Ironing garments can be the most painful household chores for you. But, does ironing make any difference to your clothes?
Polishing garments with a clothes iron can benefit you in numerous ways. When you iron regularly, your clothes will be safe from dust mites, fungus, bed bugs, and bacteria. The list isn’t finished. Are you interest in knowing more?
Then, read this article. In this article, I’ll discuss 14 benefits of ironing clothes.
Let’s start!
Benefits of ironing clothes
1. Keep garments fresh
Who doesn’t love fresh and nicely smelled clothes? Most of you may be a big fan of fresh garments. But, after regular wear, garments may look horrible and develop new wrinkles. But, you can solve this problem easily. Just iron your clothes in proper settings.
For better performance, you may apply vinegar, essential oil, and starch on garments while ironing. If you want, buy ironing water from the market.
2. Safe for garments
Some of you might think that ironing can shrink clothes. Sadly, that’s not true. Ironing is one of the safest ways to treat garments as-
- It keeps wrinkles away from clothes.
- Polish bad spots from surface.
- Assists fabric in maintaining its proper shape or size.
- Protects tenderness of clothes.
- It improves lifespan of garments.
So, never hesitate to iron your clothes. But, stay away from using cheap irons. Instead, use a powerful steam iron.
3. Protect clothes from laundry errors
If laundry process is wrong, you may observe stubborn creases on clothes. Maybe you hadn’t set the wash or dry settings properly. Rough movements inside washer can cause severe damage to clothes.
So, what to do? The answer is ironing your clothes. In most cases, you might be able to solve this problem. If not, you have to wash items again with vinegar or baking soda. After that, iron them carefully.
4. Prevent shrinkage on garments
Shrinkage means the overall change in the properties of clothes. Generally, natural fabrics shrink more compared to hand-made materials.
If you iron your delicate fabrics carefully, they may not shrink even a little. Just select the right temperature for that fabric. Most irons come with an advanced thermostat that controls temperatures effectively on a wide range. Temperature dial may have dots or fabrics name marked.
5. Saves money
Nowadays, professional dry cleaning service is pretty expensive. In my city, you have to spend almost $50 on dry cleaning a suit. That’s illogical. Who wants to spend so much money on cleaning?
Therefore, iron your clothes at your home. No need to seek professional service. Moreover, their services aren’t always up to the mark. Sometimes, you use harmful starch on your garments.
In contrast, ironing garments is always better. It never harms your clothes if you iron them in proper ways.
6. Saves clothes from moth eggs
You may be frustrated with moth eggs on your garments. Am I right? Sometimes I face this problem too. You may not know that ironing can kill moths effectively. Remember, you need to iron at high temperatures to kill these tiny insects.
So, how to iron clothes to kill moth eggs? First of all, clean your dirty clothes that are infested with moths. Now, take a powerful steam iron. Cheap irons may not work perfectly in this case.
Now, start ironing at the highest temperature that your garments can endure. Otherwise, you may end up with shrunk clothes.
By the way, moth eggs take energy from Keratin, a protein found in natural fibers like wool, silk, and cashmere. Resultantly, your garments may have tiny holes in them.
So, iron your clothes regularly to protect them from moth eggs.
7. Protects garments from dust mites
Sometimes, you may suffer from allergic problems. Probably, dust mites are the cause of this problem. Luckily, there are many ways to solve this crisis. You can iron your clothes and see the result. Voila!
Remember, dust mites thrive in warm and humid environments. However, they can’t survive in too hot environments. So, iron your clothes at high temperatures. You can use either dry iron or steam iron.
However, delicate and new synthetic fabrics can be damaged at high temperatures. So, you have to seek other ways to treat them. Just follow one of the following techniques-
- Keep your closets clean.
- Use protective covers for your garments.
- Reduce the indoor temperature of your home.
- Reduce humidity using a humidifier.
- Keep your home clean every day.
- Steam your clothes.
8. Prevent fungus on clothes
Fungus on clothes can be a common problem in the US. You may face this problem when-
- Your home and closets have less air circulation.
- Inappropriate storing of clothes.
- Moisture.
The ideal temperature to kill fungus is 140-150° F. So, you must polish garments at this temperature. To do it-
- First, clean fungus-affected areas with a clean and dry towel.
