I don't iron - should I?

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Obviously if it's something like a shirt I do. But that is fairly infrequent. Day to day washing, I don't. I feel like the kids look scruffy sometimes with creased clothes. I do fold nicely and tumble dry when cannot line dry. But they get so dirty and messy that clothes are washed so frequently!

So:

YABU - you should iron most stuff.

YANBU - don't bother.

I would iron something if it was too creased to look decent, like a shirt. But tbh that happens about twice a year. Everyday clothes really don't need it.

I really don't think you should be worried either way though, iron or don't, each to their own.

I iron everything. It is time consuming but I watch a film during it. I think clothes look better and bedding feels nicer, and folds up better. I do sometimes look at my clothes post wash, knowing that many people don’t iron, but there’s very few items I could put away un-ironed.

I've never ironed as an adult, I've occasionally when it's rarely looked mega creased done the "shower iron" of hanging it up when I have a hot shower to help some of the creases come out in theory but not convinced it works.

I'm fine looking like "a bag of shit" if the alternative is spending time ironing.

Iron or don’t,your call
Personally I prefer my clothes etc to be ironed and I certainly don’t think you can’t tell if things have been ironed
I actually quite enjoy ironing,normally watch TV
but if you don’t want to then don’t 🤷‍♀️

I iron everything! It's a habit I just can't break!

I don't iron - I steam everything! So much easier and weirdly fun, I actually enjoy it. It's also so much better space wise. I even iron bedsheets when they are on the bed 😂

My husband does the ironing in our house. We iron things that need it and don't iron things that don't . I can understand not being precious about ironing young children's clothes. That is soul destroying. I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing a cotton shirt without ironing it. If it looks like you have slept in it it needs ironing.

For wanting to look smart?

For buying shirt fabric that needs ironing

For accepting a societal value that smart must mean high maintenance ( ie ironed )

There's clearly no right or wrong answer. I wouldn't do it for the sake of it but if it's something that is going to look obviously wrinkled then I do.

I would think that turning up to a job interview in creased, unironed clothes is not going to be a good idea.
Or turning up anywhere that first impressions count for that matter.

U nironed doesn't mean the clothes are creased though.

On any given day it's unlikely people would be able to differentiate between someone who ironed or someone who didn't especially after they had left the house commuted and been wearing the clothes for more than 5 minutes.

One can only assume that all the pps who don't iron live in synthetic clothes. If you wear linen or cotton and don't use a tumble dryer then clothes definitely need ironing. No problem for me as I find ironing very therapeutic and satisfying.

Also agree that it's definitely a badge of honour on MN not to iron.

I'm not so sure.

I do have an iron but rarely use it. Im really bad at ironing and im just not that bothered.
I tried a few weeks of ironing stuff some years ago ( to make my mum happy) but it made no difference. Noone noticed or was impressed. Didnt seem worth the effort

Iron every week. I don't tumble dry clothes and generally wear natural fibers. I iron what needs doing. If I lived in polyester then I probably wouldn't iron either.

Nope, at least for me, I wear a lot of cotton.

I send mine out.

Nope. Though my son is quite particular so he irons (now steams) his own clothes since he was 15.

Is there an actual badge you can get for not ironing then? I definitely want one of them.

Very careful about hanging clothes up to dry , I give them a good shake and use hangers. If I use the drier I fold immediately but ours has a non iron cycle which is fantastic so that helps. I've just bought a clothes steamer which is a good compromise.

No.

I used to stress like mad about it but I gave up 10 years ago because Mumsnet told me I didn't have to. 😁

I stopped ironing years ago. I found it was having "an ironing pile" that caused the need to iron.
Most stuff if hung carefully to dry and then folded or hung properly afterwards looks fine.
The ironing pile sits there untll you have time to do it and is then a crumpled mess which takes ages to iron.
I'm dreading dd starting secondary next year as they wear bloody shirts.
I'm going to teach her how to iron so she can do her own for pocket money 😆

@MrszClaus what is this magic steamer you talk of?!

I do iron and wouldn't let the kids go out in creased clothes but I don't stand and do a pile. Clothes get put away and ironed before they wear them.