Ironing seems to be a thing of the past. In fact, our CPA saw my receipt for my fabulous iron last year and said, “Do people even do that anymore?” Well, I do. But I realize I might be in the minority.
Not too long ago mothers ironed every piece of clothing in the house: dresses, shirts, pants, even sheets and pillowcases. I must admit I’m thankful that ironing a house full of laundry is not on my to-do list.
With the advent of chemical additives to make fabrics ‘wrinkle-free’, there is a decreased need for pressing clothes. Not to mention the synthetic fabrics which also make ironing obsolete. In addition, people just do not have the time or the know-how to iron it seems. It’s not considered a necessary skill in today’s world.
So if you don’t want to iron your clothes, how do you avoid it? A few simple ideas to save your from slaving over a hot iron:
- Fold clothes directly out of the dryer.
We’ve all left a clean load of clothes lying on the couch or in the hamper for a day or two. And when you come back, they are ridiculously wrinkled. While that might not matter if pajamas are wrinkled, it is important that your jeans are not. If you know you can’t get to them as soon as the dryer turns off, make sure the ‘tumble’ button is set so they can cycle through a few times until you can take them out. - Use the steam-feature on the dryer.
Some dryers incorporate steam to knock the wrinkles out of a load of clothes. If you have left a load in for a day or so and the clothes are wrinkled, this feature miraculously makes them look freshly washed and dried. I use this feature often and I readily admit it is one of my favorite features on my washer and dryer. It is a must-have for this busy mama of four. - Use a wrinkle-releaser product.
There are a few wrinkle-releaser products on the market. The product works by lightly misting the clothes, which relaxes the fibers. Tug and smooth a little with your hands and you’re left with a fairly wrinkle-free garment. - Hang your clothes and skip the folding.
Unless you are a fairly neat person and a have a system in place, clothes get shuffled around in a drawer or a shelf. And when your drawers get messy, clothes lose their folded shape. This results in wrinkles. If you have the closet space, skip the folding altogether in order to avoid the wrinkles. - Don’t overload your washing machine.
Overloading your washing machine is a sure way to get wrinkly clothes, even if you fold them straight out of the dryer. When you load the machine over its capacity, there is not enough room for the clothes to move around. When you soak clothes that are jam-packed against one another and then send them through a spin cycle, your result will be wrinkly clothes every time.
So are you an ironer, or one who avoids it at all costs? Tell us your tricks for keeping the iron in the closet.
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I rarely iron these days. Your post inspired me to write my own, which I linked back here with credit to you for the inspiration.
Read it and loved it! Thanks for posting the link 😉
-Lauren
I love this post. The “Mandy Method of Ironing” is:
You see a wrinkle? Run your hand under water and then pat it to your wrinkled clothes. Works like a charm. LOL
There is a reason why I visit your site, Lauren. I am the Queen of Laundry Laziness and I need all the help I can get. 🙂
Oh I love the Mandy Method! Whatever works, right?! 😉
-Lauren
I’m actually one of those odd people who find ironing relaxing. However, I do let my ironing pile get fairly big before I tackle it! 🙁 But I find if I stand and iron 4 or 5 items and then stop and come back later to do a few more, it doesn’t ever seem tedious. It gives me time to think and pray and just enjoy standing in one place and feeling productive! 🙂
You’re right – there is a HUGE sense of feeling productive once it is completed!!
-Lauren
I actually enjoy ironing. The only things I regularly iron are my husband’s dress shirts and suit pants (and, occasionally, my 5-year old son’s dress clothes). I try to iron on one or both of my weekly laundry days. This ensures that my husband always has a closet full of clothes ready to choose from for the week’s work. I actually keep my iron and ironing board right in our closet, and that helps me to be consistent about getting my ironing done.
By the way, I did a laundry post on my blog today. Here’s the link if you’re interested. http://angela.eternaloutlook.com/2011/02/dawn-of-laundry-success.html
Blessings,
Angela
Oh yes, I’m always interested in a laundry post 😉 Thanks for sharing it!
-Lauren
I iron! Not the everyday play clothes, but my husband’s dress shirts and the childrens’ Sunday clothes. Every Saturday that’s what you’ll find me doing in preparation for The Lord’s Day.
I iron, although not as much as I used to. With 3 kids 5 and under it’s hard to find the time. I keep my husbands dress shirts and my boys’ button-down shirts ironed, and I iron my daughter’s church dresses. I have a steamer too, so I use that a lot to touch up t-shirts and every day clothes if needed. When my daughter was a baby (first child) I ironed most clothes. Then as she got more mobile, I had less time to iron and ironing while she was awake was a safety hazard (hot iron, iron board tipping over, etc.) So I had to change to ironing the necessities.
Like you said, the best way to iron less is fold/hang-up clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer.
Ironing definitely seems to be a “lost art.” But even my husband appreciates that I still do it and he really notices when business associates have on wrinkled shirts or little girls have on beautiful dresses that look like they were wadded up on the floor before they put them on.
Christa, I could have totally written every single word of your comment, right down to the part about your husband appreciating it and noticing others. And the beautiful dresses that look wadded up!
But yes, safety dictates that I don’t iron nearly as often either. I’m always afraid someone is going to pull the iron down on them or some other crazy, but possible event. 😉
-Lauren
I have tried the lavender water trick 1 teaspoon (no more or it wont work) to 1 litre of water and it works a treat just spray a mist over the clothes and no wrinkles in minutes. The levender is a relaxant and the fabrics reverts back to it’s natural state straight 🙂