I never iron. That's not your answer, but think about it.....

St. Vinny's!
Kathy G in MI

They are hanging in the laundry room... no way I'd let them get all wrinkled in a basket.

"Sometimes I hang things on hangers & leave them in the laundry room (for decades...)"
If you have laundry hanging for decades, perhaps you can just get rid of those... you obviously don't need them.

I put all my clothes away, in the closet or dresser. When I want to wear something that needs to be ironed, I iron it just before I wear it. I keep the ironing board and iron in my closet, so I don't have to go anywhere. I try to store things where I use them.

I don't actually need to iron. EVER. (Unless I'm trying to wear linen, and because it looks better ironed, I simply don't.) Most of mine are natural fabrics too. If your clothes are wrinkled out of the dryer, you're drying them too long, or using the incorrect setting on your dryer. If I find a wrinkle that happened, a spritz of Downey Wrinkle Remover will smooth it out, once it dries.

I do hang clothes once they come out of the washer, and let them air dry if they are ''ironable''. I use a teaspoon of fabric softener, which gets the wrinkles out of the wet clothes, along with a flap or two before hanging them to dry on the hangars. Once dry, they go back in the closet, and I collect empty hangars to start all over again. Just because your mom did it that way doesn't mean you have to. Society is much more casual and relaxed...it's no longer the 1950's!

Maybe it depends on the generation and where you work. I still iron. My laundry room is next to the family room, and I iron in front of the TV. It doesn't feel like a big chore that way. I have ADA "grab bars" fastened to my laundry room ceiling, and I hang the clothes on that when they come out of the dryer. DH must wear breathable fabrics (cotton, linen, silk) which look better if ironed. I iron my blouses, shirts, and sometimes my suits if the dry cleaners didn't do it well enough. (We both work in jobs where we need to be presentable enough to attend meetings with the big wigs.)

I find that if I keep up with the ironing, it doesn't take that long. I would never put on something that was freshly ironed; it has to cool first, or it would immediately get wrinkled again.

Mommabird, I agree with Luann - if you have done without those clothes for that long, just get rid of them. If you hate to iron, just buy knits or permanent press.

My laundry room, right next to the kitchen, is part of the whole kitchen renovation. There is a tall cabinet where the ironing board & iron are kept, so it's really handy. I have a long closet that holds a large basket of stuff to be ironed, plus a long rod to hang ironed clothes, and even shelves to store canned goods, etc. But I put off ironing as long as possible, although I don't really mind doing it. Many clothes these days don't have to be ironed, but still look presentable, thank goodness. On average, I probably iron about once every 3 months, and, no, I don't own a lot of clothes, just many that don't need ironing, luckily.

I was only kidding about leaving things hanging there for decades - LOL! I have left stuff all season before. Left a summer skirt until the middle of winter, etc. Then I decide I don't need it any more and put it in the "donate" box.

I wish I had room to leave my ironing bd upstairs. It's in the basement, in the laundry room. That's not a place I want to hang out. It's not that I hate ironing, it's that I hate the basement. I have a 1950's tiny Cape Cod house without much closet space or storage.

I have struggled with this too. I have more clothes than closet space so ironing everything and putting into the closet doesn't work. The clothes get smashed. I used to have piles of un-ironed clothes and then realized that was kind of silly. So I started hanging everything up in the closet after washing and then ironing them as needed. Hung up clothes don't get as wrinkled as piled up clothes so that worked out.

Recently I started ironing all the pants I will wear to work for the week on Sunday. I have enough room to hang those without them getting smooshed. I iron the tops for the next day in the evening. I'm liking this because I don't have to scramble in the morning if I discover a missing button, etc. My ironing board is on the first floor so, yes, I have to lug everything upstairs from the laundry and then downstairs to the iron and then upstairs again but it's only a few things at a time so I don't mind. I just grab them when I'm heading that way anyway.

Mommabird, thanks for the additional details. What about a small TV in the basement so you can watch while you iron? That is what DH's step mother did in their TH.

Mommabird, you have a system that doesn't work. (This is one of my favorite things, figuring out systems that *do* work.) The key thing in your situation is the location of the ironing board, not where to store clothing to be ironed.

