How to Easily Clean an Iron
July 24, 2012 by Aimee • 34 Comments
I finally got around to hemming my curtains from IKEA, simply done the no-sew method! In the middle of my project, I received a phone call. Usually loosing track of time while talking with a sweet friend is totally harmless. Harmless, unless you finish the call and realize you left the iron face down on the ironing board the entire time you were chatting, making a brown stain on the cover and leaving the iron totally full of GUNK! Even worse when it is 10pm and you need the iron for your hubby’s work shirt in the morning. OOPS! What do you do!?!? Start putting all your pinterest tips to the test!
How to clean an iron!
- Attempt One: Remove gunk from iron, by rubbing the faceplate of iron on low heat. -Result: left the iron a little cleaner.
- Attempt Two: Remove gunk from iron, by rubbing faceplate of iron on low heat on plain paper sprinkled with salt. – Result: left the iron a little cleaner, but salt went everywhere.
Both of these tips helped remove some of the gunk, but the iron still had a layer that wasn’t budging. I ran out of patience hunting on pinterest so I started searching through my cabinets. My hunt was productive. I found something that works GREAT with ZERO effort!
- Attempt Three: It worked! Remove burnt-on gunk from an iron by rubbing faceplate of warm or cold iron with a damp magic eraser. Total Success!
Click here for more Tips Tips Tips. And if you have a favorite household tip you’d like featured on It’s Overflowing, send me the details at itsoverflowing {at} gmail {dot} com. XO, Aimee
Holy smokes! Magic Erasers are magic! They even take permanent markers off tables!
I just used one the other day to whiten my tub I stained with black grout….oops.
–Katie
Wow! That’s one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” things. It never even dawned on me to try a Magic Eraser on my iron…and it definitely needs it!
I’m so glad to hear this technique. I usually use an SOS pad, but it makes such a mess. Thanks so much for sharing.
CAS
Fabulous! I have issues with my iron right now, and I do have dry erasers on hand. Thanks for this tip!
That’s great news! Now I can tell my hubby and he’ll stop just throwing them away because he couldn’t get the gunk off before.
I plan to try this today – hope it works with my Teflon coated iron.
Oh my gosh, you are amazing Aimee! I totally needed to know all of the above! I recently (well, more like a month or 2 ago) bought 6 panels of drapes from Ikea and they are STILL hanging without being hemmed, ahhh, I was totally freaking out about how to hem them all! Thanks so much for the awesome tips! Now, I have no excuses to get those drapes looking good! Cheers!
Just so you know, none of mine are “perfect” but they look GREAT! And if you iron on the hem strip and it’s not quite right, you CAN pull the fabric apart and readjust….just don’t iron for too long at first! The windows look SO MUCH better hemmed! XO, Aimee
I’ve heard the magic of this magic eraser…and I do have gunk on my iron and I’m going to give it a whirl…
Hi Aimee: This is a great idea–thank you for sharing it with us!
My sister-in-law was visiting me this week and was horrified at the state of my iron. (Apparently, ironing nor iron upkeep is my strong suit
. She was so afraid to use the iron on her white blouse that she opted to wear a sweater in 98 degree weather over risking goo getting on her shirt. Thank you for the tip! You have saved my shirts and my dignity!
Oh, this is good to know! My iron somehow got some “gunk” on it, and I was afraid I was going to have to throw it away!
That Magic Eraser is a lifesaver! Thanks for the tip!
I totally need to do this. We tried rubbing alcohol and buffing it, but ours still had a little residue left on it. I’ll be trying this today. Thanks so much!
Gotta love those Magic Erasers – they seem to work on everything! Makes me wonder how we ever survived before they came on the market – lol
Great tips. I totally need to clean my iron!
Thanks for trying this out first for me.
I have noticed gunk on my iron and was wondering if this would work or not. I just wish I could keep it from gunking up in the first place, so I don’t have to clean it. LOL!
I may start a blog just about the magic-type-erasers (I usually buy generics). I have learned to give it a try whenever I have difficulty cleaning something. It is the bomb on cleaning the Downey gunk off of my washing machine. Great on cleaning the fridge. I clean it with the ME first, then go back and spray with disinfectant. Cleans my white wastebaskets, which in itself is worth the money. We use it to clean our baseboards, window sills, doors, microwave, etc. It’s crazy how versatile it is. I have a non-stick faceplate on my iron, but if it ever does get gunk on it, I will run to the cabinet and get an ME immediately!
You need to Pin it!
Jenny
awesome tip – trying this now!
Perfect timing! I got Heat’n'Bond on my iron. It will not come off! I’m heading to the cupboard to grab a Magic Eraser. Thanks for not hoarding this valuable info!!!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I need to try it.
I would love it if you would share this at the Smart Solutions linky party. You can link up here:
http://theprudentpantryblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/prudent-projects-and-smart-solutions.html
Have a great day!
Well that is genius! See, who needs Pinterest when you have Magic Erasers? Love it!
Thanks for sharing Aimee! I’ll be featuring your tip tomorrow on the Someday Crafts Blog. Thanks again!
Wow, what a great idea. I am hosting a Giveaway to win a 50 dollar gift card to the store HomeGoods. It would be great if you stopped by and entered. Thanks Anu
I will be doing this!
Thanks!
Another way to clean an iron is to heat iron and iron over waxed paper.
I just made some pillows with hemming tape today and my iron is a hot mess (pun totally intended!)…thank you SO much for this tip!!! Going to get some of these tomorrow!
Barbara @ Chase the Star
I’m so glad you re posted this. As a Quilted Art creator, my iron gets much use (not to mention hubby’s work shirts too).
Now to dig out that magic eraser. Thanks.
Choose life, Deuteronomy 30:19
Magic Eraser is a lifesaver in my house since I have a 4 yr son. I have said time and time againd – I wish I could marry the magic eraser man – lol.
Great tip! I use magic erasers to remove scuff marks on the wall. We have neutral colored walls and some marks especially near the shoe rack. I didn’t have time to touch up the paint, so I used these erasers and they really work! In fact, someone asked me if we had recently painted that wall! PS: I have used Mr. Clean as well as generic. Both work although Mr. Clean ones last a bit longer.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Aimee!
I loved that idea and will remember it. I don’t know if anyone else has posted this but your local fabric stores sell this iron cleaner. It comes in a tube and squeezes out pretty much like a soft toothpaste. Squeeze onto a rag or old washcloth and rub across the hot iron. All clean!
My husband looked online for a solution and found cleaning it with vinegar so he picked it up at the store but never got around to it, I decided to search pinterest and came across your post here…decided to try magic clean eraser since we had some on hand…AMAZING! Didn’t even open the vinegar bottle…THANKS!
Great post.
Would love for you to link it up at my new Empty Your Archive link party which is a chance to dust off great posts from your archive – there’s a special focus on laundry! – would really love to see you there, Alice @ Mums Make Lists x