Have you been here?
It’s ten minutes before church and your hubby puts on a pair of pants he hasn’t worn in a long while and the legs have hanger creases on them. Being a good wife there is no way you can let him leave the house with wrinkled pants, but you have to leave in ten minutes. You pull out the ironing board, plug in the iron, wait for it to get hot and WHAM the iron decided today is the day it wants to stick to the pants! That was me on Sunday.
So, after convincing him to wear a different pair of pants I shut the iron off and made a mental note that I needed to do some serious cleaning before I could use it again.
It only took me about 30 minutes to clean and make my iron just like new again.
Here is how to clean an iron:
- Run your iron over a washcloth saturated with white vinegar. Place the washcloth on the ironing board or flat surface and run the warm iron over it several times, pressing gently. All the brown sticky goop will come off easily. Now run the iron over a clean, damp cloth to wipe off any remaining residue.
- Now clean the inside. Fill your iron with vinegar. Let it steam for about five minutes, and then let it rest for 10 minutes. Empty the vinegar and fill with just plain water. Heat it to steam and run the iron back and forth across a damp washcloth to remove any mineral deposits that have filled the holes in the iron. Please note: Check your manufacture’s care instructions before doing this step. Some iron manufacturers don’t advise cleaning your iron in this manner.
Hint: To keep your iron from always clogging use distilled water and drain after each use.
I can’t believe it took me only a few minutes to clean my iron and it works like new again!
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Thank you for this post.. I needed it.. My iron just did the same thing..
I had to laugh at your “crease in the pants leg..as your fixing to go to church”
Happened to us, just a few weeks ago.. Hubby says,”oh, its ok, no one notice” I say, ” no… you cant wear them..it looks awful”. after going back and forth, he
grudgingly changed pants.. and the next Saturday night.. I checked his pants, to be sure ,there were no creases.lol
i have a question— when you fill the iron with vinegar.. Is this diluted with water? or just pure vinegar.. Going to clean my iron Monday.. thanks.
Kathy I used straight white vinegar. I also now give myself plenty of time to check hubby’s pants and shirt before church to make sure they are wrinkle free. Men just don’t understand that a woman cannot send his hubby to church with wrinkled clothes. I take it as a reflection on me and my hubby just doesn’t understand that.
Thanks for the tricks. It’s great to know how to maintain my iron, especially because I never did it. Best regards