I can see three solutions for you.

1. Stop ironing. Admit that you won't iron again and gradually get rid of clothing that needs to be ironed and replace it with clothing that doesn't. Investigate the sprays that claim to smooth out wrinkles and see if they work for you.

2. Make the laundry room a nicer place to be, as colorcrazy suggests. Maybe paint the walls a cheerful color and get one of those indoor-outdoor rugs to hide the floor. Add a radio, or CD/iPod player or TV (even just to watch DVDs), because ironing tends to go faster when you have something to listen to or watch.

3. Find space upstairs for the ironing board. There are hangers that will hold an iron and ironing board on the back of a door. There are wall mounted ironing boards. I've seen a small board that fits over an open kitchen drawer.

Examine what's in your closets carefully. Is there anything you are storing upstairs that you could store downstairs, in place of the ironing board? Could you hide the board behind a door that's almost always open? Slide it under a bed or sofa? Is there a mud room with a bit of wall space? Under the eaves storage upstairs?

Think about where the best place for you to iron would be. In the kitchen, so you can cook and iron and maybe keep an eye on the kids at the same time? In the living room, so you can watch TV? In the dining room, because there's lots of space and you can put a hook on a door to hold the freshly ironed clothing? In your bedroom, because that way you can iron tomorrow's clothing tonight, as you chose your outfit? Pick the spot you would most like, in the best of all possible worlds where everything is possible. Then figure out what you would need to do, what would be moved, what would be tossed, what would have to change, in order to store the ironing board near that spot. Once you change your focus from, "The ironing board must be in the dark, dank laundry room because there is no other space," to "I need the ironing board in [insert name of room] because that is where it will work best," you will be surprised at the ideas that will pop up.

It's a chain reaction, to be sure. The ironing board will go someplace, displacing X and Y. X will go to the garage, where you will have to move Z. Y will end up in the kids' room, where you will have to sort through five years of toys and donate some to make room.

But you need to make the house work for you, instead of you working (running up and down stairs to iron) working for the house.

I have my own system...I like to iron napkins, pillowcases, etc....shirts, not so much. I have 2 3bin sorters in my very small laundry room. One sorter I use for light and dark clothes which go in warm water and whites which take hot water and bleach. The other sorter I use for dark towels and napkins (hot water) and light linens (hot water). The third bin in that sorter is for my ironing. I made my laundry room much nicer (it is b/w the garage and family room) by having it painted a sunny yellow and having bamboo-look Pergo put on the floor. I had a wall ironing board unit installed, and it holds my iron, too. I love that thing! I try to iron a couple shirts when they are coming out of the dryer and just a little damp. Because I love to iron linens, I iron 2-3 napkins or pillowcases for every shirt I do. If for some reason I can't get to all the shirts, I roll them (slight;y damp) and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer ( I have a side by side in the laundry room). This system wouldn't work for everyone, but I use a lot of cloth napkins and this method works for me. Does the ironing ever get piled up? Yes, but eventually it all gets done.

I have two ironing boards. One in the laundry room regular size and a built in wall unit in the bedroom closet. I hang everything first either in the laundry room or the bedroom. We have a floor sink in the laundry room and just hang on the rack over it. Even if things are dry they keep from wrinkling when hanging. Where we live it doesn't get that hot, but I wouldn't buy anything linen if it was 2cents. Camlan's ideas are great. I also have a rule that if you are over 10 years old you can learn to iron your own clothes. That way nobody just wears something 5 minutes and carelessly lets it get wrinkled. I also taught my kids that the sewing machine is open and threaded. If your stuff is ripped--you can mend it whether you are a boy or a girl.
Recently I showed my 3 year old granddaughter how to make
a simple pattern tracing around her doll,on newspaper, and we cut a dress and sewed it, no hems, and a ribbon tie. Not glamorous but thats how they learn.

