S/o Do you iron your sheets?

[J-rap]

No, but my 89-year-old mother still irons all of her sheets!  I feel guilty whenever I'm at her house helping her with her laundry and I just take them from the dryer, fold them, and put them away.  She likes them to be crisp and smooth with seams.  I do like them that way, but it's definitely not worth the time.

 

I don't iron very much, mostly just a blouse now and then or a nice pair of pants that have gotten wrinkly.  My dh learned a long time ago that it costs $2.25 per shirt to have someone wash, slightly starch and iron his shirts at a dry cleaners.  This is a luxury we afforded ourselves even when we were cutting back on almost everything else.  (He needed them for his work.)

[mellifera33]

Once in a while I iron a wrinkly dress shirt, but I generally only iron if I am sewing and need to press seams. Every time I go to Costco I look at the steamers and wonder if I should buy one, but I've survived without one so far, so...

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

My dh learned a long time ago that it costs $2.25 per shirt to have someone wash, slightly starch and iron his shirts at a dry cleaners.  This is a luxury we afforded ourselves even when we were cutting back on almost everything else.  (He needed them for his work.)

 

Here too. When we were very broke, I tried home washing and ironing them. They made me cry every single time, because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist and I could never get them "right." We both decided that it was better for my sanity to keep the shirts going to the laundry and trim the budget elsewhere :lol: 

[shawthorne44]

True story--I have an aunt who is an uber-housewife. She irons her husband's work shirts twice. The first time before she hangs them because she "hates seeing a closet full of wrinkly shirts" and the second time before he wears them "to get rid of the hanging lines".

 

I don't know if she still does, but my mother used to iron my father's white knit underwear.  For some of my teenage years, ironing was one of my chores.    I flat refused to iron Dad's knit underpants.   I mean they had streaks in them.   

[Bluegoat]

No, but my mom does.

 

One reason people used to iron sheets was lice and bed-bugs.

[Mothersweets]

When I fold clothes, I try to do it right after the cycle is done. Most things are not wrinkly, but even things that are a bit wrinkly will smooth out once folded and cooled off. If I don't get to a load until it's been sitting for awhile (even days), I dampen a sock (or use something damp from the next load), toss it back in the dryer, and run it for a couple of minutes. That's almost always enough to dewrinkle the majority of the load.

 

Sometimes I'll be able to fold most of the load and will have just a couple of stubborn items left over. I'll usually just throw them in with the next load and make sure I catch it all coming out.

 

If your clothes are coming out of the hot dryer all wrinkled, you might want to consider whether you're overloading the dryer. Of course, some fabrics just won't come out unwrinkled. I don't buy those :lol:

 

Thanks, I'll give that a try (but I still enjoy ironing  :laugh: ) although I don't think I'm overloading the dryer but I know my dryer does run hot. Maybe I think things are more wrinkly than they really are and after I hang up a shirt and then wear it a few days later it won't be as wrinkled as I think it is. Does this make any sense? :) What I mean is - perhaps I am seeing things as more wrinkled than they truly are. I sure don't notice other people looking wrinkled. 

 

I love ironing. I love the peacefulness of it- the swishy noise of the steam and and the beautiful clean laundry smell. It makes me happy. If I had more time I would probably iron a lot more. For now, I regularly iron my husband's work shirts, a few of my shirts or dresses, the napkins for our Sunday dinner, and various other things when needed. I love the crispness of our cloth napkins. It just makes me feel so special with our Sunday dinner. I don't really have time to iron them for everyday. I do have a nice iron that my Grandma gave me before she died- it works wonderfully and reminds me of her.

 

I don't regularly iron our sheets but just take them warm out of the dryer and put them right on our bed. They are crisp and wrinkle free and so very nice. I bought super high quality ones so that helps too. :)

 

 

Yes! This! It's peaceful and soothing and satisfying and makes me feel grounded. 

[BlessedMom]

Nope!

[Liz CA]

No way.

 

Sometimes I think about all the things my grandmother had to do to keep house and cook. It was all so time consuming and I don't understand how she ever had the time.

 

They didn't have internet, outside jobs or cell phones.  :lol:

 

My iron lives a life of leisure...

[bettyandbob]

I would iron regularly if I had a job that required clothing that needed ironing. I used to iron every morning before work.

