Tuesday's Product Ponder...Bounce Dryer Bar

I love my cleaning supplies. Near and dear to my aroma therapy soul is anything that has to do with great smelling laundry products. Not only do my products need to smell awesome, but they must clean!

Since we have to do laundry, unless you're one of those that just let's it pile up and then uses the cheapest detergent to get the job done, then it might as well smell terrific! There are no allergies in my family and from what I've noticed when trying some of the eco green cleaners, is that they don't work, as well. I'm not against the Eco detergents, but nothing has worked like my Tide or Costco's Kirkland Liquid brands.

This Product Ponder is not about detergent. It's all about the fabric softener. I use both liquid and a sheet. My liquid of choice is Downey. That April Fresh scent is so light and yummy that I can feel the aroma therapy working as I move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. Ok, maybe not so much therapy, but damn it smells good. Oh, and yes I use the Downey Ball. I love that ball! For my fabric softener sheets I do not waiver from my favorite sheets. I use Bounce. Freshly dried clothes with Bounce are the ablsolute softest and best smelling produced loads of laundry in my house.



A few months back I ventured into uncharted territory and bought the new Bounce Dryer Bar. One sticks it (literally) into the dryer with a adhesive holder to its dryer tub. It looks like a long oval bar of soap. I didn't use the sheets with this bar, because it was supposed to work in place of the dryer sheets. Well, it didn't work as well as the sheets. The clothes didn't come out smelling as fresh. The towels were not soft and fluffy like with the sheets. The deal breaker for me was huge, though. This Bounce Bar was supposed to last for 4 months. It was broken into pieces by day 9 of my experiment.

Fast forward to 3 days ago. I had a coupon for $1.50 odd and it was on sale at my market. So, I succumbed to the Frugalista in me and bought, it with the coupon. This bar was only the 2 month lasting version of the Bounce Dryer Bar. Three days into the re-do of the previous experiment and it failed, again, miserably. It cracked again and came loose from the holder. I ran it again and then realized it was so worn in after 3 days and cracking apart that there was no way this was going to work again in it's holder or with the clothes. The smell wasn't there, again. It seemed as though I dried a few loads of clothes without any dryer fabric softener, even though the Dryer Bar was being used.

Grade: D-
I will never give up my Bounce sheets and go to the Bounce Dryer Bar. In my opinion, the bar is just a waste of money. The only reason it didn't receive the worst grade F, was because I use the bar on a shelf in the laundry room for a little extra Aroma Therapy on the days when I don't want to run another load, for the life of me.

Sincerly,
Christie