On our trip in July, there was an unfortunate incident.
There is one member of our family (I won’t name names) who has an extreme aversion to . . .
Ummmm . . . .
(How exactly do I put this??)
. . . wet undies.
Now, before you defend this unnamed person, let me explain that I completely and totally agree that no one should have to walk around in wet undies. Really. But this Nameless Loved One tends to FREAK OUT at the tiniest bit of dampness caused by all sorts of things that others seem to not even notice.
Freak. Out.
Well, after driving ALL day and then getting settled in our hotel room to sleep before leaving for the airport VERY early the next morning, we were down to one pair of clean undies per person.
Max.
Add that edge-of-the-undie-cliff situation to the unfamiliarity of a hotel bathroom and shower, and I’m sure you can guess what happened.
This solitary pair of necessary undergarments for this certain wetnaphobe got wet.
Oh. The horror.
This resourceful mama looked around (completely missing the hairdryer hidden under the sink) and decided to iron these undies.
The Child Whom I’d Really Like to Name But I Won’t was properly appreciative.
And I was proud. In a wow-what-an-awesome-mom-I-am kind of way.
Until this Appreciative-But-Too-Honest Child asked: Do you do that, Mom?
Supermom: What? Iron underwear? No way. (Deep breath to prepare for further instructive witticisms.)
Child-Whom-I-Kind-of-Wish-Wasn’t-So-Honest: No, Mom. I mean iron. Do you iron?
Slob Mom: Yes!! I most certainly do iron! At least twice a year, thank you very much! You just don’t see me do it. You know that thing on the back of my closet door that pulls dow . . .
Will You Please Stop Talking Child: Oh mom, I don’t need to know all that. I just wanted to know if you ever iron.
Hmmmph.
--Nony
I rarely iron. It’s just not necessary these days…if we need something ironed, 95% of the time we toss it in the dryer on a quick steam cycle and it comes out de-wrinkled. Occasionally a dress shirt or pants or a stubborned ruffle on my girls clothes requires me to break out the iron. But, I avoid it if I can.
i know a person who would iron underwear always (and just about everything ironable). i don’t know how in the world she ever got on top of laundry…
My mother used to iron everything, including underwear, and still does. My kids noticed when they stayed with my parents and asked why I don’t iron, too. I told them we toss wrinkled items into the dryer with a damp towel in our house! I commend you for ironing those undies.
Oh kids!! They don’t know the half of what we do or think about. 🙂
I don’t much at all. One year when my mom came out to. Visit and was getting the iron & board out my little ones asked her what what was! LOL mom doesn’t let me forget that one.
I hang clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer just to avoid ironing! If something is a little crinkled or has a crease, usually a spritz with a spray bottle of water and a little smoothing or stretching fixes the problem.
Haha this so reminded me of my son. He was over at my sisters house. She is one to iron every single piece of clothing she is going to put on for the day (including undies). As she’s ironing my son asks her what she was doing, as he had never seen an ironing board before.
I don’t iron – I send my work clothes that have to be ironed out to a cleaners. It’s not very expensive and saves me a ton of time. Plus, I try not to have too many things in my closet that need ironed.
I do not iron at all, and I don’t feel the least little bit guilty about it. We make it a point to buy wrinkle resistant clothing (Land’s End makes great shirts that, though a bit pricey at times, last forever and really do not wrinkle), and I take it right out of the dryer and hang everything that needs to be hung. We never really need to iron. If we need a shirt or suit pressed for some reason, I take it to the drycleaners.
My grandmother ironed bedsheets and my grandfather’s handkerchiefs. She asked me once why I didn’t iron my husband’s handkerchiefs, and I said “because I don’t want to.” If he wanted such a thing done, he would do it himself. Fortunately, she laughed along with me.
We remodeled- and turned an office space into a permanent Laundry Room- lucky me! But I shopped and bought an really nice ironing board- to LEAVE OUT in the laundry room- it sat in the car for a few days- and each of my 3 children separately asked what it was- as they had never seen me or I guess anyone iron!!
When I was a child we steamed wrinkles out of wool suits and skirts by hanging them in the bathroom while taking a shower, or running them over the spout of a boiling tea kettle. People often only ironed the front and placket of shirts and just kept their jackets on. We had pants stretchers, which I still use. People are always impressed by the creases in my jeans and khakis.
Ironing. Just say no. And never, ever, ever feel guilty about it. We have the technology now so our things don’t wrinkle as long as we take them out of the dryer and hang them up right away. Ironing is an anachronism, not some test of moral fitness.