 

Dh used to do his own shirts. He sends his shirts out now.

 

I iron table cloths once a year for holidays. I might iron if I'm dressing for something​. There's no reason to iron anything else.

[Word Nerd]

:lol:

[sassenach]

Never, not once in my entire life have I ironed sheets. I probably use our iron 3-4 times a year.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Thanks, I'll give that a try (but I still enjoy ironing  :laugh: ) although I don't think I'm overloading the dryer but I know my dryer does run hot. Maybe I think things are more wrinkly than they really are and after I hang up a shirt and then wear it a few days later it won't be as wrinkled as I think it is. Does this make any sense? :) What I mean is - perhaps I am seeing things as more wrinkled than they truly are. I sure don't notice other people looking wrinkled. 

 

Well, I can't help you with that *cough* weirdo! *cough* :lol: But if you're washing/drying woven cotton tops (or pants or whatever), then that may be the problem. DH does have some wrinkle-resistant dress shirts, and if I can get those out of the dryer quickly, they still look eeeever so slightly wrinkly, but he says that after wearing them for 10 minutes, they're totally fine. Only you can decide if they're smooth enough for you, though! Fortunately, your penchant for wrinkle-prone materials dovetails nicely with your selected Zen-inducing activity  :thumbup:

Edited May 17, 2017 by ILiveInFlipFlops

[Seasider]

Not if I lived a million years.

[scrapbookbuzz]

I had a neighbor, about 30 years older than me, that did. I remember thinking, "Why??"

People are going to sleep on those sheets and won't really care if they're ironed and starch.

Way more work than is necessary or needed!

[catz]

Hahahaha!  No, never.  I barely iron dress clothes and that is usually done frantically 20 minutes before we need to walk out the door for something.

[HS Mom in NC]

No, I'm not a psychopath.

 

I don't own clothes that need ironing. 

 

I only iron/press when I quilt because that's how quilting works. I'm currently up to my eyeballs in an English paper piecing project, so I'm using my mini iron to starch and press the fabric edges around my paper pieces.

[Mbelle]

No way!  

 

DH sends his dress shirts off to be laundered.  

 

I iron 1 or 2 items per month.  

[Tess in the Burbs]

Hell no.  I don't iron clothes unless it's a dire emergency.  

 

My mother irons sheets.  And clothes.  I do not. 

[bettyandbob]

30 years ago I stayed at my parents overnight for a job interview. In the morning before the interview, I ironed the front of my blouse. My mom was horrified. I told her I wasn't taking my suit jacket off so there was no need to do sleeves, shoulders or back.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

30 years ago I stayed at my parents overnight for a job interview. In the morning before the interview, I ironed the front of my blouse. My mom was horrified. I told her I wasn't taking my suit jacket off so there was no need to do sleeves, shoulders or back.

 

Oh man, I would consider that an open invitation to fate to somehow manage to wreck my jacket and make it so that I have to take it off. I refuse to wear pajamas in the car, even for a quick errand (there's a famous family story about a late-night pickup with the driver in PJs and a fender bender), and I always make the kids take shoes in the car, just in case.

 

You're a brave soul!

[maize]

Nope.

[Wheres Toto]

I use my iron maybe once or twice a week. I line dry most of my blouses and they get wrinkly. 

 

I don't understand how most of you don't need to iron anything. How do you prevent your clothing from being wrinkled? I mean, even after pulling something right out of the dryer it is still a little bit wrinkly. What am I missing here?

 

Now that I think about it, I find ironing to be soothing. There is something satisfying in turning a crumpled piece of fabric into a smooth, wrinkle-free shirt. It's like I'm able to fix something right away and have it stay nice (at least until it's worn). 

 

The kids live in sweats or leggings and t-shirts.  Dd's dresses for church all come out of the dryer wrinkle free except one of them, and that one isn't too bad just slightly crinkly.

 

Dh's work shirts are wrinkle-free but the older ones may look crinkly, mostly around the collars.  He doesn't care for day-to-day.

 

I wear jeans or leggings, and t-shirts most of the time.  When I worked, I wore jeans and blouses that were wash and wear.  Lots of cardigan sweaters.  

