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Tempted to buy a laminating machine? Well, now you don’t have to! Here’s how to laminate recipe cards, ID’s, and more simply using an iron, laminating pouches, and a t-shirt:
- Grab an old t-shirt
- Turn the iron on the cotton setting
- Using a laminating pouch (buy some for as low as $5.04 for 20-ct here), place the item you want to laminate in it
- Place the pouch inside the t-shirt (so it’s in between two layers of cotton)
- Press firmly for 30 seconds over the area where the pouch is
- Let cool and remove. Víola!
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{ 73 comments… read them below or add one }
The time it takes to heat up the iron (the iron is a high consumer of electricity) and purchase the laminating pouches is not worth it. Buy the laminating machine.
seriously? ^!! this is the best idea ever and I will not spend money on a laminating machine if it works!!!
You have got to be kidding. Do you have an iron from the 1950s or something? Seriously, I have a $20 iron from walmart and it takes mere seconds to heat up to the highest setting. Besides an iron uses about 1000W per hour when it is actually on (who spends an hour ironing anything anyway?). Most modern irons heat up to a certain temperature and then shut off and turn back on when needed, like a thermostat. So even when you’re ironing the iron is not always “on”. Hair dryers, toasters, microwaves use about 1000W or more per hour as well (when they are in use). By your logic we shouldn’t use those either.
I don’t agree with Wayne about the laminating machine saving money or time over the iron, but I just wanted to mention that your comparison of irons to hair dryers and microwaves doesn’t really make much sense, as they are all used for different purposes and for different amounts of time. Most people actually do recognize a hair dryer as a high-energy appliance… in fact, in the time it would time my wife to dry her hair (~15 minutes), she would have used enough energy to power the computer I’m using to write this comment for six whole hours. Which do you think is more “worth it?” And while it is true that microwaves range between 700 and 1200W, they are usually also only used for a fraction of the time of a hair dryer or an iron (I don’t know if you know anyone with an office job, but it actually does take me a little less than an hour to iron two weeks worth of work shirts) and are also much more efficient than their counterparts– the stovetop and the oven (unless of course you wanted to use a sun oven or a compact jet-type stove like the bioLite!)– because it takes so much less time to cook in a microwave. No one is saying you “shouldn’t use” any of these appliances, especially because some of them don’t have greener alternatives yet (you could save a little bit of energy by using a portable garment steamer instead of an iron, but not much), but it couldn’t hurt to be a little bit more aware of the actual energy use of your appliances and what the alternatives are. I understand some people don’t care about their carbon footprint or if their energy bill is a little higher, but seeing how this is a site about being frugal, I think it’s worth a mention that my wife and I are now only paying a fifth of what we did a few years ago for our energy bill since we started really studying our energy usage and seeing what we could cut out or replace with alternatives. So anyway, while I don’t believe Wayne’s analysis of what is more efficient/inexpensive in the case of the iron vs. the laminating machine is correct, I also don’t think that generally energy saving appliances like microwaves and toasters should be lumped in with what most will agree are huge energy wasters like irons and hair dryers. I know it’s easy to say, eh, they’re all around 1000W give or take a couple hundred, what’s the difference? But if you really start to think about it and do the math, there is a huge difference, and a lot of energy/money to be saved.
as my energy bill is extremely high, i would love to find out some more information from you, as to what you found out and what tips can you give me in order to save some energy. thanks, Rachel.
lol
Really? Laminating machines run 30 to 158 bucks, Irons run 18 to 30 bucks (I did find an Iron for $74 but who would buy it? Not me). I would not use a laminating machine more than a few times, I have in fact used my iron many times over the course of the 25 years I have owned it. Not sure how long a laminating machine lasts but I doubt it is as durable as an iron. I have an antique cast iron Iron which would not take any electricity to use and since I use wood heat would not cost me any extra to heat up. Your fancy laminator would only melt if I attempted to heat it up in the same fashion. I think I will stick to my Iron.
Really? (referring to comment above).
I agree, Callie. I’m sitting here LOL
You have to buy the pouches for the machine anyways and Laminator machines jam easily, I wouldn’t recommend buying them since after two jams, the machine is garbage. If the shirt works, its the best buy.
I already have an iron and a t-shirt, so all I have to purchase is the pouches and, as far as the energy is concerned, I will plan to laminate at the same time as I have items to iron.
Do you think I could use ziplock bags or cling wrap instead of buying the pouches?
No way, they are too thin and aren’t made for this application. If you want to avoid the purchase of laminating pouches, use clear packing tape, it works quite well. Not as pretty, but it does work. Clear contact paper works, too, but clear packing tape works better.
If you’re only laminating once in a while there’s no need to purchase a laminating machine. Wayne is obviously a laminating salesman! Lol…….
Love this idea!!! I always wanted to purchase a laminating machine, but will now just get out my dusty Iron!!! ( Sorry Wayne)…lol
Next time the hubby needs his shirt ironed for church I will let him know how much electricity that will take and maybe I can get out of it HAHAHA Seriously?!?! I love this idea! Definite $$$ saver!
super cool idea, just very handy to use the iron, i have been looking for a cheap laminatory and couldnt find one.Thanks for your tip. Found you from pinterest.