I actually love to iron. But I don’t have a place to leave it set up. See how I am? You have a window to my soul, now. I am lazy. I hate to take it out and set it up, iron one shirt, and then put it all away. So I endeavor NOT to buy things that will need ironing. It’s not that hard. Somethings can be hung right out of the dryer. Other things might need a water spritz the night before wearing. Otherwise, I only iron for weddings, funerals, and job interviews. Seriously. But I do love to iron. 🙂
I don’t buy clothes that need to be ironed. When my younger son was in high school and decided he wanted to wear button down shirts to school, I taught him how to iron them himself. My ironing board is actually out right now, taking up space in my kitchen (I live in a condo where space is not designed very well). It is out because I am making a quilt and I need to press seams. And iron the fabric before cutting out the pieces. THAT’s what an iron is for!!
I don’t and am proud of it! Ironing is a waste of time in my opinion. I will for weddings but that’s about it.
I only iron when I’m sewing. Everything else gets sprayed with wrinkle releaser. I detest ironing.
When I sew costumes.
exactly
Ironing is against my religion.
It’s against mine, too, Julie. 😀
When my oldest was 6, he saw me pull out an iron for the first time… ‘What’s that, mom?” My reply: “Dear, this is an instrument of torture. It is evil.” My husband wears dress shirts and a tie every day, and I STILL don’t iron. …Except when I’m sewing and have to use interfacing or get a seam nice and flat, anyway 🙂
In high school I use to iron all the time because I had to wear and JROTC uniform three times a week and my mom was hell-bent on me saving money by using that “At home” dry cleaning kit. Once I started having my own cash flow I jut opted to let the professionals do it. To this day the only time I iron is when I have to sew (which hasn’t been in the last two years).
I actually have an ironing day now! For the last 17 years, my husband has been able to wear jeans and tee shirts to work but recently transferred to another department. Now, he has to wear button down shirts every day and the 17 year old dryer went kaupt. I now have to hang everything out to dry and then iron. As long as I hang everything out straight and smooth the worst of the creases while the items are still wet, the ironing goes pretty quickly. I still hate to iron though.
For those of you with an old dryer without a steam cycle, if you throw 4 or 5 ice cubes into the dryer with items to dewrinkle, it works really well.
Several years ago, we were helping my sister move into a new apartment. My 8 year-old was working his way around the piles of stuff in the living room, happened upon something completely new to him, and proclaimed, “Wow! Auntie has a surfboard!” 🙂 It was, of course an ironing board, and no, I don’t think he had ever seen one in his life!
If tossing an article of clothing in the dryer for a few minutes doesn’t remove wrinkles, I’ll toss it back in with a damp wash cloth. If that doesn’t work, it gets rewashed with the next load of clothes. So nope. Not only do I not iron, I don’t even own an iron anymore. 😀
I’m not entirely sure I know where my iron is, so no, I don’t iron. My hubby will iron his own clothes for weddings and interviews, but I still don’t iron mine.
My hubby is military… I feel the need to sew my own clothes, and I’m ashamed to say that even though I believe that time at the ironing board should be more time than spent at the sewing machine, hubby still pulls out the iron more than I do. And that’s what I’ve seen before he realized he still had his own iron and took it back onto the ship.
I iron outfits only for weddings,funerals, and job interviews. I find the dryer with a damp towel tossed in works fine on everything else.
So there was this time four years ago when my Sister-in-love was at our home for a visit with her three girls. My two youngest were 8 and 6 at the time. She asked if I had an iron and I was like uh of course. Let me find it. Then (horrors) she needed an ironing board. Um. Table? Anyway. She starts ironing her girls dresses. And my 6 yo says Ooooo what is that? And…can you do that to my dress? Seriously. This is real life.
Hahahaha!!!
My Mom used to sprinkle tons of school uniform blouses (6 girls in Catholic school) and then not iron! She’d put the blouses in the freezer to keep them from mildewing, so when we would tell her we had nothing to wear to school, she’d ask, “Have you checked the freezer?” I get the aversion to wet undies, but try wearing a frozen blouse!
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I do not understand. Was this an anti-wrinkle trick?
The sprinkling was to dampen the blouses to make the ironing more effective. Sort of like throwing something into the dryer with a damp towel is more effective at removing wrinkles than throwing it in the dryer alone.
I read labels carefully before I buy any item of clothing. If the label shows ironing required, I’ll put it back on the rack. I once bought myself a beautiful red silk blouse. Got it home and noticed the care label, requires ironing. I returned it to the store. I never even got a chance to wear it, and it was very beautiful.
I never iron and don’t care what people think lol! I will spray the item with starch and shake the wrinkles out….way easier! Every now and then i will have to throw it in the dryer. I swear by starch!
i… definitely own an iron. haven’t ironed in years tho. i have to wear button down shirts for work, but it is a uniform and shoddy quality, so ironing does me no service whatsoever. hubby no longer needs dress shirts, having quit retail to become a mechanic.