 

Around here we could send dh's shirts out for a wash, dry and iron for 99 cents, so that's what we'd probably do if he needed dress shirts daily.

[Amber in SJ]

I don't iron anything.  We borrowed a steamer for dd's wedding dress.  My Dh is a 47 yo man.  If he wants a shirt that is less wrinkled than the ones that I hung up out of the dryer then he uses the iron to do so.  You might even say it is his iron because he is the only one who uses it for clothes.  Sometimes he will look at ds dressed for church & say, "Give me your shirt!" and run the iron over it.  I am more likely to throw something in the dryer with a damp towel.  When my son has not hung up his button-down shirt & suit after wearing and it is a wrinkled mess, I have him hang it up and hang it in the bathroom while he & his siblings take turns in the shower.  Usually a couple of steamy showers later and it looks decent.  After looking at all of this it seems amazing the lengths I will go to to avoid ironing :)

 

 

I did spend a week living out of a small bag where I had to look professional, so each evening, I'd get out my outfit, hang it on a hanger on the closet door, spray it generously with Downy wrinkle release and by morning it would be soft, dry, wrinkle free and nicely scented.  

 

Amber in SJ

[Alittledeal]

When I was 11 and started secondary schoo I started getting pocket money, a later bed time and various other priviledges. Along with these came some new responsibities. One of these was that I had to do my own ironing. So I've been ironing all my clothes since then. Bedsheets were too big a task then but I have been doing them since I was about 16 and freshly ironed aheets are the best thing to climb into so I'll probably continue for a while yet.

[marbel]

Once while staying in a B&B in Scotland, I walked into the kitchen and saw the innkeeper ironing the sheets.  I was stunned; she was stunned at my reaction. She said people expected nice smooth sheets. I told her she did not have to iron ours, but she said there was no way she was having unironed sheets on any of her beds.  

[Laura Corin]

Our housekeeper from the Philippines ironed everything because it killed the eggs of potentially parasitic insects.

 

I don't iron anything. Our duvet covers have a seersucker top.

[DawnM]

Nope.  Never

[freesia]

Yeah, no. Not at all.

 

And, furthermore, I talked my English friend out of it when she had a newborn and she talked her sisters out of it.  So, not only do I not iron sheets, I am responsible for an entire other family not ironing sheets.

 

Now, when I lived in Africa my sheets were ironed (by my househelp, not I) b/c of bugs which laid eggs which burrowed into your skin and. . . . well, enough said about that.  But that is the only sheet ironing exception in my life.

 

And, I don't iron my dh's shirts. I offered to drop them off at the dry cleaners, but he irons them during baseball season--which, fortunately is long,  and I don't know what he does from Nov-Feb.

[Mom-ninja.]

I saw the good old days thread with the woman ironing her sheets. I know it used to be common. Does anyone still do it?

:smilielol5:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although, I have been thinking that having my ds iron pillow cases, tablecloths, and cloth napkins as a good place to start learning how to iron. Then I'll have him move to shirts.

[Seasider]

No, I'm not a psychopath.

 

I don't own clothes that need ironing.

 

I only iron/press when I quilt because that's how quilting works. I'm currently up to my eyeballs in an English paper piecing project, so I'm using my mini iron to starch and press the fabric edges around my paper pieces.

I bought a mini iron for quilting but was disappointed that it was so light, it wouldn't stand up on its own. It just sort of flopped whichever way the cord leaned. Do you have a recommendation for a good weighty one?

[Zinnia]

I iron napkins for special occasions.  

 

When I'm stressed out, I iron all the napkins, pillowcases, and the sheets.  Ironing is very soothing to me, but I don't have time/make time to do it on the regular.  And shirts don't soothe me at all (weird?), so I send those out.

[Word Nerd]

No, I'm not a psychopath.

 

:smilielol5:

[HS Mom in NC]

I bought a mini iron for quilting but was disappointed that it was so light, it wouldn't stand up on its own. It just sort of flopped whichever way the cord leaned. Do you have a recommendation for a good weighty one?

 

Weighty ones don't work for what I do.  I use this red and white model in the video at the highest setting.  I spray spray starch into a jar or drinking glass (it starts our foam but becomes liquid quickly) then use a paint brush to brush the starch on the edge of the fabric. Then I use the mini iron to press it around the template. It edge stays pressed over perfectly.  A heavy iron would make that much harder.

