Now I know that uncluttering your ironing basket doesn’t actually remove anything from your house but it sure would lighten your To-Do List leaving more time for real de-cluttering. Speaking from someone who spent at least three hours slaving over a hot iron today, I am up for any suggestion as to how to reduce this workload.
It would certainly help if we bought clothes with less cotton content and more in the way of poly/cotton blend.
I put fabric softener in all my loads to try to cut down on the wrinkles and I am sure that helps but not enough. I also hang the clothes on an airing rack inside the house so they aren’t out going stiff in the wicked heat of the sun. Drying them in the clothes dryer isn’t an option either because I have a washer dryer combo (all in one model) and I find it wrinkles the clothes even worse than hanging them. In a way this is a good thing because then I am not tempted to resort to this method because that would be a huge waste of electricity.
All I can hope for as that the current clothes will wear out and we can all buy replacements with a higher polyester content or that someone will leave home so there is one less person to iron for. The chances of that someone ironing their own clothes is about as likely as the clothes ironing themselves (now there’s a dream).
ITEM 107 OF 365 LESS THINGS
Since a photo of my pile of ironing is not an example of real de-cluttering you will find below today’s actual contribution. Yet another couple of toiletry items I unearthed when raiding the cupboards for the out of date medications from day 103
Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day
Denture cleaner in warm water makes a great silver and gold jewellery cleaner.
(Always test method first and never use this method on pearls)
Fern says
How about a radical suggestions: iron fewer clothes?
I don’t know if you’re the sort of person who irons bedding/underpants/socks/handkerchiefs/etc., but I’ve certainly never seen the point in ironing them. As if you don’t just screw the handkerchief up in a ball and stuff it in your pocket anyway…
In our family, we choose to iron almost nothing. If it’s noticeably creased, then it gets ironed. If it’s something smart or posh, it gets ironed. Otherwise, it’ll live. 99% of the time, you can’t actually tell (especially when you’re wearing it), and that 1% of the time, we iron it.
It probably helps that we don’t tumble-dry, like you, but in the UK the sun is not exactly a problem so our clothes don’t get stiff.
Colleen says
Hi Fern,
I am crazy but not that crazy I do only iron the wrinkled clothing. Like you said though there are probably some that I could get away with not doing like my sons jeans and mayby the collared T’s I wear to work. I generally like to iron my work clothes even though they look fairly good without ironing but it is work after all and its best to look well put together there.
It is mainly cotton collared shirs, taylored pants and cargo shorts that are the killer and I really don’t understand why there are so many. Maybe I don’t realise that I am avoiding doing it for longer than I think and it’s actually been building up for three weeks.
Thanks for your advice and I will be more ruthless about which items I iron this week.
Carmen says
I don’t normally iron. I try and get clothes out of our dryer ASAP – and perhaps a little damp yet before hanging up. I’ve also found that sometimes I can get “light” wrinkles out by spritzing the clothing with just plain water and let hang – or stretch the dampened cloth a bit to pull the wrinkles out.
Colleen says
Thanks Carmen for your help in this matter I will certainly give your methods a try. I am going to give the “hopefully the wrinkles will fall out with body heat” method a try too.
Jo says
A lot of wrinkles come from the spin cycle. Drip dried clothes that really drip have less wrinkles. The old advice I read was to hose the clothing down on the washing line to get it really dripping wet! I would just try reducing the spin cycle or putting it on delicate to leave the clothes wetter. Then hang and smooth them. I tend to tug on them to get them to dry smooth.
Colleen says
Hi Jo,
thanks for that tip. I do have the option to reduce my spin cycle so I will give that a try.
LenaC says
I haven’t ironed anything for a year. A few months ago I took my ironing board to a charity shop as it was sitting there getting in the way. I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing that before. I only ironed items that showed creases and that I couldn’t get away with not ironing. Most items of mine don’t show creases. I hang them up when they are quite damp. I kept the iron for things like blouses but the weather in the UK is usually not warm enough to do without jackets or coats. I can only think of one blouse that I have that looks a bit creased at the pockets but only sometimes. I hate ironing even more that the thought of anyone noticing. I don’t go anywhere posh and if I do, I’ll iron only if what I want to wear shows creases. The iron was designed as an instrument of torture for women to keep them slaving in the home. 🙂 But at least they don’t take up as much room or are as annoying as ironing boards.
Colleen, have you decluttered your ironing basket since that post? I must go and iron my socks. 🙂
Colleen Madsen says
Hi LenaC. I haven’t eliminating ironing altogether but I do a lot less of it these days than I used to. When it comes to ironing boards my grandmother never used one she always ironed on folded blankets on her kitchen table.
LenaC says
When I iron again, I’ll do the same or use a towel. I forgot that I did iron at my sister’s house recently. I was staying with her. My clothes had been badly crumpled due to being stuffed in my bag so I couldn’t get away with not ironing. But I couldn’t understand the steam iron. I had no patience with it, that dribbling! My iron is non-steam and if I need(ed) moisture I use a spray bottle of water. I realise that some people don’t feel clean or dressed if they don’t iron and some even enjoy it. I love the homely smell of it. It’s a lot of time, energy and electricity saved by reducing it or not doing it. Hence your mention of it. It’s good that you are saving that.