Cleaning the Steel Plate on your Iron

I admit, I'm not much of an ironer.  I prefer to hang my clothes to dry and then think, 'That will do' - unless, of course, it's a special occasion!  However, I am a little more meticulous about my kids' clothes and so there are occasions whereby I must iron.  *Sigh*

Then what really annoys me is the bottom of the iron is always grubby, no matter how much I clean it with standard cleaning products.  So I have done a little research and have come up with the solution - salt!  Indeed, plain old, cheap table or sea salt.

First of all, take an old cloth, tea towel or similar and lay it flat on the ironing board.  Remember that this is where all the grime will end up so use one that it doesn't matter if you can't get the stains out!  Sprinkle the salt on to the towel.

Next, turn on the iron to its highest setting - but no steam.  Once its heated up, iron the salt on to the towel.  And that's pretty much it!

The friction of the salt will remove the grime and you'll end up with a muck-free steel plate - hurrah!  I gave it a quick wipe afterwards with a damp cloth, just to get rid of the salt - I found when I didn't do this, I got some salt on the next thing I ironed.