Get Rid of Clothing Wrinkles in Just 10 Minutes With This Easy Trick

This story is part of Home Tips, CNET’s collection of practical advice for getting the most out of your home, inside and out.

Don’t you just hate it when you’re running late, trying to get ready for work or an important event, only to realize that the shirt or dress you were planning to wear is all wrinkled? You don’t want to have to drag out the ironing board, but what other option is there? Enter: The ice cubes in the dryer trick. 

This simple hack for removing wrinkles from clothes goes around the internet every so often — I didn’t make it up.

But I did test it out, and while it won’t necessarily replace ironing for me, it did take my clothes from wrinkled to far smoother, and definitely wearable out of the house.  Here’s how to remove wrinkles from clothes with just a few ice cubes, and no iron. (For more laundry tips, check out the big laundry mistake you’re making that’s making your energy bill go up, and why it may be time to ditch your favorite laundry products.) 

How to remove wrinkles from clothes with the ice cube trick

1. Place a few items of clean, wrinkled clothing in your dryer (cotton clothes work best). 2. Throw in three or four ice cubes with the clothes, and shut the door.

3. Turn the dryer on high heat, and set a timer for 10 minutes.  4. Remove your clothes, and give them a couple of final shakes to get as many wrinkles out as possible.  That’s it!

It may take a few tries to see what will work best for your dryer in terms of number of clothing items, number of ice cubes and time it will take to remove wrinkles. Again, in my experience testing this out, it doesn’t replace ironing — there will still be some wrinkles in your clothes. But it did remove many larger wrinkles, and made my shirts far more wearable out the door. 

For more cleaning tips, check out laundry hacks for easier stain removal and faster drying, and how to clean your running and workout shoes.