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 never iron anything, unless we are going somewhere very smart. I am very careful about hanging out my washing, though and make certain things are not crumpled on the line. I also find hanging shirts and tops on hangers to dry keeps them crease free.

I rarely ever iron anything. First tHing I did when DH and I got together was show him how to iron. He irons his own work shirts. I’ll just wear my blouses creased, even to work. I don’t give a shit. I just work in an office and don’t deal with customers.

Ha ha I remember the pointless faff of ironing. And I had a state of the art steam generator iron too.

I saw the light about ten years ago and have never looked back. School uniform doesn’t need ironing. Work clothes don’t need ironing. People who say they always notice creases are weird. You need to learn how to hang things up and you need a tumble dryer. You don’t need tips on ironing.

I hated ironing too.
I cut down on the use of my tumble dryer which helped me avoid ironing my flat folding hot clothes.
I started to set up the ironing board with Netflix on my laptop, it relaxes me now nobody annoys you for petty things while busy ironing.

I hate ironing. I haven't held an iron in my hands in the last 20 years and I never will. My husband taught himself to iron his shirts. I only buy stuff that doesn't need ironing.

I'm just here to make one point. Iron your tea towels. If you iron nothing else, iron your tea towels. My mum always did and said it was so they were somewhat sterilised if we cut ourselves badly in the kitchen. It happened. I'm a crazy person but they're the only thing I iron.

The few items we own that require ironing get worn rarely and sent to the cleaners for washing and ironing. There is no chance I would iron regularly. I own one, but it is used for sewing only.

Steam iron! We have a steam iron - it doesn’t burn anything, it’s one heat setting, it works much better. For most items I don’t even use the ironing board - I just put the item on a hanger and wave the steam iron around over it. If I wanted to iron out big creases or I was ironing something that I really wanted to make look very neat I’d use the board but 99% of the time it’s a quick wave over with the steam iron.

I don't own an iron and (obviously) haven't ironed anything in years.

If people judge me for creased clothes, pfft.

However, this thread has just made me buy a steam cleaner as I want to clean my sofa!

I fucking hate it. But I bought a steam generator iron (Rowenta) which is bigger than a normal one but not ridiculous. And it works! It's so fast!

I don't know why but now I don't hate ironing. Perhaps because it's not just a massive fucking waste of time while I struggle with stupid fucking creases for hours. Perhaps it's the satisfying steamy noises, who knows?

Forgive the swearing it's been a long day. If you have room I would suggest a wall mounted fold down ironing board or one that pulls out from a drawer and having the iron and it somewhere that you don't need to move it. Within easy sight of a tv.

Vacusming. Now that I LOATHE.

Oh yes one of those clothes steamers. You can avoid a lot of ironing with those!

@Needhelp101 yes that’s the other good thing with the steam iron, we use it to clean the sofa, fabric headboard etc

The only ironing I do is Hamabeads.

I have a tried and true technique for when I am with a guy. They have shirts and are really good at it. I stand there and comment on how good they are at it, am impressed by the precision etc.

Next time I ask very nicely would they mind just this one top, they are so good at it, I can never get it right etc. Then I praise the finished result.

It's a pretty good system with around a 75% success rate. I mean you can't have loads of ironing but if you just need tops or whatever and they already do shirts..obviously you do have yo notice and appreciate on an ongoing basis but I'm good with that. Given that it's actually not untrue anyway.

Works for cooking too if a guy quite likes cooking or even just has a few 'signature dishes'. I also find some guys don't hate vacuuming as much as I do. So will do a much better job.

Mind you it's not difficult to do a better job than me when it comes to ironing, vacuuming or even most cooking.

I used to do our family ironing aged 14 (? thereabouts) in front of Poirot on a Sunday night. Just CBA now but the occasions I do bother to go through the ironing basket it's like going free shopping as it's all stuff I forgot I even owned!

Cotton lycra is so forgiving...and agree with tumble drying... the one thing nobody's mentioned is spray starch which is awesome when ironing proper cotton.

Life is surely way too short for ironing bedlinen or even actually possibly children's clothes. Socks???

A wise poster on here taught me that ironing is just a vestige from the days when houses were cold and damp. With tumble driers and nice centrally heated houses, we don’t need to iron any more. If you like a bit of ironing then fair play - it does make the clothes smell delicious if you use that Comfort ironing water - but it’s not an essential chore. It’s an optional add on.

@youdialwetile Hama beads are the only reason the iron gets out of the cupboard in this house. That, or a wedding.

I don't have a full sized ironing board at the moment (I have a tiny one to fit in my tiny cupboard!) However, when I did, I ironed any shirts, t-shirts that were excessively wrinkly, tea-towels, pillowcases, duvet covers, sheets, and for the sheer ridiculousness of it, pants and socks! The last bit was just for fun though.

Nothing beats getting into bed with freshly laundered and ironed sheets 😌

Get an ironing lady. Mine does 40 items for £25 although I do the kids bits because they're small and don't take long at all but hubby's no chance.....

I have a friend who git a brilliant ironing press from ebay. She swears by it.
I like the satisfaction of ironing and the house smells lovely and cotton fresh whilst I get it all done, either watching something easy on TV or listening to the radio.

Got!

The only thing he couldn't identify was an ironing board. He'd never seen one in use.

That would be DD now, at 10
Truth be told, i dont even know if we own a iron
I dont buy anything that needs it.

I very rarely iron.
So rarely that when my son was about 5 he spotted our iron in the cupboard and said "Mum, can I play with the boat?"

I'm like you OP. I used to cry real tears ironing - it's such an unrewarding job. I now have a cleaner who irons and she is awesome. At £12ph it's an absolute dream.

I'm not time poor, nor do I understand the non ironing badge of honour that they like to boast about. They clearly have very busy, worthwhile and fulfilling lives.

lol nope, not time poor, more motivation and effort poor
Its simply a pointless task i have no care or concern for in my life.
If people will judge me on a crease on a top or pair of pants, they probably way to uptight for me to get along with