Ironing Dilemma

I have an ironing dilemma.

I am curious to how others handle their ironing. I've heard of different methods of tackling what I consider one of the most boring and tedious of chores. And, boy, is it a chore!!!

There are those who iron their clothing as it comes out of the dryer. Then, there are those who iron their clothes as they need to wear them wrinkle free. Yet, there are still others who do "marathon" ironing by taking two to three hours to get all of the ironing done once it has piled up. And finally, there are those who say, "What the heck? Who needs to iron? I'm okay with being wrinkly!"

I've always been a fan of marathon ironing. That is always the way I've done it; before I got married and was single and was living on my own and so the same afterwards. My piles of ironing just got bigger because I would have the hubby's clothes to work on, too. I do all of my laundry...darks, lights, warms, colds...and then make a pile of clothing that needs to be ironed while I fold and put all of the other stuff away. (BTW, Nae-Nae does a lot of the washing and folding of the clothing...I don't want to give the impression that I am the only one who does laundry in this household). I set-up the ironing board in a convenient and comfortable location. For example, I often set-up the board in front of the sofa so that I can watch tv and adjust the height of the board to sit or stand. I do it this way because when I set-up to iron, I am in it for the long haul...at least 2 to 3 hours usually. I've always been a fan because that meant everything was wrinkle-free when I pulled it out of the closet to wear.

This method has always worked well for me. Well, it has until the last 7 or 8 months. I've become very oppositional to ironing. I hate it! While I have collected clothes in a pile to be ironed, they have remained in the pile for great lengths of time recently. Instead of tackling the pile of ironing, the pile continues to grow as the laundry continues to get done. I believe that I've had some clothing items in the pile for 2 months or more. Every weekend for the past 2 months I promise myself that I am going to tackle that pile of ironing. And every weekend I break that promise.

Everything came to a head this week. I said to myself, "I've had it with that pile of clothing that needs to be ironed." I've been running out of clothes to wear (mostly work clothes), and I am just sick of seeing the big heap of clothing in the guest room. Soooo...I made an executive decision. I put the big pile of very wrinkly clothes away. I put them in their proper places in the closet, but instead of them being neat and pressed, they are crumpled and messy. In some ways it pained me to put them away all wrinkly, but then, it had pained me even more at the thought of ironing that big heap of clothing. And so it was.

I am changing things up. My tried and trued ironing method is no longer true (but definitely tried). I always get a little anxious when I change up my methods (Obviously...who in her right mind would spend this much time writing about ironing...I mean, really). But I can recognize when something is no longer working for me.

So how am I going to handle the ironing now? I am going to be one of those who irons things as I need them. I am going to give a whirl. That way I can have all my clothes put away immediately after it is cleaned to avoid copious piles of clothing just taunting me. Will it work? I don't know! But my marathon method has not been working.

Happy ironing (only when needed)!