The iron is an ally of every housewife in the world, you can’t help but use it even in hot weather. Before going out you should iron your clothes.
Cleaning iron
Use after use, however, the iron gets dirty, so sooner or later, even if you don’t want to do it, you have to take care of its cleaning and care to extend its life.
Like all other household appliances, the iron also needs regular maintenance and it is advisable to do so to avoid staining, sometimes irreparably, freshly washed and dried clothes.
Iron, because it is important to dedicate yourself to cleaning it
The iron obviously gets dirty on the soleplate, which is where small dirt stains from the clothes appear. Other times, these are simple limescale stains, which should be avoided. Cleaning is necessary not only to avoid ruining the clothes, but also because the dirt prevents the steam from escaping through the vents, which are often clogged.
There is a useful trick to clean the iron properly, leaving it like new, shiny, perfumed, in a word: perfect. It only takes a few minutes and a little patience and that’s it.
The first housewife’s trick.
A trick used by many housewives is the use of baking paper and coarse salt. Strangely enough, these two elements together are miraculous. There are a few simple steps to follow, which will allow you to get your iron looking as good as new in just a few easy steps.
Take a sheet of baking paper, place it on the table, sprinkle coarse salt on top, covering it completely and evenly. Then, turn on the iron, wait until it is very hot, run it over the sheet of paper and then over the salt as when ironing. Press firmly.
You can see at a glance how quickly dirt and limescale stains disappear. The iron is then ready for use without the risk of damaging your clothes.
Second procedure: vinegar
Vinegar is one of the most coveted household cleaning ingredients, it is used for almost everything, for cooking, for washing, for disinfecting, for removing ingrained dirt from any surface, for making steel shiny as new again.
To clean the iron, prepare a solution of vinegar and water that is good for the exterior, including the soleplate. The important thing is to wipe the entire surface with a cloth before storing or using the iron. To clean and polish the plate you can also prepare a solution of vinegar and coarse salt.
You can also use vinegar to clean the boiler, fill it with water and vinegar, half water and half vinegar is enough. Then you turn on the iron and let the steam escape, in this way the lime present inside the boiler is expelled.
Tips for using the iron correctly
When ironing, mistakes are often made, which may seem trivial at the time, but are not at all. First of all, you should avoid going over zips and buttons, then when ironing synthetic fibre garments, it is advisable to place a cloth between the iron and the fabric to prevent it from sticking to the soleplate. If you make this mistake you will not only ruin the garment, but also the iron. Then it is better to use distilled water to avoid limescale build-up and to empty the tank completely each time it is used.
If you have an iron that is too old, maintenance can always come in handy, but you can’t expect miracles, because an iron that has had its day can’t have much to give. The only thing left to do is to buy a new one. Nowadays there are several models on the market, both traditional and modern, and there are even vertical irons that allow you to remedy small creases in a few minutes without having to take out the ironing board.
Those who iron very little can make do with a classic iron, while those who have a large family can buy an iron suitable for ironing large quantities of clothes, for example a professional iron with a boiler. The latter needs more attention.