To not know how to iron at 32?

[Boymum1005]

Not due to any pretentiousness. Was bought up on a farm, very outdoorsy childhood with a lazy single mum. Was always the kid at school/events with the unironed uniform, did my own washing from year 6 onwards… didn’t do my washing? - going to school in dirty clothes, old enough to use the washing machine = old enough to do your own washing.

DH bought up totally differently. Mother did everything for him, was still changing his bed and putting his clothes away when I met him living at home at 25. And of course everything was ironed pristinely.

MIL has made a few comments about DH’s shirts clearly not being ironed (he’s a workman so doesn’t wear shirts for office, just for social events). I tend to reply with a sarcastic comment about how if he wants his clothes ironed he can do it himself. He won’t. He says he will, but never does. It used to irritate the s* out of me, but now I’m becoming more conscious about looking scruffy. And I definitely don’t want my DS’s to grow up feeling like the scruffy kids.

So I ask the Mumsnet community - how do YOU iron?
Do you iron ALL clothes or just work/school/formal?
Daily/weekly/as and when needed?
Do you have an “ironing pile” or just instinctively know what will need ironing?

We have a small house with 2 DC’s so we do about 2 loads of washing per day. Where do you find the time?!

Any and all tips appreciated

I iron shirts and creased clothes as soon as they come out of the washing machine. Then I hang up on hangers or backs of chairs to dry out, I rarely have creases following this method.

I don't understand the people that must iron everything before they put it away - feels like a waste of time to me!
If I take something out of a drawer or the wardrobe to wear and it needs ironed I will give it a quick iron there and then.
My DCs are under 3 so none of their stuff ever gets ironed (also can't remember the last time I ironed mine or my husband's clothes) but I will iron their school uniforms when they hit that age - I won't be happy about it but I'll do it 😂

Ah, but I don't really care about how things look when they are being worn. I do care about being able to put things away neatly so they take up less space. So for me it would be a waste of time to get the iron out for individual items than just to do it in one go.

Folding things unironed straight from the dryer or rack seems like more effort to me than ironing and folding as I go. I think I'd find folding unironed stuff more annoying.

Did a week's worth yesterday including a double bedding set. Took about 2 hours including putting it away. Listened to two and a bit episodes of a podcast. All good.

Using a dryer is bad for the environment. An iron doesn't use much electricity.

The times I iron anything I end up burning myself. My mum didn't iron, my dad didn't, my brother and I didn't wear ironed shirts to school. I don't really know how to iron but as a pp said, my son is in cadets and I've had to youtube it before I can show him how to do it himself. My dh irons his own if there's something formal. My mil wouldn't mention anything being unironed but if she did, I'd certainly ask why his clothes are my responsibility.
An old colleague of mine used to remove her sofa covers and cushion covers weekly, wash and iron them. I never understood that.

@Mercurial123
Where did I say I used a dryer??

You say ironing is bad for the environment but didn't mention the use of the dryer which other posters have mentioned.

You are not alone. We iron most things, though fortunately my DP does most of the ironing. He irons while watching sport at the weekend. I much prefer the look and feel of ironed clothes, and as you say, natural fibre clothes (especially cotton and linen) really do need ironing.

No iron in our house, never has been so my adult kids would have no clue. I’m not lazy, just sensible and can’t see the point wasting life ironing. School uniforms never needed to be ironed, could never tell the difference between my kids and other kids where uniforms were ironed. DH and kids who need them but good quality no crease business shirts, cost a pretty penny but totally worth it. Oodles of clothes these days don’t require ironing so why but those that do?

Agreed

I iron most things, except socks, underwear and towels. I have never owned a tumble dryer and most of my clothes and bed linen are cotton so they look and feel much better ironed. Sometimes in the summer when things have lined dried in a good breeze which has resulted in no creases, then I can dispense with the iron. I always iron with the TV, radio or music on and quite enjoy it. Hoovering on the other hand, I have always hated.

I don't notice whether or not someone has ironed their clothes - it is not even on my radar. I suppose I might notice if they were extremely crumpled.

Ultimately I don't think that the most interesting thing about any person is their ironing preferences, or that anyone lies on their deathbed thinking 'thank goodness I did all that ironing', or 'I wish I had ironed more'. So I stand by my statement earlier in the thread that it really doesn't matter.

This forum never ceases to amaze