Why You Should Be Ironing With Aluminum Foil

If you’re like me, you avoid ironing at all costs. It’s a whole process of pulling out the board and filling your iron with water, and then, the ironing itself can be time-consuming. But there might be a hack that can help—and it’s in your pantry.

Aluminum foil can make ironing faster, and it’s an easy, clever hack to put in place.

To do this hack, you’ll remove your ironing board cover and line the surface using aluminum foil. Fold the edges along the underside so that it stays in place. Basically, think about covering a dish and doing that to your ironing board. Then, add your cover back on top of the foil. Now, it’s time to iron.

What’s the point of ironing with aluminum foil? Essentially, you’re creating two irons with his method. The first is well, your actual iron, duh, but the second is the aluminum foil. When the heat penetrates through the fabric, the foil will conduct it and get hot. Essentially, you’ll be ironing both sides of the garment at one time—no more pesky flipping required!

Of course, you’ll want to take some precautions here. First, after each iron, remove the cover and allow the foil to cool and dry (in case moisture has seeped in between the layer of fabric). Second, be aware of any creasing or wrinkles within the foil. If you iron over them, your garment will take them on, and that’s counterproductive.

If you hate ironing but also don’t want to look like a wrinkled mess for work, just grab some aluminum foil. And if your iron ever breaks, aluminum foil isn’t the only handy clothing care item in your kitchen. Check out how to use a pot for ironing.