Things you can’t get your head round, e.g Non ironers

[Supersares]

Is it just me or does anyone else not understand how people who don’t iron manage ? Whenever someone tells me they don’t iron my brain can’t compute how they manage to have clothes looking crinkle free- without consciously buying clothes that don’t need ironing! I hang clothes on coat hangers, fold consciously to avoid creasing but still have to iron things like blouses, dh shirts and my dd school skirts, for example. Do I need to buy better quality clothing, is that the key? Can any non ironers out there share their secrets please 😀🤓

I iron bedding because it looks and feels nicer when smooth.

@DungballInADress i hang the socks up in pairs as I hang the load of washing out. Any odd ones just get put in the relevant person’s drawer once dry and get paired when their other half appears (usually in the next wash unless it belongs to a teenager in which case it could fester for months before making it as far as the laundry basket). Odd socks are not a problem for me which is incredible as I seem to find housework in general more of a task than many on mn do

I don’t even own an iron.

Non ironer here. I don't ever buy linen clothes. I buy jersey dresses and hang them straight on hangers and then on the washing line overnight so they get the morning dew knocking any persistent creases out as they dry, also good if it rains on them while they're out there (same affect on creases).

Cotton t-shirts same or in dryer and then hung on coat hanger while still hot and very slightly damp.

Trousers are hung foot end first from line so the weight of pockets/buttons/zips/waistband pulls down on the creases in the fabric as they dry.

Pure bleach goes down toilets and sink plug holes and Flash with bleach great for kitchen work surfaces as it removes tea stains as well as disinfecting.

Because bleach doesn't have any cleaning agents in it, it's bad for your pipes and just not needed unless you're bleaching something or people have stomach bugs.

I don't understand why people use bleach for cleaning. It's weird.

I used to iron everything religiously. Then I became ill and had to cut back and it was like a revelation.
I now don't iron anything, my time is spent doing something more worthwhile and enjoyable instead. Plus it saves energy consumption and so helps environmentally. If someone is judgy about unironed clothes it's up to them, but in most cases you wouldn't know. I look back at the many years I spent stuck at the ironong board with regret now.

I haven’t ironed for over thirty years. MIL showed me how to dry washing over radiators so it steams out its own creases. Large items like sheets and duvet covers are straightened out, then folded neatly before putting on the radiator.
I live in t shirts and jeans now anyway, so wouldn’t have ironed those in the first place.

I don't iron but that doesn't mean DH doesn't 😉he does his shirts and dc school uniforms.

I have some linen skirts and linen culottes. Objectively I recognise they would look better ironed but I dry them hanging up and once I've sat in the car to go to work (where I sit at a desk) they're creased anyway. So for me I don't really see the point.

I don't understand how people can not separate their washing into colours. How can someone merrily put a mixture in the machine and not have the pang of fear it will all come out grey?!

I don't iron , don't own an ironing board .

Anything that needs to be grease free is vigorously shaken coming out of the wash and then hung up correctly .

Usually hung in the steamy bathroom for an extra crease drop

I don't really have much that needs ironing 😂 although I am considering buying a steamer

I don't iron. I don't buy clothes that need ironing and I have a huge wardrobe for creases to naturally fall

MIL irons socks ffs.

I don't calorie count salads. But I know A LOT of people who do! I don't get it. Half a cucumber here, a few tomatoes, some spring onions....

Washing clothes because they are creased?! I thought that washing after half a day wear was bad enough. Amazed what people can come up with.

Or they could have read any / all the posts in the thread above mine.

Or they could have asked the question without the full paragraph of 'don't you know everyone will see your creased clothes and think you can't do a job properly' prior to it.

Go back and read the whole post out loud. If you still can't hear the tone, I don't know how to help you any more.

As for the poster who said what is the point of ironing when the clothes look creased again so quickly, you might as well apply the same logic to cleaning, vacuuming, tidying - it all soon needs doing again.

