As far as household appliances go, dryers cost a lot to operate. That’s why when we heard that Dryer Balls will reduce drying time as well as leave fabrics softer; we just had to give them a whirl – or a tumble.

We picked up a pair of Dryer Balls at a local department store for $20 and we headed to the dryers in a laundromat to see if they’re worth it. We had three similar loads of laundry – we threw the Dryer Balls in one load; in another we threw in two tennis balls, and in the third we didn’t add anything just so we could compare.

We checked regularly during the cycles and the load with the Dryer Balls didn’t seem to be drying any faster – in the end the laundry all dried in the same amount of time. As for softness, after the cycle was complete we couldn’t feel any difference at all between the dryer balls’ load and the others.

So far our Dryer Balls are 0 for 2. Now for the last claim that they help to make wrinkles disappear eliminating ironing. We took two similar shirts in need of ironing - one was thrown in the dryer with the Dryer Balls and the other was ironed the old fashioned way. When the shirt came out of the dryer some of the wrinkles had disappeared – whether it was due to the Dryer Balls or just the dryer heat itself is anyone’s guess – but, there was no question that the good old iron does a better job. So overall, the Dryer Balls didn’t deliver. We gave them 1 Shopping Bag out of 5.

Special Thanks to Gold Coin Laundry & Drycleaning for letting us use their washing machines and dryers.