Gettin' The Gunk Off

Quick question - how many people still iron their clothes?  Anybody?  Anybody at all?  Come on, I know you're out there.

Second question - ever ironed something you shouldn't have?  You know, got distracted by a small child or some fascinating bit on television and accidentally ironed over your son's favourite Lightning McQueen shirt?  The one with the funny, plasticky decal on the front that doesn't do well in the dryer, let alone under your set to linen and don't ever change the temperature iron?  The one that caused your 5 year old to have a complete and total meltdown when he saw the end result and he tried not speaking to you for a week but it really only last a few minutes until his tummy started rumbling and you were again his best friend?  And that's a good thing, 'cause a few minutes was about all your mama's heart could take?

You haven't? Not even once?

OK, well then, I will just tell you what happens to me when I do something like that.  Not that it happens often.  'Cause it's not like there's anything around here that would cause a distraction.  Or a meltdown.

These little puppies truly are magic.  This one was free.  Can I get a hoo-yah?!?

This is what my poor iron looked like before Mr. Clean.  Actually, it looked even worse than this.  Not unlike straightening up the house before the cleaning lady comes, I may or may not have begun the cleaning process before taking this photo.

Performing this little miracle works best while the iron is still relatively warm.  I usually leave mine on the hottest setting for the majority of our ironing and need to leave the iron sit about 10 minutes to cool down enough to work with it.  The hotter the iron the better, but if it is too hot, you will melt the eraser and burn your fingers.  I actually melted the ends of my real finger nails once doing this.  True story.

And here we have the iron, post eraser.  Not perfect yet, but considerably better than where we started.  This is safe for both Teflon and stainless steel plates.  If you get really careful, you can even dig out around any of the holes that may have accumulated gunk.

Be sure to wipe the iron plate off with a clean, wet cloth before ironing again.  If all of the stubborn ick doesn't come off the first time, don't despair.  Give it another scrub the next the time iron is hot.  Or let the iron heat up and have a go at it again.  Either way, you will have saved your iron and will not be able to iron your crisp white blouse again without fear of transferring whatever the mystery substance is from your iron onto it, thus forcing you to go shopping and purchase a new blouse and the cute shoes that were just calling your name and the matching earrings that were too good of a deal to pass up.

Unless that is your goal.  In which case, ignore this post all together.

For those of us who void the mall like a steer avoids a butcher shop, your iron can now live to press on to infinity...and beyond. 1. 2.

Gettin' The Gunk Off

3.