Ironing: How to Get It Done

I’ll admit: in the past (and occasionally the present) I have had a tremendous amount of trouble getting our clothes ironed.  I have no trouble getting them washed, dried and put away.  But ironed?  That’s a different story.

I detest wrinkled clothes, although I will also readily admit that my standards have greatly decreased since having children.  The moment you put a baby on the hip of your freshly pressed shirt it becomes as wrinkled as ever.  But the wrinkles are oh so worth it in this case!

So how do I get my ironing completed these days?  This is what works for me while all of my little people are, well, little.

• I decide if an item really needs to be ironed.  If it just could use a little touch-up, I put it in our steam dryer for 15 minutes.  It is really effective in making clothes have that ‘freshly washed’ appearance that we all love.  If I didn’t have a steam dryer, I would look into one of the wrinkle-releaser spray products.
• I have an ironing shelf in my laundry room.
  
  When folding clothes, I pull out the items that I know will need ironing: my husband’s work pants, little girl Sunday dresses, etc.  When putting clothes away, I automatically put those clothes on my ironing shelf.  When it comes time to iron, all of the clothes that need ironing are in one spot.  I don’t have to run from room to room hunting down items that need to be pressed.  Honestly, at this point in my mothering I need things to be obvious!
• I incorporate ironing as part of my laundry routine.  If it wasn’t part of my routine, I can assure you it would never get done.  I only iron once per week.  Most of the time, I iron when my kiddos are taking naps or after they are in bed in the evenings.  If I only iron once per week – as opposed to once per month! – the ironing pile takes less than an hour or so.  I don’t iron when my children are awake because I can totally see the baby pulling the iron on her head or some such other awful event necessitating an ED visit.  I want to avoid that at all costs!

When my husband and I buy new clothes we try to buy ‘wrinkle-free’ cottons and clothes that do not require ironing.  It really does save time!  And these days, I am way too busy to spend a ton of time ironing every week…even though it’s a chore I really don’t mind.

How do you get your laundry ironed each week?  What is your routine?