Ramya
This is great! We have a laminating machine at work and I love it but they are SO expensive! I am trying this this weekend. I’m homeschooling my son and I want to make labels for all his subjects to put on my shelves!
Genius!
Wait a minute…I just got a laminating machine at Costco for 20 dollars… it is not that expensive to get a home one (it is not as heavy duty as an office one, but I have already laminated more that 50 things and it’s working great. Plus it came with 50 pouches…)
I promise I’m not a friend of Wayne, but rather than buying the expensive pouches, I just take my laminating jobs to our local copy shop. It costs about $1 to laminate a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet…you can do a lot of labels for a pretty reasonable price!
Dana, good option, but are you sure you don’t work at your local copy shop? By the way, you should figure gas and time into the $1 equation. haha, I just couldn’t help myself. It seems to me that all methods are good depending on the project. If you need a professional job, and will be laminating a lot, the laminator machine is probably best, a professional job for once in a while, the local copy shop, if you’re just tackling a laminating project at home once in a while, then the iron is a great idea, the tape and contact paper can be good with projects for kids. I guess it’s all relative.
Beatriz, You just put that in the best perspective for the whole page. It makes me laugh when people are negative or want to say something else is cheaper/better; As you said it all depends on the project besides the blogger here just found something she thought would be useful to others and put it up for us to see she really didn’t need analytic thoughts about electricity and cost savings….it works for her. Anywho – Thanks Beatriz and oh yeah I like the idea by the way. I’m super cheapo so I’d probably just use my clear tape upstairs.
Beatriz u make the most sense. A laminating machine is a unitasker so even if you get one that isn’t expensive, if you only use it rarely you aren’t really getting your money’s worth and that’s a waste (should we also calculate the area of your home it takes up to store and what else you could be storing there instead as a cost?? jk!). At least with an iron you are turning that iron into a multitasker and getting your money’s worth. And sometimes DIY isn’t always the best option either, like you said it’s all relative
As a grandmother I find this just a wonderful tool to use to laminate all my grandson’s drawing to preserve forever!! Hell with the costs of gas, electricity, this is suppose to be fun!! Take a breath and get with it!
I know that’s right grandma!
Or you could just buy the do-it-yourselflaminate sheets at Wal-Mart. For a quick laminating job and they are pretty inexpensive, like $3.00 for a pack. This is a cool trick too!
I’d like to try this. I was surprised that Office Depot will laminate pages for you for fairly cheap too. We made bookmarks (with kid pics them) and took them to Office Depot to laminate. They put several on one sheet and I think it was about $1.00 per sheet. And nice, thick, stiff laminate too.
Mardel’s Christian Book store laminates for 25 cent a foot, about 30 inches wide….
The directions are to “Place the pouch inside the t-shirt (so it’s in between two layers of cotton)”
Is it necessary to have the shirt on top of and also underneath the pouch?
Or should the two layers of shirts be between the iron and the pouch?
Thanks.
I would assume that it is a good idea to put the pouch between the 2 layers of shirt so that it doesn’t adhere to the surface that you are ironing on.
I find it interesting that not one person mentions the need to store yet another item in their home. I am trying to get rid of stuff, not accumulate more.
I hear that! I’m in the process of PURGING, I don’t need to accumulate anything else that I’ll only use twice! I’m working on a project for my son’s birthday party in May and I need a cricut machine, but I’m going to rent/borrow one instead of buy my own, cause II’ll probably never use it again, and even if I do need one again in the future, I’ll just rent/borrow again, even if it would have been cheaper to buy my own, I won’t have to store the thing!
that last comment was in regard to buying another machine.
In the interest of being frugal, I’m wondering just how many items you’d have to laminate with an iron to make the electric bill higher than the cost of a laminating machine? Both ways require the laminating sheets, so that’s a break even deal. But if the electric to run the iron to laminate one sheet costs X, then how many X’s would it take to add up to the cost of a laminating machine. (I hope that makes sense!) Seems to me you’d really have to laminate a lot to make the iron a more expensive alternative. And if you really want to get technical about a carbon footprint…how much more energy was used to produce, package, and ship that laminating machine, plus the energy used to advertise it and by the store selling it and by you driving to go get one….not to mention what happens to it all when it’s trash… than you would use if you used the iron you already own? I’m thinking you’d have to be laminating all day long to make the iron a more expensive/consumptive alternative.
Tanya, my thoughts exactly!!
ok…note the two dissenting views…are men!~ says it all…they are clueless when it comes to saving money & time…sorry fellas…women have it on the clever, time saving, money protecting view on this one~
Judith, I noticed that! LOL! How true!!!
Ah haaa – thats what that iron is for. Been wondering. Had one for years and never used it for anything. Thanks for the tip.
