Editorial
Front Page - Friday, July 23, 2010
What’ll they dream up next?
Mister Steamy
Misty S. Brown
Mister Steamy dryer balls are a green alternative to fabric softeners and dryer sheets because it uses only steam to de-wrinkle clothes. But if you are not prompt about removing your clothes from the dryer when the cycle has finished, your clothes will not remain wrinkle-free and you will probably have to refill the Mister Steamy dryer ball and run the cycle again.
- Misty S. Brown
I have said it time and time again – laundry is my least favorite chore. It is not necessarily the sorting for the washer and transferring to the dryer that is so bad. I think it is just getting the clothes out of the dryer as soon as it stops and taking the time to fold and hang every piece of clothing that I have a hard time doing.
When my boyfriend and I first talked about moving into the same place together I warned him of my aversion to laundry. Within a week or two of living together, I learned he hates it just about as much as I do. Add that to the fact that we have a stackable washer and dryer that does less than half of what a standard-sized system will do, and it is a recipe for a perpetual pile of laundry.
I am the kind of person who will leave a batch of laundry in the dryer and take out what I need, leaving the rest in the dryer for fluffing later. He, on the other hand, will take it out of the dryer and throw it in a pile somewhere and never touch it again for days. I just cannot stand frantically looking for clothes in the morning only to find that everything is wrinkled too much to wear. So what do I do? Toss it in the dryer while I take a shower since pulling out the ironing board and accessories would take way too much time out of my already rushed morning. (What can I say? I need the beauty sleep.)
Not too long ago, I came across something I figured would put an end to this wrinkled-clothing worry I always encounter when I discovered the Mister Steamy dryer balls.
What it is
Mister Steamy dryer balls are refillable rubber balls with nodules that release steam onto your clothes while they are drying. They are intended to eliminate the need for ironing or using dryer sheets, thus saving money and time.
How it works
Remember the vibrating Bumble Ball toy from the ’90s? Mister Steamy dryer balls are shaped like the Bumble Ball with multiple nodules. At the end of each nodule, except for a few on the bottom, is a hole that allows steam to exit. To use the Mister Steamy, you pour about four ounces of water into the large hole on top onto the foam inside and just toss it in the dryer on high heat for a full cycle. As the dryer turns, the Mister Steamy ball will work to release wrinkles through steam as it passes over the clothes.
Pros and cons
I have used the Mister Steamy dryer balls a few times with my laundry, but it feels like an extra step when I could just toss a dryer sheet in with the clothes. Having one of these does not make me miraculously want to remove the clothes from the dryer as soon as the cycle is finished, so my clothes continue to sit there and will get wrinkled, despite Mister Steamy’s best efforts.
One thing I really enjoy about laundry is the fresh smell of clothes, but with the Mister Steamy, I do not have to use a dryer sheet, thus eliminating that final immersion in fragrance. The makers of Mister Steamy have a drop you can put in the ball for nice-smelling clothes, but it does not come with the store-bought box, and I have read that it can leave grease spots on your clothing.
To me, the concept of Mister Steamy falls flat when you consider that your clothes are already wet when you put them in the dryer straight from the washer and are already steaming with the heat. Mister Steamy is, however, great for when I want to throw my dry, wrinkled clothes back in the dryer to avoid having to iron them. It does a great job with just a few clothes at a time, but it does make an annoying clunking sound as it bounces around in the dryer.
If you are the kind of person who has the patience to see an entire load of laundry through from the pile to the closet, this will be a good green alternative to buying dryer sheets and fabric softeners and might even save you some time.
Where to buy
I purchased my Mister Steamy at Wal-Mart for about $14.88. Look for them wherever As-Seen-On-TV products are sold. There is also a Web site at www.mistersteamy.com where they sometimes have special two-for-one pricing.
Submissions
Send your gadget ideas to misty@dailydata.com.
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