How not to iron?

belfastgirl23

I can't believe no one else has said DO NOT take it over. Are you mad??? This is setting a really bad precedent. you have a DH who is willing to do it, TBH I'd just find a corner that it could pile up in and then iron whatever of my own stuff I needed on a weekly basis.

Seriously don't take it over please. What you are saying to him in effect is that if he puts things off then you will do them. Believe me it's a mistake I have made and I would hate to see anyone else doing it on my watch Bear in mind that at some point this might be about more people than you and him too...

freda

Don't use a tumble dryer, makes the clothes more creased.

Don't use a really fast spin in the machine, they seem to come out more crumpled if you do that.

Take out of the machine straightaway when the wash has finished.

Before hanging them on the airer/washing line, hold them by the shoulders/waist and shake. Not a wibble wobble shake, a shake like you were trying to flick someone with a teatowel sort of shake, so it makes a 'crack' sound.

Hang them carefully on the airer/line - smooth out the creases.

Don't over fill airers, or else the air won't circulate, your clothes won't dry and they'll go smelly.

Fold them up on an ironing board or flat surface, use your hands to smooth them carefully before you fold them.

Stack in neat piles in airing cupboard and drawers. Don't let them topple over and get all creased or you'll have to iron.

Thats about it really.

The above works for most things - casual clothes like t shirts, jeans, jumpers etc. It doesn't really work for anything linen, work shirts and blouses or dressy things. Still have to iron them!

Spendless

The reason I am taking over is partly cos dh will be working away a lot over next few months- including several consecutive o/n stays and I want the house running a lot more smoothly than it currently does. I don't wish to iron which is why I'm asking how not to. Me being in charge today has meant that we currnently have no laundry other than 3 white items in laundry basket, if dh had been in charge, we would now be looking at a basket of ironing cluttering the place up that he would get round to doing at some point.

I have had mixed success with not ironing today. It was very frosty here so everything went into TD.The items that we never't iron (PJs tea, towels, underwear) were folded and put straight away. My jumper and trousers were ok and went straight onto hangers, so did dd trousers and ds school jumper. That left 2 100% t-shirts which were crumpled. 1 was dh scruffy odd job t-shirt so didn't need ironing, the other belonged to my son and the hem had all turned up and I put the iron on it to flatten it back. I also needed to iron a cardi of dd's that I'd left drying on radiator before starting this thread.

Reading back thru I think my mistake has been in not smoothing the stuff out whilst wet and then leaving the t-shirts to air dry instead of TD.

emmy05

i used to do all the ironing til i invested in a tumble dryer, vented reverse spin and it has iron, cupboard and bone dry spins, alot of the time, i hang clothes on the airers and just pop them in after a good airing, hang up or fold straight away and all done, i really hate washing hanging around for a long time, and tbh i felt like ironing was taking over my life at one point, with 5 of us in the house, and one teen who is going thru dating and looking smart every few months lol

geekgirl

I don't believe in ironing it is not good for my soul. I hang my stuff over my pulley airer and then fold straight away and put them away. I have very little in drawers so they are all on hangers.

When my son went to college for a week every 2 months he had to have an ironed shirt everyday. It took me 5 mins to show him how to do it.

Strapped

Life's too short for ironing. I agree with the comments re. flick out the clothes from the shoulder seams before you hang them up to dry, and you won't get any major creases. (DH forgets to do this and it drives me mad - he is therefore the only person who ever irons in this house ) Also, I tend to choose clothes that don't naturally NEED to be pressed - modern fabrics are great

redruby

freda wrote: »

.

Take out of the machine straightaway when the wash has finished.

Before hanging them on the airer/washing line, hold them by the shoulders/waist and shake. Not a wibble wobble shake, a shake like you were trying to flick someone with a teatowel sort of shake, so it makes a 'crack' sound.

Hang them carefully on the airer/line - smooth out the creases.

quote]

:T :T Freda, this is exactly what I do, get everything out of the machine the second it has finished, give it a good 'crack' shake and hang on the line, I also hold trousers up by the waist and run the flat of my hand down the legs several times, which helps get the creases out.

I NEVER iron anything, life is too short, dd wears a proper school shirt every day, her school is very particular about uniform, she often has comments about how neat she looks. I even threw my ironing board out about 2 years ago and have never missed it

Girl_least_likely_to

I do very little ironing and haven't done since I was heavily pregnant over 2 1/2 years ago. I either dry stuff outside on the line when weather permits or on the radiators. I make sure pegs are put on seams and place items uncrumpled on the radiators. I find this works for everything except linen, the occasional "going out" top and some of my DD dresses. I will admit that I don't work and live in jeans and casual stuff and OH is a plumber and lives in polo shirts which I refuse to iron.

My theory is that 10 minutes after wearing something it usually looks like it needs ironing so why flippin bother. Also I think I must have lower standards than some people . Life is too short for ironing :beer:

Savvy_Sue

Girl_least_likely_to wrote: »

My theory is that 10 minutes after wearing something it usually looks like it needs ironing so why flippin bother. Also I think I must have lower standards than some people . Life is too short for ironing :beer:

That's how I started: I used to do a week's worth of DH's shirts on a Sunday night, and one Sunday I was just too pooped, looked at them and thought "By the time he's been in them five minutes, no-one will know anyway!" Not looked back since ...

I accept my standards are lower than some people's. And I don't have to look smart-smart for work, smart-casual is fine. But I tend not to wear the things which really MUST be ironed.

BTW, I have a lovely collection of silk shirts from charity shops - did you know you can TD silk?

inkie

I have a shower curtain rail in the bathroom, that we do not use for it's intended purpose, and so I get all our stuff out of the washer asap, and then hang on hangers and place over the rail. I very rarely need to iron anything, and if I do, it will be the odd shirt that won't be worn under a jacket.