I just saw these in a drugstore this past weekend (maybe from a different company, but looking identical). So they seem to be more available via retail than they used to be.

GF got these i think from her mother. two observations: 1. they seem to do well with static but haven't done much to reduce drying times; 2. they are easily mistaken for dog toys, so we need to use caution when unloading laundry.

These things work great when we can keep the kiddos from running off with them. :) As somebody else mentioned, they don't seem to shorten the drying time at all, but they DO seem to help with static (super fleecy stuff still comes out all stuck together). And they're not stinky dryer sheets, so I can suffer with a little static on my fleece blanket. Everything else comes out beautifully.

I saw these at Walgreen's the other day. I think they're also labelled "As Seen on TV!", so you might be able to find them in that section of some stores.

Also that last link appears to be broken now.

Hm, I have the ones you pictured, and I am honestly not sure they've done a thing. I've had them for years, and even in the beginning they maybe _sort of_ helped fluff my laundry?

I don't know... I've heard that putting a half cup of vinegar in with your load is a good replacement for fabric softener. I can't help but look at these plastic/rubber doodads and imagine piles of them winding up in a landfill somewhere...

I have these things (got them at Bed, Bath, & Beyond) and love them. I have been using them since I moved to this apartment (April 2006) and have really enjoyed not needing dryer sheets. I tried just not using any dryer sheets AND skipping the dryer balls and could definitely tell an increase in static.

For the super-staticky stuff, I pull them out before they are completely dry and let them dry the rest of the way on a hanger or rest on top of the washer.

Well - as a lover of hanging clothes to dry...I suppose I could grab a few of these and throw them at my hanging clothes! I love the crisp feel of clothes dried on a line - even indoors. Towels dried on a line seem extra absorbent.

Anyone else never needed dryer sheets? I feel like I must be living in a cave, but since my mother always hung our laundry I had to figure out dryers myself when I went to college and I never saw a need for dryer sheets.

Now that I'm married, my husband does the laundry (with dryer sheets) and i can't tell the difference, except for the smell. Do some climates not require them? (I live in NYC)

These look great - should I be concerned that they're made out of PVC? Paired with the heat from the Dryer, that makes me a bit worried....

I don't use dryer sheets. I don't really get what they do. Or why I would want to add something to clothes I just cleaned.

To remove static, I've been using a ball of aluminum foil about 1" in diameter. I haven't replace the ball in six months. I got this advice from here, I think...

Eliza, you can put me down as a "never needed dryer sheets" person, too. My mother never used it, and I just plain don't understand fabric softener (whether dryer sheets or the liquid kind). Line-dried clothes seem stiff to me, but not unbearably so*, and tumble-dried clothes are plenty soft without any additives. A lot of people really think they NEED softener, so I'm always glad to see greener alternatives, even though I think fabric softener is a total racket invented by detergent companies to take more of our money.

*I'm drying my line-dry stuff on a rack in my apartment. I bet things dried outside on a real line with sun and wind are lovely.

Eliza, I've never used dryer sheets or fabric softener, despite having lived all over the U.S., in many different climates. Dumping laundry into the machine with soap is the maximum level of domestic complication that my little brain can handle.

Static cling is all about polyester, so if your clothes are mostly natural fibers, you won't have it. And fabric softener is known to make towels less absorbent, which kind of misses the point of towels.

I stopped using fabric softener when I learned about the towel/absorbency thing. Never could remember to bring dryer sheets to the laundry so I don't use them. I bought several of these balls for use with drying my duvet. They tended to bounce out of the dryer and are quite bouncy - I'm sure some found the humor in me chasing those things first thing Sunday morning. And my dog LOVES them.

I started using an old Downy ball with white vinegar to the ball line in my wash, and despite very hard water have had no need for any other softening in washer or dryer since then. It's cheap, it's green, it's great! (And it keeps my cat from eating used dryer sheets, too.)

I know that this is an old post, but thought I'd add my two cents - I don't remember the authority consulted (some sort of Martha Stewart-y something?), but it seems rather intuitive: these work because they "scuff up" the fabric, due to the friction. So little threads get broken, and the ends stick up a teeny tiny bit (vaguely like the split ends of hair), which makes the fabric feel fluffier and softer. (I hope I explained it well, and if there are any scientists or physicist or whatever an expert on this is called, feel free to correct me.)
So, they do work, but they're a bit hard on your laundry. I think it's certainly better than coating everything with a chemical (or whatever dryer sheets/fabric softener puts all over the fabric).
They do look like darned cool toys, I must say - I bet they bounce all crazy-like. :-)
So, there's my input (hopefully correct), in case anyone comes back to this post.