Dryer Balls?

[Renthead Mommy]

Okay all the talk of clothes lines and the mention of dryer balls had me wondering. I followed the link to the dryer balls. Apparently they are supposed to soften up your clothes without the need for dryer sheets or fabric softener, as well as speed up your dry time.

I never use fabric softner or dryer sheets so i'm not looking for it to soften anything. What I want to know is if these REALLY speed up your dryer time? And if you don't need them to soften clothes, can you just use tennis balls instead?

[HFClassicalAcademy]

I bought dryer balls and used them for a while. I then looked them up and found a little article by Consumer Reports (I'm not sure if it was them, actually, since it's been a while) that said they did not work any better than dryer sheets.

They compared them to using dryer sheets, fabric softener, and nothing at all. Apparently, they really didn't make a difference in softness or time used to dry. I stopped using them after that and have been sticking to my dryer sheets again!

Liz in NC