About 10 years ago I helped out a friend who needed surgery and owned a woman's clothing boutique...I was amazed by the ease at which the wrinkles came out of new clothing being unboxed and hung up in her store, and bought a professional steamer for my own use. When I moved not long after, the ironing board did not move with me. Any item that needs touching up gets done as I need it. It takes seconds. The steam in the winter is helpful in the air, in the summer I find it is not a problem; I seem to need it less often and only for a brief amount of time when I do. I was thinking recently that I should get rid of my iron, as I have not used it in 10 years!!
I should say that I 'snap' garments as I take them out of the dryer as soon as it's done, and take just a few extra minutes to fold each piece, then (usually!) hang them in the closet right away. (I NEVER ever have a basket of jumbled up clothing - if it has to hang around, at least everything is smoothed and folded). Some clothes out of the washer go into the dryer for only a minute to remove wrinkles and then get hung up; others get hung up without any drying. This helps keep them smooth and nearly wrinkle free as does attention to not over-drying as was pointed out.
I have an incredibly small closet which forces me to be more selective. I used to have a huge problem managing my clothing - for years I had WAY too many items, and would get overwhelmed by their care. Realizing I seldom wore most of what I owned, I've SIMPLIFIED and find managing much easier now. Also, not having piles of clothing waiting to be ironed helps! I will never go back to ironing, but agree that for those that do - ironing (or steaming) as you go eliminates that process....
Penny G.

peegee, what brand of steamer do you have?

My DH does the laundry, and despite every attempt I've ever made, he will NOT hang up my T-shirts that I wear to work. And they end up pretty creased.

It's a Jiffy; it has lasted 10 years, but now seems to be developing a problem - has just started to leak a little bit at times. Can't complain for near daily use. I'll get another Jiffy soon if they are still in business. I saw a steamer at a local store recently, but it was poorly constructed and cost only $50! I would never trust a cheaply constructed model to last or even to be able to generate the needed amount of steam. In order to really be able to quickly steam out even stubborn wrinkles, you would want a powerful model. Mine is very sturdily made, and powerful, and is a floor model on casters with a long hose. ---Penny

We have a Jiffy steamer where I work, too. (They are still in business, and you can order parts to fix the leak.) I think they've had it about 15 years - used almost every day. I keep planning to get one of my own.

the trash? (was it a trick question?)

seriously, I hang up clothes that should be hung regardless of whether they need ironing. (and folding and ironing seem contradictory to me.) i iron when i'm getting ready to wear something (and that usually means i'm in a hotel room, going to a wedding). my grandmother kept her ironing in a plastic bag in the frig though.

I'm shocked at how many people don't iron. At least half of my clothes need ironing, and yes, I do know how to properly wash and dry them to minimize wrinkles. But still....

I also have an ironing board permanently set up in the closet and iron things as I need them.

I iron! I iron them right away; why wait? I like having clean, ironed things in our closet. If you get a bunch of stuff in the basket, which I do sometimes -- set up your ironing board in front of your TV; watch a good movie or series or football game; get yourself a glass of wine and iron away!! Make it an afternoon! But don't stop ironing. There are too many really oddly wrinkled people out there that makes it so obvious that people don't care anymore. I find that very sad.
Annie

I iron pretty much all of our clothes for work. I also usually iron my jeans. I just like them freshly pressed. Clothing that's waiting to be ironed is folded and kept on top of one of the large dog crates in our bedroom. I usually iron on Saturday afternoons as I do the washing. When I want a break, I go and clean a bathroom or vacuum a room. I set my ironing board up in the retreat off our bedroom, turn on a movie (usually a romantic comedy), and start ironing. I find that watching a chick flick practically guarantees that my hubby and sons will not enter the room. ;)

Thanks for the ideas. I especially like the glass of wine while ironing!

I like Camlan's idea of storing the ironing bd under the bed! That's just brilliant! I don't have anything else under there. I used to have underbed boxes of photo albums but recently put all of them into a closet.

I realized today there are 2 blouses and a skirt I bought in MAY and wore once hanging downstairs. All 3 are cute and fit well, but if I haven't seen fit to iron them in 4 months, I think I'm safe donating them to Goodwill! I keep a large box beside the dryer of donations. When it's full I donate it and bring another box home from work to fill. All 3 of those are going in the box today!