I HATE Ironing!

[rincaro]

I guess this goes in the frugal forum, because I am ironing the man's shirts to save dry-cleaning money. But oh for the love of pete, I do hate it so. I bought a new iron, because I killed the old one. But basically I am pressing all his dress shirts for work.

Any tips or tricks to make ironing less like removing your own fingerprints?

[eggplant]

I hate ironing too. Luckily, my bf enjoys it. Sorry, no tips.

[bigdufstuff]

I guess this goes in the frugal forum, because I am ironing the man's shirts to save dry-cleaning money. But oh for the love of pete, I do hate it so. I bought a new iron, because I killed the old one. But basically I am pressing all his dress shirts for work.

Any tips or tricks to make ironing less like removing your own fingerprints?

Any reason he can't do it himself? They are his shirts after all.

[kpickell]

I own an iron, but I've never used it. So no tips from me!

I just use the lazy man's method of ironing: if it's wrinkled throw I it back in the dryer for a few minutes and that's that.

[rincaro]

I own an iron, but I've never used it. So no tips from me!

I just use the lazy man's method of ironing: if it's wrinkled throw I it back in the dryer for a few minutes and that's that.

I used to buy my work clothes on that principal (when I used to work). I looked for fabrics that worked with "dryer magic" -- wrinkly clothes + damp clean dishtowel + dryer sheet + ten minutes = happy times.

Unfortunately the man has had a few promotions so much of his wardrobe is fussy.

[bigdufstuff]

somtimes I hang up wrinkled clothes in the bathroom as I take a shower. The steam from the shower has anti-wrinkling effects.

[SallyK]

Icky, I hate ironing, too. Do you also have to starch them?

I do cringe when I see my man in an unpressed dress shirt. Thankfully he doesn't have to wear them unless we're going out for a special occassion. Then he wants to do the dryer trick. It doesn't fly with me. So, one of us will iron it.

[Tesseract]

I have clothing i literally haven't worn in nearly a year, maybe longer, because it needs to be ironed. :juggle:

[*AHIMSA*]

I don't own an iron.

[ceryna]

It's not exactly frugal, but the Dryel kits are a fancier version of the dryer trick - assuming the shirts don't need a starched appearance. I have no idea about the chemicals used in those kits, although I can't imagine they're any worse than the chemicals used by actual dry cleaners.

I have clothes that I can't wear because they need to be dry cleaned, and I'm too cheap/lazy to get it done. ^^;;

[wildmindgirl]

I haven't ironed more than a few items for about 15 years (my husband sends his work shirts out occasionally for starch and ironing/cleaning). Since I haven't seen this tip here I'll share it; I keep a spray bottle filled with plain old water and when I'm ready to "iron", I put the clothes on hangers, hold them up and spritz them with water, smoothing out the wrinkles. Even the REALLY bad ones come out with a lot of water. Then I just hang them on the doorknob to dry. It works everytime with almost no effort! You can't get pretty creases, but who cares? When my kids moved out of the house I gave them both their own "iron" and they use them all the time. Hey, when it works, it works!:pibo:

[Life2k]

I can tell you the oldfashioned way for how ever that may be worth. If you do one at a time, stick a damp towell in dryer with the shirt and do not dry until all dampness is gone.

Take shirt out and usually a dry iron set for the proper fabric mixture will work for you.

first iron the underside of the color until dry, then flip and iron the top side until dry.

Then iron the inside of the cuffs until dry, then the ouside stretching until all little wrinkles are gone. Be sure to iron everything until it is totally dry before moving on.

The nest stage is the sleaves down by the cuffs. If you have a sleeve board this is ideal. It looks better than a crease down the exact middle of the sleeve. Then work up the sleeve up to the shoulder all the way aroud. repeat onthe other sleeve.

Start the boddy of the shirt at the shoulder yoke if it has one and press first on the inside, then the outside. Press the back first starting at the shoulders working down being careful where you lay the sleeves. Then press the front. Leave this until last as it is the first thing they see. Press the putton holes and button line on the backside first to make sure the facings are smoothe, then press the front plackets and pockets. From there go, to the shoulders opening every gather and keeping every inch flat and smooth. Be careful of your iron cord it can submarrine you. Work down to the tail of the shirt.

If you have pressed this until it was totally dry you should be finished with the shirt. Hang it up and rejoice.

[thebelovedtree]

When I used to have to wear nice shirts I just bought the wrinkle free kind and then took them out of the dryer as soon as they were done, hung them up and pressed a crease into the sleeves when I needed them. I'm with you though, I HATE ironing.

[Sauteedbeans]

I too hate ironing with a passion. What I do is I iron at the time I need to wear it. So I am not stuck ironing for two hours. But a tip may be iron and watch your favorite TV show at the same time.
Good luck. I am glad I don't have to iron for my husband. I can bearly manage my own!!!!

[eggplant]

Anyone ever read that story "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen? Great story. Sorry, that was pretty off-topic.

[Amy SF]

I have clothing i literally haven't worn in nearly a year, maybe longer, because it needs to be ironed. :juggle:

Urm, me too. :o

[gas4]

I don't own an iron, it's a deliberate thing. I hang shirts and good tops on coathangers to dry and then put them straight into the wardrobe. If it's a tee shirt, I fold it up as soon as I take it off the line, same with sheets and pillowcases. My Mum makes the mistake of putting stuff on an ironing board to be done where it just gets wrinkled - unnecessary work if you ask me.

[Nagemurut]

When you have good practice on ironing it become less unpleasent to do it, because you know the job.

[luisgarciadiaz]

I can't be without an iron. I keep mine in my closet so that I can iron in the mornings. I don't really mind it at all. The only thing I don't like about it is that when I have clothes that need to be ironed, I need to wake up a half hour earlier, which is not conventional. Otherwise, ironing is totally cool.

[luisgarciadiaz]

I don't own an iron, it's a deliberate thing. I hang shirts and good tops on coathangers to dry and then put them straight into the wardrobe. If it's a tee shirt, I fold it up as soon as I take it off the line, same with sheets and pillowcases. My Mum makes the mistake of putting stuff on an ironing board to be done where it just gets wrinkled - unnecessary work if you ask me.


Shirts don't have a "pressed" look if you don't iron them, though. They may not be completely wrinkled, but they're not perfect either.

[remilard]

Shirts don't have a "pressed" look if you don't iron them, though. They may not be completely wrinkled, but they're not perfect either.

they do if you do it right, which isn't worth the time and effort

IMO the nordstrom house brand shirts are easy to care for and look fine if you pull them from the dryer when they aren't yet bone dry and hang them. I can't imagine having a job where that look wasn't good enough on a day to day basis. If the shirt needs to be perfect spend the $2.00 because you could have made twice that at a part time retail job in the time it takes to iron a dress shirt well.

[gas4]

Shirts don't have a "pressed" look if you don't iron them, though. They may not be completely wrinkled, but they're not perfect either.

I guess I don't have the same need to have perfect shirts as other people might - I love being a student.

[CaptainSwab]

I've started buying wrinkle free shirts.

For some reason whenever I did use the iron the shirt would look like crap when I was done. Ironing was frustrating to me.

[hippymama]

I don't iron. Even when I was in the military, I didn't iron. I hung my skirts to dry and wore a sweater over my blouse. Derek irons a shirt and pants every morning before work. I'll do anything else, but I won't iron and I won't shine shoes.

[Kiz]

You know that most clothes marked "dry clean only" can be washed the normal way, right?