 

 

 

[heartlikealion]

I don't even know how one would do that. I mean, the sheets would be hanging off the board and dragging all over the floor. We have California King but I imagine this would happen for anything other than say, crib/toddler sheets lol

[Alice]

:smilielol5:

[mamaraby]

Heck no. I own a very nice iron, though it's more likely used for quilting or perler beads than for clothes. I have ironed a few items for clothing for dh over the years, but mostly I'm a remove from dryer promptly and hang or fold kind of gal.

[gstharr]

If you must iron, this will make anything come out looking professionally laundered. http://www.rowenta.com/Linen-Care/Steam-Station/PERFECT-STEAM-DG8520/p/1830004439. I use an older model  to do 6 dress shirts a week. No starch and the creases hold all day.   It takes a while to heat up, when it is charged, it shoots  a 3 ft blast of steam.  I don't iron in my undies for fear of what an errant blast would do.

[rebcoola]

Nope never iron anything.  My grandmother irons everything, jeans, sheets, underwear and even cloth diapers.

[alisoncooks]

I don't iron. I run to the dryer when the cycle ends to take out clothes before they wrinkle. :p

We moved into this house 11 year ago, and I put the iron in the closet. It has not been used once.

 

FWIW, I have used a (hair) flat iron to straighten the collar on DH's dress shirt once. Worked like a charm.

[EMS83]

I didn't even used to own an iron.  I eventually got a hand-me-down from a friend.  And I still haven't used it. Thankfully DH is not in a line of work that requires ironing. 

[Carol in Cal.]

I don't even know how one would do that. I mean, the sheets would be hanging off the board and dragging all over the floor. We have California King but I imagine this would happen for anything other than say, crib/toddler sheets lol

 

Pretty much the assumption is that your floors are clean enough that this wouldn't matter.

 

I join you in LOL.

[Carol in Cal.]

For perfect sheets--hang them outside on a clothes line.  They will dry quickly and soak up a delightful fresh smell that they will send into your house for days.  And they are slightly crisper when dried this way than from a clothes dryer, which I think feels really nice.

 

What I iron:  Tablecloths.  And not always.  I just wish I knew exactly what to do with them afterwards. 

[MEmama]

 

FWIW, I have used a (hair) flat iron to straighten the collar on DH's dress shirt once. Worked like a charm.

Genius! ðŸ‘

[Seeking Squirrels]

I only own an iron for sewing purposes. For everything else, I use the dryer or don't care! I cannot see any point whatsoever in ironing sheets! Dh occasionally irons a dress shirt if he has an interview or something. 

 

Ok, actually, that's not entirely true I just realized. My 8yo has a couple of ruffle/layered dresses that fold up horribly even if you pull them out of the dryer quickly. I don't have to iron them every time, we usually just don't care if it's perfect. But every once in a while when it starts getting really bent out of shape I find the iron. 

[mommyoffive]

I never iron anything.   I would never in a million years even think to iron sheets.  

 

I thought I got rid of our iron, but just randomly saw it.   I should though. 

[rebcoola]

I never iron anything.  My grandma irons everything even cloth diapers.

[Audrey]

Yes.  But, I like to iron. 

 

I'm pretty sure I'm not a psychopath.

 

I do not judge unironed sheets or the people who prefer them.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2017 by Audrey

[Stacia]

I don't even know how one would do that. I mean, the sheets would be hanging off the board and dragging all over the floor. We have California King but I imagine this would happen for anything other than say, crib/toddler sheets lol

 

Yeah, that's what I keep imagining too.

 

The only way I can see doing it is to put the fitted sheet on the bed, then iron it while it is on the bed. Seems simpler, no? (We don't use top sheets because we use duvets.) Sheet ironers -- can it be done this way or is that heresy?

 

The entire idea seems confusing to me, but I imagine ironed sheets *do* feel nice.

[Misha]

😂 Joke, right?

 

If not, I can tell you that I have never even considered ironing bed linens.

 

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk

[KungFuPanda]

Yes. But, I like to iron.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm not a psychopath.

 

I do not judge unironed sheets or the people who prefer them.

Wait, are you the one who washes her windows every day?