Ironing

I'm as much of a dryer enthusiast as the next person, but they can be pretty damaging to clothing as well.  It was difficult for me to adjust to not having a dryer at first, but I have to say, clothes always smell so much better when they've been out in the sun. Also, they take about 20 minutes or less to dry if it's full sun and a good breeze!  

The best is a line dried duvet cover.  Ohhhh how I love getting into a bed outfitted with one of those.  

ETA: And to be on topic, I've never ironed a thing in my life. 

LOL!  I wasn't to referring how long things take to dry in the sun vs the drier, I was talking about how long it takes to shove them in the drier vs lugging them out to the garden and stringing them up. 

Chary, your whites might be whiter than mine (actually, I don't think I own any) but I'm sure your blacks are too 

About the whole ironing thing....that happened when I first mooved here in 2003 - all water under the bridge - and now he either does the ironing (and apologies to Mother Nature because it's with an ELECTRIC iron, not one we heat up in some fire) or he pays someone to do it.

However.....DH does still come out with things that start off with, "If you were a proper housewife...." which basically chaps my ass in so many ways, because although some of it is about the amount of free time I have vs the amount he has, a lot, although he doesn't want to admit it, is about traditional gender roles.  It also bothers me because of the fact that I am unemplyed and have been for a year and a half and feel quite unproductive.  I mean, when I first came here and worked in London I was making almost twice as much as DH was and have always been self-sufficient on various levels, but for reasons too tiresome to get into right now, my carreer basically went down the proverbial toilet and now I am wholly dependent on the man. 

I still won't do his ironing though 

Actually, I sometimes do when he asks nicely ;-)

LOL!  I wasn't to referring how long things take to dry in the sun vs the drier, I was talking about how long it takes to shove them in the drier vs lugging them out to the garden and stringing them up. 

Practice makes perfect. It doesn't take me very long at all.

I do the ironing basically because I do it better.

Recently I de-scaled my iron and it works 10 times better. All those little holes get clogged. If you live in a hard water area, give it a try.....

(kettles around Cambridge grow stalactites....stalagmites? The ones from the bottom)

However.....DH does still come out with things that start off with, "If you were a proper housewife...." which basically chaps my ass in so many ways, because although some of it is about the amount of free time I have vs the amount he has, a lot, although he doesn't want to admit it, is about traditional gender roles. 

Oh man, the only time "if you were a good wife..." gets used at our house, it's in jest.  I suspect there'd be bodily harm involved otherwise. 

We each iron our own clothes on an as-needed basis.  It saves lives.    

I don't think I've ironed any of my clothing except maybe a pair of dress pants once in awhile.  I usually just fold/hang things up while they're hot out of the dryer.  Otherwise it's usually one of my going out tops that gets super wrinkly, easy solution for that is to hang it in the bathroom while I shower and let the steam get the wrinkles out.

I know the fiance does iron quite a few of his things, but he's quite capable

Oh man, the only time "if you were a good wife..." gets used at our house, it's in jest.  I suspect there'd be bodily harm involved otherwise. 

How about, "When my mother was in your position and my father worked full-time..."  Bodily harm indeed.

My mother was a full-time housewife up until I was in high school. So she did all the washing, ironing (including her bras) and so on. However, she drew the line on one thing: my father had to take all his work shirts to the laundry to be washed, ironed and neatly folded.
DH is a firm believer in wash and wear so never expects anything to be ironed by anybody. I aim for knit tops and jeans as much as possible myself but do run the iron over cotton trousers.

My mother was a full-time housewife up until I was in high school. So she did all the washing, ironing (including her bras) and so on. However, she drew the line on one thing: my father had to take all his work shirts to the laundry to be washed, ironed and neatly folded.
DH is a firm believer in wash and wear so never expects anything to be ironed by anybody. I aim for knit tops and jeans as much as possible myself but do run the iron over cotton trousers.

BRAS?     Wow.  Just wow!  Who knew you could iron bras?  Well, clearly your mother knew.   

My uncle's ex-wife would send everything -even bras, undies, socks, pjs, gym clothes, etc- to the dry cleaners. She thought she couldn't get them clean/ unwrinkled enough on her own. She would send stuff back to the dry cleaners if she thought it was even slightly Still wrinkly or if she thought they hadn't done a good enough job. 

My uncle's ex-wife would send everything -even bras, undies, socks, pjs, gym clothes, etc- to the dry cleaners. She thought she couldn't get them clean/ unwrinkled enough on her own. She would send stuff back to the dry cleaners if she thought it was even slightly Still wrinkly or if she thought they hadn't done a good enough job. 

No wonder she's his ex! 

BRAS?     Wow.  Just wow!  Who knew you could iron bras?  Well, clearly your mother knew.   

Yeah, well in the olden days, bras were usually just cotton fabric with an elastic fastener at the back. So they could give you a wrinkly appearance if you weren't careful. No lycra in those days. 

I loathe ironing and I suck at it.  However, I find that if I carefully smooth and shake things out and then lay them out to dry on the line or on the indoor clothes accordian, than I never have to do it.   

I LOVE LOVE LOVE being able to hang my clothes outside to dry, but it often seems like a luxury with the amount of rain about.  So I take full advantage of it when I can. 

I also currently have a washing machine/pretend to be a dryer machine currently, so the only other choice is to hang things up inside to dry.  But that takes forever in my damp house and I know doesn't help the mould problem. 

Moving to a new place without an outside line is going to make me not very happy!  I hope the washer/dryer combo works better than the one at my current place!

No wonder she's his ex! 

thanks goodness. And good riddance. my sister and I were 10 and 3 at the time. She babysat us once an freaked out because we didn't have all matching clothes hangers and went out, bought new hangers, and changed them all. She bought us longerburger baskets and personalized kitchen hand towels instead of toys.For bdays/Xmas.  (before he married her, our uncle would get us the coolest/newest barbies- and we were all about the barbies at that age!) 

Recently I de-scaled my iron and it works 10 times better. All those little holes get clogged. If you live in a hard water area, give it a try.....

(kettles around Cambridge grow stalactites....stalagmites? The ones from the bottom)

I was taught to always use distilled water for just this reason. The only bottled water we had in the house was for the iron.