- Damp your clothes a bit.
- Prepare your iron. For optimum results, use a powerful steam iron. Now, press those areas in high-temperature settings.
- Cover the whole garment. Don’t press too hard.
Apart from ironing, you can steam garments at high temperatures. To do this, you can use a garment steamer.
I’ve been using a steamer for my home. It’s a wonderful product with powerful steam and 9 feet long cord. You don’t need to wait for more than two minutes to heat this steamer. To check this steamer at Amazon, click here.
9. Kills germs from clothes
Germs like viruses and bacteria can be a big problem for you. If you have kids, it might worry you more. Luckily, ironing, especially steam cleaning, can keep your garments free from germs.
Normal wash cycle or detergent alone can’t sterilize garments. So, you need to apply steam on garments. Germs can’t survive at temperatures above 250°F.
By the way, germs develop on your clothes mainly through human touch. So,
- Regularly clean garments with hot water.
- Wash clothes with powerful detergent and antibacterial laundry sanitizer. Stay away from using harmful agents like Lysol.
10. Kill bed bugs effectively
Bed bugs are small wingless insects that feed mainly on human blood. Because of their natures, they are called bed bugs. Their favorite nesting places are bedsheets, mattresses, sofa, and clothes.
You can use your iron to kill bed bugs. They don’t prefer high temperatures. So, iron bed bugs-riddled clothes at higher temperature settings. However, this method isn’t that effective in kill bed bugs. Because iron can’t reach and process their hiding places easily. So,
- Spray item with rubbing alcohol
- Steam clean your clothes
- Spray garments with essential oil
- Apply hair dryer on garments
11. Remove weird smell
After washing garments with powerful detergents, you may not be satisfied. Your clothes may smell weird. So, what to do?
- First of all, you need to wash garments with baking soda. Add a half cup of baking soda while washing. Instead of pouring it into the automatic dispenser, throw it on garments directly.
- Now, simply wash them. Check the garment care tag to identify the correct wash cycle.
- Grab a powerful steam iron. Start ironing clothes at temperatures suitable for that fabric. Continue ironing until you remove bad smell.
12. Improve confidence
A confident person can do great in his life. Never allow your wrinkled clothes to ruin your confidence.
If you’re in a business meeting, you must be confident. A nice outlook can make you confident to negotiate first and win the deal. Obviously, there are other factors too. But, sometimes, a little thing can make a huge difference.
So, always stay fresh with nice ironed fabrics. You’ve nothing to lose.
13. Makes you different from others
Are you searching for a job in corporate world? Then, take proper preparation and make you fit.
In this century, getting a job with a decent amount of salary can be difficult. Only certificates and some experience can’t make you successful. Therefore, dress up properly and prove yourself to your boss that you’re the best.
Properly polished garments can make you different from others. When you use a powerful iron, processing garments will be a matter of minutes.
14. Saves you from boredom
In this fast-paced world, everyone is busy with one’s life. So, you may feel lonely sometimes. However, that’s totally normal.
Instead of passing a bad time, you can easily invest this free time in ironing clothes. In the beginning, you may feel uncomfortable. After practicing several times, you might see huge improvements. First, of course, you need to purchase all essential ironing tools and equipment.
While ironing, you can watch American Football on TV too. That’s great, man. If you have kids, take them too. They may enjoy ironing too. However, keeping kids while ironing can be dangerous. So, never forget to follow ironing safety rules. Otherwise, you’ll be in grave danger.
Never forget that your kids might put scorch-mark on clothes. So, use burn-proof Eurosteam iron. I’ve been using this iron for several years. Frankly speaking, it works like magic. You can put it on your delicate or synthetic clothes, and it never burns clothes a bit.
Therefore, invest some quality with your kids on ironing and save yourself from boredom. However, ironing isn’t the only key to fight boredom. In extreme cases, consult with a psychologist.
Last Few Words on Ironing Clothes
Do you prefer to iron your clothes? If not, start right now. Ironing goes better with all fabrics if you’re a newbie. Iron polyester fabrics in the beginning stage. Most importantly, never forget to use a powerful steam iron. Cheap iron can’t offer you better nice and crisp clothes.
So, what do you think about ironing garments? Please leave it in the comment section.
Lastly, keep ironing!