LOL
Here’s my thought process…TIME is MONEY…and in all the time it took everyone to argue and rant about saving money, they’ve wasted even more. But what an entertaining way to start my day (by reading throuhg all this…well worth my “time”) LOL
Not exactly sure how laminating machines but don’t they also requires energy to heat up or whatever?
I think this is a great idea. I actually own a laminating machine (incredible deal last year on Amazon). For those concerned about energy wasted heating up the iron, do you realize that it takes less time for an iron to heat up than a laminating machine? Mine is a standard machine that can do letter size sheets, but since I make my own holiday decorations I was looking in to buying one that could handle bigger sizes like scrapbook paper. Happy to know there are other options. Thanks for the post.
What’s an iron?!? Must be one of those four letter words not suitable for my delicate ears
It was nice to read a post that was not hateful and nasty, it was fun to read and at times funny. This is how it should be give and take you guys should be commended for doing a good job and the fellowship I see on this blog should be seen . thanks
Really funny post and I have done this before I saw this post
Are we serious right now? This is a tip posted by a blogger who I am guessing we all subscribe to because we like her. If you do not like the tip then basically just don’t do it. If you don’t have something productive to contribute to the conversation then maybe you should remain quiet.
Amen!
lol…. seriously…. I never could have imagined a simple tip would have generated so much controversy! Great entertainment but….
Its a great idea..not to be rude..but if i laminate something with an iron, i wont be leaving the iron on all day. So how can that use up a ton of electricity?
well now I can sell my laminator..it takes at least 20 min utes to warm up enough to use it!!!
Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, bless his heart. Does your wife know that you posted this?
I love the idea and it will be fun to do as soon as I remember where I put those laminating sheets…lol tfs!
Great idea. Just one caveat, iron or laminator, leave a window open as the plastics off-gas. Also, if you really want to save time and money, laminate as you iron – i.e. iron actual laundry.
I just tried this and it worked great in small areas. However if you plan on laminating full pages the laminating, material does bubble. I tried many times thinking I didn’t allow enough time on each area. The bubbling occurred each time. It seems as though the material begins to warp when there is heat nearby. This would work wonderfully for small cards or items that would fit completely under the iron.
I wonder if a full page would bubble for people with craft irons. They don’t have steam holes, the plate is flat and smooth. And maybe if it was carefully ironed from the fold toward the open side, to push out the air.
Wow this really worked. I laminated a card with an extremely cheap laminating pouch and I saved myself lots of money by not buying a machine! Thanks!
I just laminate with the regular film that the school uses on the rolls. Many times the school throws away the end of the roll when they need to change to a new roll. I place film over the paper, place between the t-shirt…
Had a good time laughing at the comments. Love the idea I Will be doing this t
hank you
I have tried this, placing the pouch between 2 pieces of cardstock. It did bubble a little, but this was not an important professional document, so it didn’t matter. I will try the t shirt, however. Maybe it will work better.
Just wait until you have a wrinkly Tshirt. Two birds, one stone as they say!
I have got to say that the comments have kept me reading and laughing out loud! I am all for multi-tasking items I ALREADY HAVE at home. I detest “most” one-purpose-only items and am always looking for ways to expand usage, thrift and be creative!
Ummm…are we still talking about irons?
Unless you are a laminating fanatic, the iron method is the best way. Who really laminates enough stuff to actually buy the laminating machine? I think I’ve laminated maybe ZERO things in my life time lol.
Since i only use the energy I need everyday (electricity) I do not own a laminating machine, nor do I need to laminate anything at the moment, haven’t used an iron in months….I just wasted an hour of my time reading this article and using energy to run my laptop.JK, I love this blog, funny article and comments! TY BUDGET SAVVY DIVA FOR THE TIP AND LAUGH, YOU ROCK!
Maybe I should just laminate the t-shirt so I wouldn’t have to worry about ironing it anymore.
That’s a great idea Melissa, you can sell them on Ebay to compensate for the electricity costs! jk
I LOVE your thinking, Melissa!!
OMG!!! This is one of THE funniest things I have ever read! It started out as a quick tip and ended up talking about electricity usage, Amazon, Ebay, office supply stores, laminating pouch substitutes, buying/borrowing/storing equipment, driving and using gas, etc…. This cracked me up!!
Love the comments!! I understand Wayne because that is how my husband thinks. I don’t think there will be a huge difference in the electric bill, so I would do it when he’s not home. I’ve actually done packing tape and it worked well. I too, don’t use the i-word around here
I just read all the comments but now I forgot what the tip was, what was it again???
If you need a lot laminated at once you might want to go to your local elementary/high school or college or public library. I went to a small school but they had that large older roller machine that you feed the pages to be laminated into.. I laminated about 100 sheets of paper and they only charged a couple bucks.
Last time I used an iron was about 15 years ago, and I used it to squish a scorpion on the wall of my laundry room in Arizona. Instead of ironing, I spritz water on a wrinkled shirt, shake it out, and hang it on the shower rod to dry.
I’d never thought of this, and after my kids tried to laminate food……. and stuffed the machine, I would not buy another, so this idea is priceless!
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