People who moan about having loads of ironing to do..

[fishyonadishy]

...just stop it would you please?

Look, you don't have to do the ironing, ok, so stop moaning about it looking for sympathy.

Someone even posted a photo on facebook last week of their ironing pile - mountains of fecking toddler jeans. Why??

Yes, it's a pain in the butt job, but stop going on about it, please.

I don't iron unless it is absolutely necessary my close work friend irons EVERYTHING and moans about it she has no children yet so has the spare time to iron that's my excuse why I don't iron anyway that's what I told her too she thinks I'm a lazy slattern mad

Only things that get ironed here are DH's workshirts and the linen sheets for our bed, both done for my pleasure as I quite enjoy ironing white linen and DH trades sexual favours to have his shirts done.

The only thing I iron is Hama breads!

Actually, for very formal occasions I will iron a blouse, and when I am serving in church and wearing church vestments I iron those, but literally that's the extent of my ironing. Mostly it's Hama beads.

Dp irons his own shirts and I don't buy clothes that require ironing - also don't buy hand wash or dry clean only if I can avoid it

That's a good line Holo - about the Hama beads, I'll have to remember that one

Holoferneshead me too. I think my kids will be surprised when they find out that some people use the Hama-bead-melter as a clothes-smoother.

HaHa Himalaya

Another non-ironer here.

Make sure you take clothes from dryer when still warm, shake & fold immediately and they're perfect.

I do iron but only on demand eg a shirt for DS party or DH shirts when he occasionally wears them. It's totally unnecessary for most items of clothes.

I don't iron, tumble dry then fold and avoid buying anything that remotely looks like it will require ironing.

I once had a cleaner who ironed as well, she used to make shirts look like new. Don't know how she achieved such heights of ironing, I could never do it

'Whilst ironing treat yourself. Pour yourself a glass or two, get yourself some choccies and put on your favourite DVD/ program. You can actually turn it into a bit of ME time.' I'm sorry - just no!

"If you are line drying then you can also turn the spin speed on your washing machine down. It will mean fewer wrinkles and so less ironing. The clothes might take a bit longer to dry but that's not too much of a problem." Loubielou is that true? You genius!

Take out of washing machine? Shake firmly, hang on hanger and give a little smooth down. Gravity does the rest. Dh does his work shirts and the tumble drier handles jeans, linens and underwear. But if you choose to iron then good for you.

I have to iron. I hate creases in clothes and quite frankly, the methods used to make sure your clothes don't need ironing sound harder work than actually doing the ironing.

full time working mum here. I'm not always around (or too busy to hang around waiting/ too disorganised to time it right) when tumble dryer cycle ends/ get washing as soon as its dried off airers (depending on weather) so clothes are creased either way.
how do the rest of you manage that? any advice well appreciated.

Put the tumble dryer on just to get creases out for a few extra minutes, Bratella ?
Sometimes do this anyway eg. with DCs school uniform instead of an iron.
It doesn't take long

I don't use a tumble dryer at all or an iron - much. I have a job. I have children. No one has ever commented on us looking scruffy.
I actually like ironing quite a lot. But I only iron about three things a fortnight. Sometimes I treat myself and pop some more things in the ironing 'pile'.

But the OP is right, you don't have to iron anything. I think there's about 5 billion people in the rest of the world who manage without it.

We have airers from Ikea which are lifted out on the patio to dry, but are left in the corner of the room until I can be arsed to put clothes away to let the clothes "fully air" for a day or two.

We also put shirts, blouses and some t-shirts/jumpers which tend to crease straight onto hangers on the end of the airers so they dry in shape. The shirts generally still need quickly going over (as do work trousers) but everything else dries practically crease free (except socks, but they sort themselves out when you stretch them over feet).

As to timing: our washing machine has a delay function so it can be loaded in the morning so that it will finish at a convienient time without the clothes getting all creased and stale in the machine all day.

my DH irons five shirts a week on a sunday night.

i have about six items of clothing in my entire wardrobe that need to be ironed so i just do them as and when.

Sorry to resurrect this just when it was dying nicely, but:

"Whilst ironing treat yourself. Pour yourself a glass or two, get yourself some choccies and put on your favourite DVD/ program. You can actually turn it into a bit of ME time."

The thought does occur to one, why not "Pour yourself a glass or two, get yourself some choccies and put on your favourite DVD/ program" whilst not ironing? Then it's real "ME time" instead of "pretending to myself I'm not doing chores time". Or sit there doing something productive, like, I dunno, weaving some lentils or making ships in bottles. Knitting used to be a good one. Or writing a novel. Anything rather than making your family's socks flatter ffs.

annie

I don't iron unless absolutely necessary.

The kids polo shirts may not look perfect, but we all have to prioritise what is important, and I'm sure they would rather I spent the time I have available playing with them than ironing their uniform.

(Same argument applies to keeping the house spotlessly tidy - it would be lovely if I had the time)

I do the stuff that is important to me - I read to the kids every day, because it is a lovely cosy time that we all enjoy. I work 30 hours per week, so have to prioritise the time i have at home, and ironing just doesn't make the list. I keep the house clean and hygeinic, but can't always manage to keep it tidy.

Yeh, it did cross my mind too Annie that you could eat the chocs without doing the ironing - and possibly have a glass of wine too

No offence BigSociety - it's just if it works for you great - but you must be a more natural multi-tasker than me !