Ironing and Cleaning of the Iron

Ironing
Originally uploaded by misscaroliner

I must confess, I had never cleaned my iron before today. Truly.

Talking last night with a dear friend of mine I decided to look up some cleaning habits that I was just not too sure about. One of them was removing mineral build up from my iron's steam holes. There were only two plagued by the crud, but it would flake off and generally upset me enough to simply bring my clothes to the dry cleaners to avoid ironing them myself. So...here is what I learned:

"When your steam iron becomes clogged as a result of mineral deposits in your water, you can dissolved them - unless the manufacturer's instruction booklet says not to - by pouring some white vinegar into the water tank, turning on the iron, and letting it steam for a few minutes. (White vinegar is effective for this.) After cleaning with vinegar, iron a clean rag of some sort so that any residues are deposited on the rag. Then cool the iron and rinse with cold, plain water. Some irons require that distilled water be used in the tank. If you frequently have trouble with clogged steam holes, perhaps yours requires this; check the instruction booklet."

- from Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson

My iron is now in tip top shape, and I even gave the hot plate part of it a good scrub down with baking soda & water paste as the book reccomended in another portion. Beautiful clothes have I, and am none the poorer for it. Victory is mine!