this happened with our SQ FL which has a softener capacity of less than half a cup from memory. Although maybe you want it in with the wash?

ken, I have a SQ TL. I poured the cup of vinegar in after the washer had filled. Let it go through a cycle and then restarted it with a little over 1/2 cup of the baking soda. I let it go through the wash cycle and then the first spin which has a spray rinse before the deep rinse. I did not let it do a deep rinse-just set it for the final spin and then transferred the towels to the dryer. Tonight I am going to use one of them after I take a shower. Fingers crossed!