Weekly Ironing: A Lost Art?

Household chores, whether you are a mom at home or working outside the home, can get the best of  you sometimes.  One that I have learned to somewhat enjoy is ironing.  [I have to admit though, that I miss the days, three years to be exact, when a piano student paid for her lessons by sewing, IRONING and baking!].  Since I do not work outside of the home, I have time to do this during the week.  I would send these items out to be pressed if I worked full-time, so don't stress out about doing this if you do so.

If you're trying to be frugal, doing it yourself does save a bit of $$.

The secret to accomplishing so many chores is my kitchen timer.  For ironing, I set it to one hour, although usually I turn on a TV program to listen to / watch while ironing.  It makes the time go quickly [the spoonful of sugar in this job]  and since I know that's all the time for the whole week I'll be ironing, I pretty much blitz through it.   I usually iron on Thursday or Friday afternoon.

As a side note, I don't use the timer because I have every minute of every day packed to the fullest (although some days it does feel that way).  I do it to accomplish things I HAVE to do so that I can get on to the things I WANT to do.  :)

Here are my steps:

1.  Gather all my supplies together in the kitchen--iron filled with water, spray bottle of water, measuring cup with more water.  I move my kitchen rolling cart so that they are just a  hand's reach from the ironing board. 

A sweet friend made me this new ironing board cover recently and just seeing the bright colors helps, too.  :)

2.  Gather up all the clothes to be ironed.  I have my husband pick out 6-7 shirts for work and I usually have a few items to do as well.  My son has one pair of pants that I like to iron for church.

3.  Turn on the iron  and turn on the TV.  This particular day I was watching Martha Stewart which is a one-hour program.  Our kitchen opens into our family room so it's easy to work in one and be "in" the other as well.  I love this floor plan.  Sometimes I listen to the radio or iPod music.

4.  Wet each item to be ironed.  I always hold up one item, spray it completely with water while it's on the hanger, and then start STEAM pressing in this order:  collar front, sleeves/shoulders, inside plackets (where buttons/buttonholes are), right side, back, left side.  Fold collar down and repress it.  DONE.   About 3-5 minutes.

5.  Hang to completely dry from the steam.  I use the door frame into the kitchen for this and sometimes the kitchen chairs for short items.

6.  When the hour is up, STOP.  When the buzzer goes off, or the one-hour program is over, STOP IRONING.  Well, maybe finish the one you are working on, and don't look back.  If you discipline yourself to do this, you'll actually iron faster and get more done in the time you have allotted.    

Let's see...in one hour I ironed: 

• 5 cotton men's short-sleeved shirts
• 3 cotton men's long-sleeved shirts
• 3 pullover men's tops
• 3 women's tops
• 1 skirt
• 2 pairs of pants

7.  Put everything away.  Put clothes in the closets, fold up and put away  ironing board and accessories.  Try to not delay doing this so that everything is tidy again and there's no stress from the mess.

This is a fairly pain-free  way to do a much-needed chore.  Money saved?  At our drycleaners, laundering and pressing one shirt is about $1.50, so based on what I did this week, which is the usual amount for our family, that would be  roughly $25.00 (17 items).  Over a month, that would be $100; over a year, $1,200.  I think it's worth one hour a week.  :)

Proverbs 31:27 

She looks well to the ways of her household,

And does not eat the bread of idleness.