Ironing crisis - I could use some advice

[clary]

I know how all of you love doing the ironing .
I have somewhat of an ironing crisis. I needed a new ironing board anyway, old one has got dented, now the cover's torn too. And last week my iron caught fire! This is the second time this has happeend to me and a colleague who "never" irons says it's a judgement on me for ironing too much lol.
Sent DS1 to school in unironed polo shirt twice last week
Anyway, hadn't bought new iron as had to check if inflamed one was still under guarantee (grr - just out of it!). Have now borrowed neighbour's as she's on holiday so at least DS1 looks smart for school today. But what I wanted to ask was; where do I find an ironing board - have a lovely one with solid stand for iron but cannot seem to find similar; AND is it really worth spending £250 on a super-dooper iron as a friend did? Will it really cut my 4hrs+ ironing each week? TIA.

clary, for £250 I'd get someone in to do mine for a year. That way you'd have a while to mull it over!

Good point Carla but I actually like the ironing (weird I know) and honestly wondered if it's worth the money...DH's shirts are a bit of a pain and woudl the £250-job make it quicker, or is it just emperor's new clothes?

I have one of those supe steam irons, but bought it half price at £75!!!

My cleaner is very happy about it and keeps telling my friend to get one as well!!
The steam power is much more than an average iron, but I would not ahve bought full price though. seems too much.
look in the sales!

Could you track one down on their website, give them a ring and see if they're demonstrating them anywhere? I know Stowe school had a mini Ideal Home Show a couple of years ago and they were demonstrating them there. For that money I'd certainly try before you buy.

I've got a Polti steam generator iron, it was about £160 and I think it was worth every single penny. It definately cuts ironing time and provides a better result for less effort, I couldn't go back to an ordinary iron. As far as the board goes you need to have a metal mesh ironing board to allow the steam to pass through, I got one from Argos (Beldray I think) that has an adjustable bit for propping up the iron so I sit the tank on the floor and prop the iron on the board. The board was around £45 so not terribly cheap either. I then put two JML ironing board covers on top of the existing ironing board cover which makes a really nice ironing surface (my Mum used to take in ironing and had the same kit, swore it made a difference so I figured I would just copy her ).

I had one of those v. expensive irons with separate tank & hated it.
-Even though the water was in the tank, the iron still felt very heavy compared with a steam iron.
-It took too long to heat up & be ready for action, so couldn't just quickly do the odd thing.
-You couoldn't refill the tank easily once in use, eg if having mamoth ironing session.
-The extra power needed kept cutting out the electrics so I kept having to run to the trip switches to restore power. Especially not much fun when ironing at night.
-I didn't really notice any significant imporovement in results.