"Taking in ironingl"

[shutupbignutbrownhare]

Every so often on MN, a poster asks for advice on how to make a bit of extra money, and "take in ironing" is a common suggestion. It appeals to me because I LOVE ironing and spend every evening at home while my kids sleep.

However, I have never encountered in real life a situation where somebody outsources their ironing to a private individual. I've never seen ironing services advertised. I can only assume it DOES happen, just in other circles perhaps...?

So, if you are the recipient of such an ironing service (or indeed a contract ironer) can you help me out?

How does it work? Does the ironer collect and drop off your clothes? What's a typical 'order' and how frequently - weekly? Monthly? How much do you pay? How do you pay? How quick is turnaround? What else should I know? What would make me a market-capturing ironer for hire?

Our childminder does ours. £1.20 a shirt. Picks them up and drops them off. Amazing. I do not iron and DH would rather not.

I love ironing too, so I always iron my duvet covers, my sheets and pillowcases.
@Salema, I whip through 12 shirts an hour, the only shame is dh only wears five shirts a week, but they take me 5 mins.
I’m not sure I’d want to be responsible for someone else’s ironing though, only because they’d expect it at a time to suit them, not me.

My friend does ironing. She charges by the hour and her customers drop off and collect from her house.

From what Friend tells me I would be very clear about the days and hours you're working. Friend works mon-thurs but would still have customers turning up at 8am on Sunday morning to collect clothes because they 'didn't have time' during the week.

I wish I had an ironing lady

My cleaner does iron but prefers not and isn't great. There is an ironing "shop" near me but the hours aren't convenient.

Getting my ironing done is a pay day treat for me. Used to drop it off and pick up but now I have a delivery service which is new realms of treatness.
I pay 50p per item, £1 for a duvet cover.
£ 2 for the pick up/delivery.
I wouldn’t pay per hour because they could be a really slow ironer.
I would love a cleaner but my house is tiny

Interesting

There used to be a wonderful woman round the corner from my mum’s house who owned an alterations and ironing shop.

She charged a flat rate of 50p per item, so if I was nipping down to my Mum’s i’d check how much cash I had and drop the appropriate number of items off (£9.50 was 19 items).

Unfortunately she stopped having her shop and i’ve Not engaged one of the local ironing services- and my MIL does my ironing at the moment

I personally found dropping off for a flat rate and a text to pick up was a lot less commitment for me than engaging a formal service

Just throwing this out there - I live in an area with loads of Air BnBs and regular BnBs, there is totally a market for ironing linen, as not all cleaning crews offer it as part of the service. Anyone who wants to charge top prices needs the bed linen ironed, because there's so much hotel competition. OP, if that might apply to your area, try advertising on your local buy, sell swap, or leaflet/email Air BnBs within easy distance, a lot of owners are totally reliant on outside contractors providing all of the (non-ownership) services.

Advertise on your local Facebook groups: mums etc. Lots of cleaners ask if they'll iron. Some won't but would be happy to pass along your details so I'd try to hook up with them. It won't take long for word to get out and you'll be swamped.

I use someone to do my ironing, I tend to DD's but use someone else for everything else, including bedding.

She advertises on Facebook, collects from me and drops off. Usually turns things around in 48 hours. I tend to send a bag of around 20 items every 2 weeks. Tends to cost £20-30, the cost is something like £20 for 15 items and extra for shirts. We supply our own hangers.

I use an ironing service which charges by weight. I only send nightmare things. They get king and super king bedding. Awkward smart work dresses. Things that need ironing on a low heat. Things with awkward frills etc etc. It’s a bit of a trek to drop stuff off so I stack up items til I have a basket full - maybe 2-3 weeks between trips. The easy heavy stuff like jeans I just do myself. So nice not to have a bottom of the ironing basket where a load of nasty items lurk week after week. But I do feel sorry for the person who gets a full load of hard to iron things.

My ironing service have huge boards and industrial looking irons - think it could be tough going if you are using ordinary domestic equipment.

I did it for a little while in between jobs.

I charged £20 for a full basket and offered drop off and collection for 50p per mile.

I advertised on Facebook - local groups and buy and sell groups are good. Also have a look at the nextdoor app as I got most clients from there. The Facebook page was good as people could leave reviews.

It's worth a try. Now I work full time and have a bad back I could do with someone else setting up nearby!!!

We have a pair of cleaners who come for 90 mins (so equal to 1 person for 3 hours). In that time one of them irons about 10 items in about half the time and then joins the other one in cleaning the house. If I've forgotten to wash stuff that needs ironing they use time to do extra cleaning.

I have a bloke who collects & delivers. I use him every few months. A huge bag of bed linen is only about £25.

I suggested it recently, but only tongue-in-cheek on one of those "How can i earn some money at home?" threads which was otherwise bound to turn into a MLM/hun-fest-bunfight

Cleaner takes it home with her after she's done the weekly clean and then brings it back a couple of days later.
She charges by the hour.

Before we found her, we used a local lady who I had to drop off ironing and then collect, she could iron in same day or they would be ready the day after. She also charged by the hour.

There was a mum at primary school who did this. Had four DCs spread out in age across the school, so she had years of drop offs and pick ups - most of her customers were fellow parents so she was always arriving with hangers or folded shirts. Seemed to work for her as a business .

We have an ironing lady. She charges a flat rate of 50p per item (bedding is priced separately) with a minimum spend of £10. Collection and drop off is free and turnaround about 48 hours. We provide our own hangers. I love her.

Who ARE all these people doing all this ironing? I have a couple of tops that need to be ironed. DH does his work shirts and that's absolutely it. NOTHING else gets ironed in this house.

I grew up in a house where my mother ironed bed linen, towels, pyjamas, underwear and even dusters and facecloths ffs!

Put me off ironing for life.

£25 a bag here. That's two peoples clothes (including work shirts that I hate ironing) for a week and a set of a bedding. £20 if there's no bedding. My lady collects on a Friday night and returns Sunday morning. I love her.

SrSteve I have a family member who is proud of the fact that she does no ironing except for a couple of tops, and sneers at those that do iron.

She and her children often look dishevelled or scruffy. I can spot unironed clothes a mile off. I can’t bring myself to wear them.

@EyesWideOpen, let me assure you that I don't look 'disheveled or scruffy'

Or nobody’s told you that you do...

EyesOpenWide my mother irons everything but underwear. She offered to do mine whilst babysitting and was amazed I didn't iron. You can't always tell (obviously some items you can, but I iron those!).

@EyesOpenWide, I have mirrors in my house dear