Today I am going to teach you how to clean your steamer for clothes. It can be a handheld one or the one with the bottom base, the tall pole, and that hose that connects to the steamer rack. Either one works. Before I used to have the second one that I mentioned and I didn’t know that I had to clean it regularly. So over time, calcium and other salt deposits accumulated and blocked the hole where steam is usually released. I tried everything to clear it out, but it was too late to fix. Lesson learned.
Now I’m writing this to teach you (and to remind myself) how to clean and clear out the hard white residue easily and often. I got the steamer from Amazon and you can click here if you want to get it as well. I love using this model because it is just so convenient. It’s travel size and simple to use. You just plug it in and it doesn’t take up too much space.
You only need 2 materials: baking soda and distilled white vinegar. It’s pretty affordable so I assure you, it will not cost you an arm and a leg.
First, sprinkle some baking soda on the desired areas. Then pour in the vinegar a little bit at a time. You can make it stronger for professional steamers, about half vinegar and half distilled water will work. Keep it the same one part vinegar and two parts water for a lighter home model.
If you want to dilute the vinegar because it’s too strong, pour some water from a Brita pitcher like how I do it. You can get tap water from the sink as well. It doesn’t really matter.
There was a tiny hole in my baking soda box and I didn’t want the whole thing to spill, so I just shook it (like a polaroid picture) until I had enough. The results turned the water murky, but that’s completely normal. Now, cover the steamer up and seal it tightly!
Make sure it’s securely fastened. Swish the mixture around so it is evenly dispersed and the liquid covers the crusty white part.
Run the steamer until about half a tank of solution has evaporated. The hot water should remove the white residue once and for all. This only took me less than a minute to do, but I’ve found that leaving it to settle for 30-60 minutes or more helped all the white stuff come off.
Then I drained the liquid into the sink and rinsed it with regular water. Clean as a whistle! I recommend doing this every 5 months. Watch my video:
After you steam your clothes, learn how to cover up your cleavage with double sided tape here.