I have a dirty little secret, a secret that I keep well hidden in my laundry room.
It's something I don't use often... so it doesn't bother me too much.
But recently, I had to face the facts...
If I never use it, how did this thing get so messy ?!
This dirty thing is my iron. His condition is purely and simply deplorable!
It's been a little over 5 years since we bought it and I only use it once a month, at most.
The only times I take it out of hiding is to iron my husband's suits and for my homemade decoration projects, like this bag that turns into a beach towel...
Really, I don't understand how the soleplate of my iron got so dirty.
It must be that iron-on fabric I use for my sewing projects that's ruining it.
The problem is, the other day, I needed to use my iron to iron a large tablecloth…and sure enough, that tablecloth was white.
Impossible to iron my beautiful white tablecloth with a dirty iron!
That's when I remembered the trick for cleaning irons with salt.
I tried this technique, but to clean such a dirty iron than mine was not enough.
Moreover, it is so dirty that even its dirt is clogged… I let you judge for yourself! Yuck!
That's when I remembered a tip that had worked really well for cleaning my silver jewelry:white vinegar and baking soda .
So I thought to myself:why not try these 2 miracle iron products?
1. To start, I just soaked a paper towel with white vinegar and rubbed the soleplate of the iron well.
And, surprise surprise, the grime started to come off! I'm sure the white vinegar method would have been enough if my iron wasn't in such a pitiful state.
So if you want to clean an iron that is only “half-dirty”, rubbing the soleplate with a little white vinegar should do the trick! :-)
… but if your iron is in the same state as mine, you will have to take the next step.
2. Soak a paper towel with white vinegar then place the soleplate of the iron on the paper. Leave to rest for a good 5 min.
3. Start rubbing the sole again with the vinegar-soaked paper towel. You will see that even more dirt will come off.
But... if your iron is as dirty as mine, you'll need a little something extra to clean it thoroughly:baking soda!
4. Sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda on the vinegar-soaked paper towel.
Place and rub the soleplate on the paper towel, as if you were ironing it — but WITHOUT plugging in your iron, of course.
All deposits and dirt will come off the sole. It's really amazing… and a bit disgusting too :-)
It works because bicarbonate is a mild abrasive which has the power to scrub even the most stubborn dirt .
5. After completely cleaning the soleplate, plug in your iron and put it on steam .
You will find that the steam will evacuate all the baking soda that is clogging the steam holes in the soleplate.
Wipe off the excess baking soda with a cloth, then re-engage the iron to send continuous steam .
Wipe the soleplate again and continue to put steam, until there is no more baking soda in the steam holes.
6. For tougher steam holes, use a toothpick to scour the holes and remove bicarbonate deposits.
There you go, my iron is like new :-)
If your iron is in as bad a state as mine, you can skip the white vinegar steps and go straight to step #4 for a baking soda cleaning.
FYI, this deep cleaning took me only 5 min.
I never would have believed that baking soda and white vinegar could help me make my poor dirty iron look like new! Awesome :-)
Once again, I'm amazed at how effective white vinegar can be in cleaning almost EVERYTHING imaginable — even my ugly iron!
