to think that all these people who say they 'don't iron' much be walking around looking crumpled and welll.....a bit scruffy?

[VinegarTits]

You must iron some things, like shirts and uniforms?

go on admit it

i do use the no iron comfort

I think thinking about the day to day tasks too much and never looking outside of that to the wider picture and what you might achieve in your life holds a lot of women back and plenty have no desire to earn a large amount anyway. It's a matter of personal preference. I had a few weeks in October when I worked to 1am I think about 5 nights a week. I chose to do that. I earned quite a bit of money. I certainly wasn't ironing. I get sick of my sister whom I hope doesn't read this site, emailing complaining about laundry - there's at least 1 email a week at great length about her laundry problems. She earns 10x an hour what she'd pay someone else to do it and secondly she's not very efficient at it but I've had 25 years of domestic efficiency as a mother and she's newer to it so that might be the reason. The secret is not to let domestic tasks build up.

"Life is too short for Ironing and cold cups of tea" is my motto

oh for a cleaner, or the funds for one

I don't iron. I don't wear fleeces, I just don't wear shirts. I hang all the clothes up to dry, usually on the washing line so the creases get blown out, unless they are easily tumble-dryable like pants, socks , jeans. Then it all gets hung up in the cupboards.

I can assure you I haven't touched an iron in 3 years, probaby longer. And I don't have storage in my house, so the ironing board is in a tiny cupboard which is blocked by the washing machine, I have no desire to either a) haul out the washing machine if I want to iron or b) have the ironing board on permanent display in the open plan living / dining room.

If I had a utility room I would happily iron things.

I might earn £X an hour, but every hour that I spend not doing household chores does not magically turn into an hour where I am earning money - it's like Bill Gates being too rich to pick up a £50 note: he doesn't lose 30 seconds of earnings if he bends down to pick it up and I don't gain an hour of paid employment just because I'm not doing the ironing.

Life is far too short to iron unless you HAVE to. When there are books to be read, MN to browse, children to play with...

Non iron shirts, ladies! Charles Tyrwhitt for DH, M&S for DD, I don't wear shirts for work (M&S portfolio range doesn't crease if you hang it right while drying)

If I have anything that needs to be ironed (1 pair of linen mix trousers, 1 skirt to my recollection), I do it 5 mins before it goes on. DH does his own. I only iron DD's party dresses and only on an ad-hoc basis.

Who the f irons underwear?? Or bedding??? Or towels???????????

OP, you're mad as a box of frogs.

And since when is 'life too short?' it's quite bloody long for most people actually and I would like to spend it looking like I gave a crap about my appearance. I also think that 'life's too short' is a cop-out most people come up with when trying to justify not doing something they don't fancy.

I iron absolutely nothing ever.I did when had dcs at school but no longer.I dont care if people think we are scruffy-I think they use precious time on a pointless activity.I use a combination of non iron shirts,a tumble dryer and some judicious shaking/hanging.Wouldnt dream of ironing bedding.We are clean,scruffy and content.

Indeed, we all pick what we enjoy. I adore my work and preer that to ironing and washing so I pay someone to come in 5 days a week to do the cleaning and washing and to put it away which is just as important as that's pretty time consuming in a big family. I do find it good for my immortal soul though that she's away in the summer so I have 4 or 5 weeks to remember how boring housework etc really is and it reminds me how the other half live who don't earn what I do and shows me I can easily do that stuff if times became hard again.

(And I loko pretty good by the way ven though I don't iron but that's because of my genes and that I don't eat junk food and I'm happy - a smile is one of the best ways to look good but so many people go around looking so miserable probaboly because they've been doing hated ironing! or they aren't getting enough sex)

I enjoy ironing. I have just re-ironed my work trousers as dh had not done them to my satisfaction.

But I could not care less what other people do, it's none of my business.

So I think the op is being unreasonable.

Whether we care how we look is a very interesting topic. My looks are about 5% of who I am and as they fade into my late 50s or 60s it won't matter because I have my rather nice career and 5 lovely children and lots of hobbies and hopefully some grandchildren. but I do like to look good. It gives me some pleasure to go into a room and be reasonable looking compared to others. I quite like being the most over dressed, the only one in high heels or whatever but that's just a bit of fun. It's good when people look at you. I don't even mind woolf whistles occasionally. But it's a tiny tiny part of my life.

lisasimpson - I don't iron but I do give a crap about my appearance. It's perfectly possible to look decent without ironing you know.

VinegarTits, you think we don't iron because we are lazy. I think you sit there judging others on the nick of their clothes because you realise you are wasting your entire life away at the ironing board and you desperately want to feel better about that sad fact.

Here's an alternative - stop being so bloody anal about ironing your sheets ffs!

Xenia you make an interesting point about day to day tasks taking over your life. There is one person in my family who is so consumed with the intricacies of daily living that she literally doesn't do anything else...

During my months as a SAHM I stayed sane by putting a strict limit on the amount of time I would spend each week on household chores. Without this I can see how they might become all consuming. I kept time for myself, even in the newborn days, to relax, read etc.. and I think this has helped me transition back into working life with ease. I freelance and work from home a lot, I'm also writing a book, so it's vital to me not to get sidetracked.

Having said that, I like a clean, tidy home and I like to look clean, tidy and well presented too. It is perfectly possible to do this in limited amounts of time, ironing (and other chores) need not take over.

Someone made a point earlier about ironing/chores and subserviency... just picking up on this, in our house, me and DH each have chores that are 'ours' and if the other person doesn't do them then no huge deal but it is slightly annoying. For example DH knows that I do all the laundry and most of the ironing, and I know that he takes out the recycling/rubbish, mows the lawn and does the cat litter. Is this subserviency to each other or just equal division of labour?

That's how most sensible people do it. It's hard to share tasks. When I was married we each had our own - I did our tax returns, he did the washing, he took the children to the dentist for 17 years, I combed and plaited the girls' hair and did school bags etc etc. As long as it's fair it's fine and we both had similar views about liking clean surfaces and things being tidy. It's when people differ on that whatever their sex that it's a problem. I am much happier now I don't have three children under 4 plus 2 of us working full time, that I can now have a tidy house. For a time it was impossible and I can't relax if there's a load of mess on surfaces. Trouble is 3 of the children have come back after university with possessions... so my plan to empty the house never seems quite to happen and in due course I'll haev another 2 teenagers and probably grandchildren around and be baby proofing the house again.

Actually, lisasimpson, my DH was given 6 years to live 10 years ago (and thank God for Barts hospital and the University of Michigan's research department otherwise I'd be a widow right now) so you'll forgive me for saying yes, life is too fucking short, every day he's in remission is precious and I'd much rather spend time with him and DD than faff around with an ironing board.

And I'm actually rather well-groomed should the need arise so just...

Sorry, but your post is mean-spirited in the extreme and you have made me really upset!

Gosh yes with five children you could have a lot of grandchildren running around the house in years to come. Messy, but what a lovely thing to look forward to!

Very. I might even get 25 if they all have 5 each but hopefully there will be one grandchild by the time the 11 year olds have left university so I will have had continous children since I was age 22 which is rather nice if you like children.

yes well I did say most people fruitbeard and anyone else who has a good excuse.

Excuse???

Oh, biscuits to you, you small minded judgeypants

Fruitbeard oh leave her be. Anyone with that much spare time to worry about the state of other people's clothes should get a hobby frankly.