Should I buy clothes steamer?

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Still ironing eh!? Will women never learn!?

I haven’t ironed anything for years and after watching a YouTube video on steamers, I do think it will be too much of a faff BUT I’m certainly going to try the hairdryer Gundy.. thanks..

My DiL rarely irons anything and still always seems very well turned out!
I quite like ironing the few things I do.

I use distilled water in my clothes steamer and haven’t found the water in it starts to smell or the steamer need a lot of cleaning. Up to now I’ve made my own distilled water rather than buying, following an instruction video on YouTube.
Mine is just a cheap steamer from Lidl and seems fine. I still sometimes iron instead but I’m only an occasional steamer/ironer anyway.
I like Gundy’s trick of using a hairdryer 😆

I will follow up by saying - keep your garments on the hanger, hang it on a door, spritz, dry. You have the door to keep the fabric from stretching.

When doing shoulder “puffs” take off the hanger and hold or you can lay down on a flat surface.

I would so NO. I discovered quite by accident that I already have something in my house that is more effective than a steamer.

If you own a hair dryer and have a good fine mist spritz bottle - that is all you need. Lightly mist the wrinkles in your garment and turn on your hair dryer. You’ll watch the wrinkles melt away and your garment is totally dry!

Have you ever taken a top off the hanger and there are stretched out pockets sitting on your shoulders? Spritz the shoulder and turn on the dryer. Voila!

Best to use distilled water. Tap water may be hard with iron and minerals and could leave stains… same with softened water that has salt. It’s the best accidental discovery I’ve found - and I didn’t have to buy another useless appliance.

I would still replace the iron.
Cheers!
USA Gundy

To those who owns a clothes steamer, after steaming your clothes, does it not feel dampish…or is it dry as a bone. I would love to own one too …

I thought I would replace my steam iron for a steamer last year but after trying it once, I decided I would stick with my steam iron. Far easier! I found the clothes steamer too much hassle to be worth the bother. I was quite surprised to read that some people get on with them!

I'm another one who has steamed for years. I was converted when I used to work in a charity shop that had one. I find an iron too heavy to hold these days so am glad I switched.

Mine has a tank with a hose coming off it to the steamer 'head'. It has a pole that with hanger attachment and clips to hang trousers. Although I never use that as I steam a lot in one go so I have a collapsible clothes rail that I put everything on.

It has different steam settings too.

It is a Morphy Richards and to save a few pennies I got it 'buy now' on a certain auction site {wink}

Tefal is really good. Love mine!!

I have a Fridja which I purchased about 4 years ago. It was quite expensive, around £50 if my memory serves me correct, but it is vety efficient.

Gave my daughter one from Aldi, she is very pleased with it.

Got this 1 recently . . Only about £25 . . Found it to be perfectly adequate . .

I have one for holidays and it is great.
Also use it to steam dry clean only clothes and heavy coats. Not sure how it would fair with a large basket of ironing.

I would go for one that has an upright stand on it, you hang the item on a clothes hanger onto the top of the stand and can manoeuvre it around with one hand and the steamer in the other.
It takes just seconds so do a shirt or trousers, then you can spin the hanger round and do the back if it needs it.
Mind you I’ve burned my hands with the steam a couple of times, so go carefully.

Thanks for your input everyone - you’ve convinced me to give the steamer a go. Does anyone have recommendations as to make and model?

Can anyone recommend a tried and tested one, please?

I use a hand held steamer all the time now and won’t be taking the ironing board with us when we move. I steam garments on their hangers and bed linen on the bed. I tend to like quite casual clothing and my husband doesn’t wear formal work shirts etc so it’s perfect for us.

My dil has one with a stand and doesn't own an iron. I very rarely iron anything so I'll replace my iron (and board) with a steamer - eventually (way down the list, though).

My son and girlfriend don’t have an iron and use a steamer. They always look well turned out so it must work well.

I have a hand held one that is excellent on delicate items that can't be ironed. I have used it on curtains without needing to take them down. Also useful on holiday to freshen clothes up after unpacking.
I prefer an iron for everyday laundry though.

I use one in the charity shop but I still like to iron 😄

I’ve used a steamer for sack loads of clothes and bedding items at the Charity shop, they are excellent and very easy to use.
They produce quite a lot of condensation and need to be cleaned out each week or water will start to smell in the container, when my iron packs up I will get one.

Are you talking about one of those cubicle things in which you hang up clothes, or a hand-held gadget that you run up and down the items?