Avoid or Lessen Your Ironing
If you don't like ironing or you simply haven't much time to indulge in this necessary chore, here are some tips to avoid or reduce your ironing load. Wrinkling or creasing of clothes and other fabric items is caused by heat and/or pressure. If you can remove these two causes as quickly as possible during the laundry process, you'll be having fun instead of ironing!
Contents
Steps
- Use the permanent-press cycle. This cycle was invented to reduce the creasing of clothes and other items.
- Reduce the washing load. Don't jam the clothes into your washing machine. They need room to spin around; the closer the clothes are compacted during the washing cycle, the more they are likely to come out creased, squashed and probably inadequately cleaned.
- Keep heavy items separate. Don't mix heavy and light clothing and fabrics. The heavy ones will press onto the light ones and crease them. So keep dainty blouses away from denim overalls.
- Don't over-dry your clothes. Taking away all the moisture encourages wrinkling. Stop the dryer cycle a little earlier if necessary and bring clothes in from outside while they are still slightly damp. Or, if your dryer has a permanent-press option, use it because it is injecting a cooler air flow through the clothing towards the end of the cycle, thus cooling down the clothes and reducing the possibility of wrinkles.
- Balance the dryer load. Don't overload your dryer, leave it about 1/3 to 1/4 empty. This will result in evenly dried clothing, as well as less wrinkling.
- Dryer-iron. If you use a dryer, fold clothes as soon as the cycle ends, while the clothes are still warm. This is a neat trick that will act almost like the warmth of an iron in preventing creases. Even if you only fold them into the clothes basket for ironing later, this will massively reduce the time spent ironing as creases will be few and far between.
- Hang immediately. Whether you dry using a clothesline, a dryer, or a line in your laundry, use plastic hangers to hang the wet clothes up. Give the clothes a good shake first to remove water and budding wrinkles. Hanging allows the wrinkles to drop out and reduces the need for a thorough iron should you still have to iron the item.
- Think, 'Does it really need ironing?. There are some things that really do not need to be ironed unless you're a fanatic. Think of which things you don't really mind un-ironed: underpants, socks, sheets (you can still do the pillowcases if you must for show), bras, throw rugs, etc.
- Buy wrinkle-free clothes. Nowadays many different fabrics are wrinkle-free. However, be careful of what method makes the clothing wrinkle-free - avoid those that are chemically treated.
- Divide the ironing chores. Each person in a household should be responsible for ironing his or her own clothes after the age of twelve. This lessens the load on the chief ironer and is a fair approach to household chores. It also teaches non-ironing spouses, partners and children about self-responsibility and they soon learn how to lessen the load!
- Invest in a garment steamer. A trick of the trade among fashion retailers, steamers give a clean, crisp look in about a quarter of the time with no damage to any fabric what-so-ever. A cheaper alternative is to use a plant mister to spray any wrinkled areas you find with water, and hang the clothing until it is dry.
- A last ditch option. Give your clothes a very brief run through the shower, put on hangers, shake well and hang until dry (useful while traveling).
Tips
- Scented water and a good TV show or interesting radio program make ironing more pleasant!
- To lessen the time spent ironing, pay close attention to the ironing temperatures for fabrics; the wrong temperature can slow down the process or even ruin the garment.
- Proper storage and hanging clothes away is an investment in your time and your clothes. Clothes thrown on the floor will crease and deteriorate. Clothes hung up immediately after wearing will not crease and will endure.
- Be aware that wrinkle-free clothing loses its permanent press or wrinkle-free finish with repeated washing and use over time. Then, these clothes need to be treated the same as other clothes above.
- If heat or basket storage has set the wrinkles, unfortunately, the only solution is to iron them out. Severe creasing will require sprays of distilled water to flatten out the creases.
- Dry-cleaning is hard on your clothes and the chemicals are not good for you, the dry-cleaning staff, or the environment. If you want to resort to dry-cleaning, find an organic dry-cleaner or one that uses high-pressured water only.
- The use of sizing will help relax the fibers in the fabric, making wrinkles come out easier when you need to iron.
Warnings
- Don't hang wet clothes on wooden hangers - the dampness may leach the wood colouring into the clothing and stain it.
- Don't leave slightly damp clothes/laundry in a basket or pile - they will become musty and possibly even moldy, which will necessitate re-washing (more time) or if really moldy, you might have to toss things away.
- Keep small children away from irons in use. Keep cords on irons tucked away during storage and use, so that children and pets can't pull an iron down.
