Stinky bathroom wash rags & towels

I've read all the advice on keeping towels and wash rags from stinking once they are wet and will try the advice - mainly borax and perhaps the vinegar. My question is - how can you still get static-free clothes without using fabric softener sheets - and without using fabric softener all together? I have learned that which ever kind you use, it leaves a residue on the clothes AND ALSO ON YOUR LINT SCREEN IN THE DRYER! Take this test - take out your lint screen and run water over it. If the water "sits" there and barely runs through, you have a buildup of crud from your fabric softener that keeps your lint screen from working right even if you've removed the lint. Also, this buildup makes it difficult to truly "clean" the screen, as the lint kind of sticks to the softener crud and you literally need to run the screen under dish detergent and hot water and scrub it with a stiff brush to get rid of the crud so the screen is truly "clean" and working properly. If you don't get that stuff off, your clothes will take longer to dry because the air isn't properly flowing through the lint screen. You're wasting energy and also riskign a dryer fire. AT any rate, what can I do to prevent static in my dryer without using a fabric softener. (And why don't the makers of these products warn us about this buildup?) thanks.