cff CONFESSIONS OF AN IRONING HATER | Simple and Serene Living

CONFESSIONS OF AN IRONING HATER

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

I have a confession to make about ironing. I hate it. I pretty much gave it up for lent years ago and never took the "bad habit" up again. 

Yes, I know that those of you who are younger are probably laughing and saying, "Ironing? What's that?". I've heard the same laughter about phone booths, jukeboxes on your table at the diner, and speaking to each other at the dinner table. 

chair with vintage linens


I do own an iron and it does a great job when I occasionally use it to iron vintage linens I am selling, but the other day I pulled a nice clean pair of pants out of my drawer to find that the wrinkle demon had visited them overnight. 

This called for some serious action, rather than my normal inaction, to get out that iron so as not to embarrass myself in public.

iron and ironing board

Now the burning question was, just where is that iron? After a frantic ten-minute search, which I was afraid was going to cost me my coveted place in the early morning line to get into the thrift store before anyone else, I found it. 

After pulling at least five hundred things from under my bathroom sink, there it was buried at the back. 

heavy antique iron

My grandmother loved to iron. She would stand there in her housedress and iron for hours. She taught me to iron by letting me iron the washcloths. (What the heck was up with that? Who irons washcloths?)

I remember my mother had a sprinkle bottle that she used to sprinkle the clothes when she brought them in from the clothesline. She would then put the clothes into a big plastic bag until she pulled out her iron. She did this until I was nine when we moved to Canada and we got a clothes dryer. 

Moving my mother out of her beloved Kentucky to some "heathen country" was no easy task. I'm sure she told my dad that there was no way she was lugging in the laundry when it was 20 degrees below zero.

Pants hanging on clothesline

When my daughters were young I ironed all of their clothes. I would set up that big heavy ironing board and laboriously iron their ruffled dresses. 

I have been over all of that nonsense for many years. Now the ironing board that I take out, once in a blue moon, is a tabletop version that gathers dust tucked between the wall and the refrigerator. 

So the other day I pulled out the iron and the ironing board and dutifully ironed my wrinkled pants with my nice steam iron. I walked to my car, drove to the thrift store, and when I arrived looked down at my pants. Somehow the wrinkle demon had snuck into my car.

SIGH!!

Visit my Amazon Storefront where there are wonderful items that have no relationship to ironing.

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Comments

  1. I hate ironing. The only time I liked it was years ago, when I was a teen and my sister had just moved into a new "old" house and it had a wooden ironing board in the tv room that folded out of the wall. That was cool!!

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  2. I have an iron that is still in the box from 8 years ago lol! I hate to iron too. So happy they have great wrinkle release sprays and cycles on the dryer. I do not buy Linen clothing anymore. I think Linen is the only fabric left on the planet that has to be ironed when it comes to clothing! My clothes are all wash and wear. I remember as a kid ironing for my mom as one of my chores. I remember the sprinkle bottle too. Have a great day Laura. xoxo

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  3. I hate it too. And I desperately need to get a new ironing board.
    Brenda

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  4. Haha... Remember all that. Also remember keeping the bag of sprinkled clothes in the fridge. Not sure why?

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  5. I guess I'm weird ~ I hate the THOUGHT of ironing, but the actual doing I find soothing ~ Maybe it is because it brings back memories of "getting" to iron Dad's hankerchiefs and flightsuits as a little girl!

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  6. I don't like it either, and only do it when necessary. My mom had a sprinkle bottle, too, and ironed everything. My job was to iron the pillowcases. I only do that now if guests are coming, but nothing beats a nice, smooth pillowcase. If only someone would do it for me!

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  7. I'm weird as I do like ironing! I too remember my mom standing at the ironing board for hours.. she sprinkled things and would wrap them in plastic and put them in the fridge too. She ironed everything but our underware! T-shirts, jeans, pants, even big sheets.. and always pillowcases. To this day I LOVE a freshly washed and ironed pillowcase (though I don't iron mine anymore!). I think it is soothing too.. and if I had a place to leave my ironing board up all the time, I would. I like to iron my clothes that get wrinkled and I would love to iron all of my pillowcases, but is a hassle to set up the board and find a plug-in in this old house that I can reach! I usually iron small stuff on my kitchen counter on top of a stack of towels.!! If I sew anything, I always iron the seams! Marilyn

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  8. I don't mind ironing although my dryer does a great job. Growing up we even had a roller type ironer which was great for sheets and flat things. Yes my Mom ironed sheets.

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  9. I hate ironing too but didn't have a choice when I was a fashion designer! So glad I don't have to do it now!

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  10. I dont iron either, that is what tumbler dryers are for. lol I remember my mom having a sprinkle water bottle to iron as well.

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  11. I just throw my clothes back into the dryer. My grandmother would have fits if she knew!

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  12. Okay, let's talk. My mother did the same thing with the sprinkle bottle (it was a glass soda bottle with a stopper that had holes in it). The plastic bag with damp clothes took up room in the refrigerator. What the heck was that about I have to wonder.
    Ironing was a BIG deal in our house growing up. We (my sister and I) had to iron everything under the sun. I have to confess I steer away from clothes that require ironing. I filled my ironing quota years ago.
    Hugs,
    Kippi

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  13. I have the same iron as you. And my husband uses the same metal iron you shared to store small things inside.

    A small world.

    Truth I used to iron everything before standing steadily on my own became an issue.

    I was a bit of a nut with ironing. Now if I could I doubt I'd be that fussy

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