That's not the same at all. If you don't clean a bathroom, the dirt builds up and builds up and becomes disgusting.
If you don't iron a t shirt, it's creased while you wear it, and then you wash it and it ends up in the same state it was before.

I don’t iron because I don’t care enough about it. There’s plenty of things I DO care about in life that I’ll put my time and energy into instead.

If DH needs a shirt (rare) he’ll iron it himself. Kids don’t GAF , and if they did they could iron school shirts themselves.

I do think a lot of this debate is how much you care what other people think of you and the perceived judgement. I don’t.

I tumble dry what I can so whatever comes out warm just gets folded well with no creases and what can't be tumble dried gets stretched out and neatly laid on a clothes horse/maiden/airer (or whatever regional name you have for it), or radiator. Nothing dries creased and as long as it's folded correctly, no creases will form.
My scrubs get left in the drier to dry overnight if I run out of time and when I get up for work I switch it on. The heat takes the creases out, I simply remove and fold them into my work bag.
Anything that is creased is usually only a little and I put on in the morning as you would normally do and by the time I leave the house they've warmed up on me and the creases fall out.
I don't really notice people out and about in messy clothes unless it's a work shirt, tunic or scrubs that's been left crumpled up.

You'd get the smell of weed, diesel, used Castrol GTX, dog shit and bins in some of the places I've lived that way. I don't even use the things because they can affect animals, but can still see why opening a window isn't necessarily a guarantee of fresh, crisp air.

I don't understand how people get all their socks to match. Are you checking your DCs only ever put a pair in the wash? Do you all have a magical atring thst connects them together? Brcsuse inevitably once a month, i sit of the floor with a huge basket of odd socks to play a real life pairs matching game

That's a strong case for Child Labour. It usually included a few barrages of sock missiles by the end of it, but from about 5, a lot of kids will quite happily get involved.

Poverty aside, where you often do see very unhygienic living conditions. Growing up, I noticed that there is a section of low income people who are very house proud as you describe here. Lots of bitching between the housewives about the house with dirty net curtains for example, viewing that housewife as lesser because she doesn't have the same immaculate standards as them. Whereas in richer homes you see a relaxation, not to the filthiest standards, but as you describe light switches that are dirty, dusty skirting boards etc. I wonder if it's about having nothing to prove to anyone? I know that having dusty old antique (often torn) muddy rugs and soft furnishings is often a marker of the upper/monied class, so wonder if there's a scale involved?

I don't understand how people get all their socks to match.

Oh I don't wear matching socks. I generally have black ones that just have the coloured toes and heels, or some coloured pattern on the sole, so if you saw them under my trousers you'd think they were just a matching black pair. I don't think it matters if one has a pink toe bit, and the other is blue.
And for running I just have plain white ankle socks which are all the same.

I did consciously choose fabric that doesn't crease for years.

Now I'm gradually changing to natural fibres as more comfortable and better environmentally. I have more money now so the linen/ things that need ironing get outsourced to an ironing service.

I hang most things to dry. I don't tumble dry.

Tbh I wore a linen dress yesterday and after about an hour it looked unironed anyway. I'm not really fussed unless it's an interview or wedding or something.

I like it too, I find everything goes back in drawers etc much neater.
Looking at Vinted really hurts my eyes, the amount of stuff that looks like it's been dug out of the bottom of the washing basket is shocking!

Ah ok thank you. I hang most after ironing and it gets put away a little bit after. But I think the general heat here sorts out those issues.

This is incorrect. We have silk duvet /pillows and linen bedsheets. We just find the creases acceptable (esp on the mattress sheet where the fabric is pulled taut anyway).

I iron bedding and tea towels. Ironing the bedding means I can fit it in the cupboard and ironing the tea towels means I can wash them at 30 degrees.

What I cannot understand is people who throw their food waste in the main bin when pretty much every council collects it for free and provides you with a little bin to store it in.

Oh yes, this! I won't buy anything if it's been photographed all creased. I see it as it's not been well looked after and been shoved at the bottom of a laundry basket or at the back of a cupboard.