Highmtn

I'm sure the first thought a few of you may have is "GET A LIFE !!"....LOL But I had to come out of retirement and dive back into the trenches of 9-5 work days due to my hub getting very ill and now unable to work. This little "thing" I do when I take off my work clothes at night has REALLY reduced the need to iron my good clothes - which takes away from fun things like quilting, reading, relaxing with my hubby & dogs.... etc.

Don't know HOW or why I started doing this, but when I change out of my work clothes I don't just toss them into the hamper. I quickly FOLD/ROLL things up. It only takes about 6 seconds. Clothing randomly stuffed into a hamper seems to create persistent hamper crumples. I only do this with outer clothing - I flop it on the bed- fold it a couple times to decrease it's size and lightly roll it up (not tight) and set it into the hamper (no cramming or stuffing..lol).

I am AMAZED at how much better things pop out of the dryer. I don't EVER let my work clothes sit in the washer OR dryer after it stops. You're in wrinkle hades if you do that no matter HOW you put your clothing in the hamper. I don't dry my clothes super dry either. As soon as the dryer buzzer starts to *yell* at me I start taking clothes out and hanging them up - restarting the dryer in-between pulling clothes out. My dryer is old and so far.. the start button is still alive and well.

Anyhow... I'm beyond pleased at how much time this saves me when doing my laundry. I'm so much in the habit of doing this now that MOST of the clothing I toss in the hamper gets the fold/roll step - I don't even think about it.

Thought I'd just share the hint for fun....

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Peckish

Years ago, I had a boyfriend who would carefully fold his pants (making sure there was a crease down the front of the legs) before putting them in the washer. When he moved the load over to the dryer, he'd shake out the pants, carefully fold them again with the crease, and put them in the dryer. Personally, I thought he was nuts, but thought to myself "what does it hurt". He swore that the pants came out with no wrinkles and a better, more defined crease.

Highmtn

Peckish
Ha! That's unusual for a guy! Now.. I don't fold/roll anything going from the washer to the dryer. I do fold with the natural "lay" of the garment but I'm not fussy about it.. just quickly flip~flop~ roll and into the hamper it goes. Most guys could care less.. but if you have to dress up for work (which I do) it's really a time saver!
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crafty pat

Great idea. Thank you, I hate ironing.

Highmtn

Another thing I treated me to since I was a bit BLUE about all the unexpected life events that led up to me going back to work (I had only been retired about 18 months) was I treated myself to GOOD hangers. How sad am I??....LOL I bought these awesome hangers at Costco. They are a nice size, but the garment part of the chrome hanger is covered with black fuzzy stuff. NOTHING slides off those things... not even the lightest fabrics that can slither off a hanger like a slug. EVERYTHING stays put.

I'm 59 yrs old and had never bought a hanger in my life. I'm WAY HAPPY I spent the money on these! I think they were around $23.00 for a bundle of 50 of them.
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Grandma Peg

Sorry that you had to go back to work. Hope things go good with your husband. Nice tip about the clothes, will have to try it.

QuiltnNan

thanks for the tips.

Highmtn

Thanks..

My hubby is stabilized for now so we are BEYOND relieved. If I tried to talk about our unexpected life events I wouldn't be able to see to type. In a nut shell - my hub is a Vietnam veteran who is falling apart from his exposure to "Agent Orange" during his service in 69-70. The VA is denying his benefits on a verbiage technicality - it's unimaginable and criminal. All of his military records PROVE our claims but that has not mattered to the VA. We've been going in circles with the VA for 4 years and the next step is a military hearing. He can barely leave the house (and when he does he's wheelchair bound) so facing all of this endless turmoil feels like trying to climb Mt. Everest using a spork. He has 4 neurologists, an oncologist and his PC just to keep him going.

We have had to force ourselves to started to count our blessings, and even tho' going back to work (and leaving him home a lot) was not anything we EVER wanted I am relieved I was able to find a good job given the current economy and ways of the world. For the past 4 years all of his medical expenses have come out of pocket.. so.. eventually the $$$ well began to go dry. I needed to head BACK out the door to work to keep us afloat financially.

Very hard times, but we count our blessings as it could be worse.

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joy

To save on ironing - when washing the clothes I put the washing machine on slow spin... then hang the clothes on a coathanger to dry on the clothes line... great for tops...

Pat M.

DO NOT give up, if you go away they do not have to admit they were wrong to use Agent Orange, I have 3 friends that all have problems with Agent Orange, each with a different type of cancer, at first they just thought the military would take care of them, Ha! They fought back and got their medical benefits and justice. Get a lawyer if you have to.