Office Goers - How Do You Manage Ironing Your Clothes? I Am Fed up

virhlpool on 13/02/2016 - 14:52
Last edited 14/02/2016 - 09:42 by 1 other user

Hi Guys,

I know it's a silly question but it's become a big pain in my life. I spend almost 1 to 2 hrs a week ironing my clothes. I feel it's too much time for just maintaining the clothes. I work in a small company's corporate office and hence can't wear casual clothes (which normally don't require too much of ironing). I wear formal shirt (generally pure cotton) and trouser to the office - don't wear suits normally. But, this is causing so much of time management issue. Not that I don't have one-two hours extra for ironing but sometimes I am tired and lazy and sometimes I am out in the weekends. During working days, it's anyway difficult to spare time for it after coming home exhausted, late in the evening. How do you guys cope up with this stuff? Any tips in terms of ironing OR management/selection of clothing? Your tips and experiences will be appreciated.

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  [Deactivated] on 13/02/2016 - 15:37

  +4

  When you actually hang out the washing, make sure you flap the wrinkles out first after removing from machine, before hanging. Hang the washing on the line using coat hangers or instead of taking down into a basket, take down onto a coat hanger and hang up straight away. Rethink fabric choice - cotton is good, but if you go for a blend instead of 100% (for eg 70% cotton, 30% polyester) - it will be easier to iron/not have to iron (without making you hot and stinky).

  Source: I've not ironed in 5 months.

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    virhlpool on 13/02/2016 - 15:55

    "Flap the wrinkles out first" looks to be the toughest part though, more so for cotton clothes. At times it doesn't work even after flapping like 5 times up and down.

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      [Deactivated] on 13/02/2016 - 16:16

      +1

      Ie - As soon as it's finished, take the clothes out individually (don't drag out that ball of material and let it sit drying crumpled whilst you get around to hanging and flapping the rest), flap them into basket, flap before hanging. For me, most wrinkles (even in cotton, maybe try adding some fabric softener/white vinegar to the end of your wash) come out quickly, and I enjoy the cracking sound - like a whip!

      But, honestly? You will likely not get away with wearing an 100% cotton dress shirt and not ironing it - get a blend. I know most people baulk at this - but if you think about fabric make up as technology, rather than focusing on purity… are you gonna keep your 3310 cos its unbreakable, or get an iPhone, cos technology has advanced?

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  bluesky on 15/02/2016 - 01:37

  +1

  Get some non-iron business shirts. In addition, also follow the advice given above. And I think they will do nicely :-)

  Out of curiosity, I just did a google on non-iron business shirts and found a few places that sell them. The first ones I came across were these, selling for $40.)
  But I have no personal experience, hence, cannot comment on how good these are.

  • 

    virhlpool on 15/02/2016 - 11:11

    Thanks, mate!

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    Hellfire on 16/02/2016 - 10:26

    +1

    +1

    Non-iron shirts are super easy. You still need to take care like hanging them to dry. Plus they generally require a quick iron for a couple of minutes. I wouldn't go back to regular shirts again.

    Another option is to use a wash and iron service. 5 business shirts normally costs around $12-15.

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  Euphemistic on 16/02/2016 - 07:02

  Tumble dry then hang works fairly well too. While they are drying it is good to have them out in the breeze so they flap around and helps remove creases, hanging indoors doesn't work so well.

  You aren't going to get the same crisply ironed shirts, but they have a lot less creases.

  I never iron trousers, but always ensure they are hung up.

  Edit: you might want to polish your ironing technique. I just did 4shrits in about 15min. I'm not going to win awards for my ironing, but I can't see how it would take much longer to iron a shirt to do it properly. I usually only iron shirts for work and the occasional weekend going out shirt, but wouldn't spend anywhere near 1-2hrs on them. Probably more like 30min a week, and only 5-10minutes at a time to do a couple of shirts for the next couple of days.

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  angelkulit025 on 16/02/2016 - 10:28

  Just get someone to iron it for you. Post an ad on gumtree and someone will be happy to do it for you.