5 simple ways to clean your iron using commonly-found ingredients

Whether it's a little carelessness while ironing, or having to deal with hard water at home, sometimes it is inevitable that you find stains, streaks and scorching on the footplate of your iron. And you cannot wait too long before removing this staining, since it will leave traces of itself on your clothes, undermining all the efforts you made to wash and clean the garments.

There are several DIY methods to return the metal footplate of the iron to new, and requires the use of ingredients and products that we usually keep around the house, such as potatoes, baking soda and vinegar. Read on to find out how to clean your iron's footplate:

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• Potatoes, especially for cleaning rust stains: potatoes are used here a bit like they are on cast iron pans. You need to cut a potato in half, dip it in a little baking soda and then rub it on the iron like it was a slightly abrasive sponge. The iron must be cold, of course. After the rubbing, wait about ten minutes and then, with a slightly damp cloth, remove all the dirt. Also have a soft, dry cloth ready to dry it off immediately, removing any remaining residue.
• Baking soda and water: mix two tablespoons of baking soda and one tablespoon of water together to create a soft paste, which you will rub on the iron with the help of an old toothbrush. However, avoid going over the steam holes, so they do not get plugged up. On the steam holes, however, you can use cotton buds soaked in white vinegar.
• White vinegar: take an old towel, soak it in white vinegar and place it in a small basin or in the sink / bathtub. Place the iron on top the towel, so that the footplate is in contact with the vinegar, then wait 30 minutes before picking it back up and rubbing away the dissolved dirt residue.
• Magic Eraser: Sometimes just rubbing a Magic Eraser on the footplate is enough to get your iron back to looking as good as new!
• Salt and newspaper: spread out a sheet of newspaper (or even a brown grocery bag), sprinkle it with salt, turn on the iron to its maximum temperature and then pass it over the salt until the footplate is clean.

What is your favorite method for cleaning your iron's footplate?