AIBU to hate ironing and refuse to do it.

[Voronacirus]

I genuinely hate it with a passion, honestly it's ridiculous.

When I was a child, my mum ironed everything, even teatowels. The ironing board was always up with iron in situ and it was treated like a dangerous animal - she was always screaming at me if I went near it. When I was about 11,she threw a fit over being the only person in the house that did any ironing, so she tried to show me how. I still have no idea what I did wrong, but she went absolutely INSANE with rage at me, and two things happened, she decided I could never again be trusted with the iron, and I swore I'd never do it again!

Since then, I've made do with line drying, making sure things are always folded or hung up immediately, and anything that gets particularly crumpled doesn't last long in our wardrobes.

The problem is, within a year the DC are going to be wearing new uniform/starting new activities which are going to require clothes being ironed, and I'm starting back to a job which has a smart dress code. I know you can get those no iron shirts, but only in limited colours so it's not going to work.

I'm going to have to buy a bloody iron and ironing board and I'm actually dreading it. I've no idea where to start or what to do, I don't even know where to store the bloody thing in our tiny house, and I am absolutely resentful of the hours and hours I'm going to waste ironing.

We did actually have an iron in our student house, I used to pay my housemates to do mine but despite being very clean and tidy students, it got weird brown marks inside of it which came out onto the clothes and ruined them, wtf?

Is there anything I can do to make this easier? Any particular type of iron or board? Or anything that makes it faster?

I found ironing as I go easier. I'd iron clothes every couple of days for everyone. Took no more than ten minutes. Sometimes I even iron on my bed as a bigger space to work with lol.

Use an ironing service for the things that have to be ironed. That's worked for me for the last twenty odd years.

Two suggestions:

1. Buy a “table top ironing board” or even a piece of iron proof fabric - it just goes on top of an existing table And you iron on that, so you don’t need to store a big bulky ironing board.

1. Find a local ironing service and pay them to do it!

But doesn't ironing as you go take longer as it means having to put the board up and down and fill the thing? Putting the board up and down was an absolute parade from what I remember. We ironed on beds in the student house but room layout means I don't think it would work here

Outsource it if you can afford it.

I don't iron. Never have. And my DC are adult now. When clothes shopping I scrumple a corner of any garment I fancy. If it stays scrumpled I don't even try it on.

When DS1 was little he did a vocabulary test. He knew the names of everything, including the dinosaurs illustrated on the inside of the book's covers. The only thing he couldn't identify was an ironing board. He'd never seen one in use.

Last year I was diagnosed with ASD and dyspraxia, which explains a lot of things.

Pay someone else. Life is too short. I never iron, my DH does mine as he says he “doesn’t want me looking like a tramp”. I couldn’t care less, I have a uniform for work and one for martial arts, I’d pay someone else if they needed doing and I had no DH.

I half-heartedly looked for an ironing service, but couldn't seem to find any near by, but it's probably word of mouth round here so I'll ask around - what sort of prices do they charge?

People who say that you don’t notice the creases are wrong. Completely. You are walking about a total mess

What about trying a clothes steamer instead?

A clothes steamer? like a steam cleaner?

Voronacirus Usually you can find them on local Facebook groups for your area or a lot of launderettes offer it as a service. Also places that do clothing alterations offer ironing services and some private cleaning companies. Good luck!

Of course we're not, heyheyho, like I said most of our clothes don't even crumple

I never iron anything. Fold things as soon as they're out of the wash, lie them flat on a surface, then put a towel or heavier item on top, leave them to rest a while like that, then hang them up to dry on hangers...

Clothes steamer is a great idea; as to ironing services, many dry cleaners will do it for you even if you do the washing.

I dont iron apart from weddings and funerals. Luckily neither myself or H have to be too smart at work. I'd just iron shirts once a week if absolutely necessary.

I iron in front of the television. I find turning a big pile of crumpled mess into a smaller pile of neatness reasonably satisfying.

Ironing means I'm not on my phone so an actually concentrating on something on the TV so I watch things that are more absorbing and need more concentration.

I am like your mum and iron everything bar tea towels, socks and underwear.

School uniforms don't don't need ironing, honestly. Just hang them up and all will be fine. I haven't ironed in a decade at least. But if you must succumb, just do your own shirts as and when absolutely necessary, don't get sucked into ironing everything in the house just because you've got the iron hot!

Iron service is your best friend and also hanging things up as soon as they come out of the tumble dryer.

You tube tutorials on how to iron shirts etc helped me when I worked for a while as a housekeeper. I always avoided ironing as much as I could at home but eventually found it quite satisfying to have a nice crisp shirt at the end.
I would never go as far as ironing tea towels but fully appreciate how you have been scarred by your childhood experiences. My parents always made everything a chore and something to dread but as an adult doing housework on my own terms has been fine.
You can iron on a table top provided you have some protection from the heat.
Use a steam iron.
Do not let a pile mount up
You can iron listening to some music or TV and you will be able to iron shirts in minutes once you get more proficient at it.
It’ll be fine and i think you will feel better for addressing a childhood issue and getting the better of it.

I hate it too.
Invest in a really good iron and a higher quality ironing board and it takes half the time.

I don't understand people who don't iron their clothes and say you can't tell. Clothes need ironed. Theres people on here say they don't iron their kids school shirts and they look fine. Total delusion.

I’m afraid the only people who don’t see the creases are the ones that don’t like ironing. its usually very visible for everyone else.
for school uniform, you very definitely see the difference (i know, some parents insist you don’t need to - their kids look scruffy though).
get a decent steam iron, put the board in front of the telly, and you’ll be fine

I am the same OP - hate it with a passion! I only iron things that need it. Some of the crease sprays are good for bedding etc - tried to iron a super king duvet cover once and never again!

My mum has this iron press thing which is really easy and quick to use, I think it was fairly expensive though.

I've taught my son how to iron. We don't tend to iron much at all but if he wants something done he can. Remember the dots... on your iron you see the heat settings have dots. One for cool, two for medium and 3 for hot. The label inside your garment will also have dots. Its pure genius. Remember to start with the cooler temp items first.

Probably not useful to OP for formal shirts, but my trick if a t shirt or something has dried creased is to spray it with water and let it dry again. Only takes a few seconds