AIBU the elephant pile in the room

[JesterA]

Recently our family has grown from 4 to 5. DD was a surprise, we also have DS1 and DS2 plus I have a male DP so the washing And ironing pile resembles an elephant it's soooo big. It doesn't matter what I do it never goes away it's always just there.
In my mother's house growing up she ironed everything, bedsheets even (seriously!), so I have always felt I should do the same, but I am not as organised as she is. So I guess my question is AIBU to just declare unless absolutely necessary, ironing just isn't happening any more?

The only thing I iron are my OH's work shirts!

I don't iron a thing... my hair, our clothes, nothing. Once in a very blue moon, I'll iron something if one of us just has to look smart. But otherwise, the ironing board collects dust.

You've got to pick your battles.

I don’t even know where my iron is.

I iron nothing. My sister irons tea towels, sheets, socks - you name it. I.iron.nothing.
If my husband needs a shirt for work he irons it himself.

I am almost giddy with the excitement of all the new guilt free time I'm going to have. To be fair when not at school and dp not at work we all live in jogging bottoms and sweatshirts because We very rarely go 'Out' as we're a family of big geeks so it's games, camping, exploring hikes etc. I am now seeing the ludicrous idea that clothing for these activites should be ironed!

Hama beads need ironing

Nothing else.

The end.

Can't remember the last time I ironed. DS1 found the ironing board at the back of the utility room last week and thought it was a surfboard and wanted to go surfing.

No iron here - four DC.

One time I was in John Lewis and admiring the stupidly high threadcount sheets. An older lady was chatting to the person she was with, saying how much she'd love to have such sheets, but couldn't handle the ironing.

It blew my mind. Whilst I'm sure a freshly ironed sheet is probably quite nice, I'll take a 1,000 threadcount Egyptian Cotton unironed sheet over a polyester or whatever unironed sheet any day. Who is going to check her bedding? The Sheet Police?

Blurryface that's hilarious!!!

I stopped ironing shortly after DC1 arrived 16 years ago (we have 3 now too). I really now only iron shirts (don't iron school shirts) and sometimes trousers.

We moved house last year and only got the iron out 6 months in because we had a funeral to attend so it was a must iron shirts.
I find we have so much stuff and enough hanging room. I just bought the slim hangers so I can hang as much up as possible, then I won't be worn til the creases have dropped out. Or it's an inside day so no one will even see if I look a mess

I'm not a proponent of the MN extreme polarising groups of either ironing every single thing including your tea towels and socks. But neither have I abandoned my iron entirely. I iron my shirts and some dresses for work otherwise I would look scatty and unkempt. I don't iron anything that a toddler would wear. There is a balance. You just need to find yours. My exH ironed his work shirts for similar reason but we didn't go round brandishing irons for every bit of material we could find in our house.

Get your mum to do it, if she comments!

I iron work tops/school tops.

Thats it.

I don't own an iron or an ironing board, nothing gets ironed. Very occasionally DP needs a shirt and he will pop to his sisters or my mums to use theirs.

My parents iron tea towels and bedding, mainly so it fits in their very tight storage. My grandmother ironed socks and knickers, which my mum rebelled against.

I don't iron anything.

I have no idea where my iron is.

I only buy stuff that doesn't need ironed and anything that I have that does need ironed I wear messy. (not for work)

DH's work is now much more casual so even he doesn't need shirts.

It's liberating!

• Hama beads need ironing

Nothing else.

The end.*

Nope, not in our house! I have found a cross between aqua beads and Hama beads.
They look like Hama beads that you spray!
This made me far too happy!

Another here who irons rarely. Only for weddings/interviews, hama beads, ironing seams when sewing, and some of my summer dresses and tops that are creasy cotton or linen.

I don't usually tumble dry, so everything is shaken out and hung up to dry, then neatly folded. Fine for school uniform, the kids clothes and my winter dresses, jeans and tops.

As for underwear and bedsheets, what are people on? Bedsheets get stretched out flat when you put them on the bed surely?

I worked as a cleaner in my youth and one woman had me ironing all her husband's Y-fronts. Madness.

My husband irons his own shirts. I iron nothing except that iron-on tape to shorten/repair hems. My mother spent my childhood and teenage years martyring herself at the ironing board: she ironed everything, including teatowels and pants....when she was dying with cancer my father and I realised just exactly how little "needed" ironing!

I only iron stuff if I'm off to a job interview, christening, wedding or funeral.

Life is too short

Now to just deal with my mother who will notice instantly and will ask why her DG look like 'Oliver Twist' 😂

Hand her a bag, declare life is too short and if she’s offering then to fill her boots.

School uniforms are the last thing that needs ironing - the stuff they are made out of, I think they'd melt if I put them near one.

Irons are for Hama beads.

I iron on ad-hoc basis rather than in piles.

Absolutely no bedding/towel/socks ironing EVER. Every Sunday I iron 6 school polos for the week ahead. That's it.

I gave up ironing when the kids used to throw their carefully ironed and co ordinated outfits out of the drawers and stomp all over them in the search for something that had been shoved in underneath.

That would be...oooh, about twenty years ago now. Nobody has noticed or commented. Anyone who wants anything ironed, well, they know where the ironing board is (I assume, haven't seen it myself for years).