Ironing consumes considerable ammount of energy and time. A normal iron uses at least 10-times as much energy as 10 100-watt lightbulbs together. Some estimate this to be much more (it depends on the model).
Me and my wife mostly do not iron our clothes at all and if this is possible in your case (it depends on the lifestyle, job which you have etc.), I really recomend abandonment of ironing. You won't miss it at all (after a while anyway)! In any case, it makes sense to cut down on ironing or do it in an efficient way.
Some people on the internet forums have put together useful tips on how to save money and energy and time adn become greener with your ironing. I have shortened such lists of tips into even shorter one:
- iron only the clothes you really need to iron. Underware, handkerchiefs, and several other things do not need ironing at all.
- buy clothes from "iron-free" or "wrinkle-free" materials. There are loads of clothes which are available "wrinkle-free" and it removes your need to iron.
- don't let your clothes sit in the dryer. Hang them properly quickly after washing and most of the times there will be no need to iron them.
- ORGANIZE your ironing. Do all of your ironing in one session, do the low temperature ironing first, and then the higher temperature, do not plan to do the ironing when you know you will be distracted in the middle of the job.
- if you do need to go somewhere or are distracted by something important, even for two minutes, switch off the iron.
- buy better model irons. They are usually more efficient and will last you longer.
These six easy tips can save you energy and make you more eco friendly at the same time.
If you have enough money and you really need to iron your clothes regularily for your business meetings or similar, there is an interesting new option out there: New washing-ironing-drying machine! It is very efficient, it uses steam to iron your clothes, and it does it in one session all together with washing and drying. And it seems it really works well, even with longsleeved shirts. It has been on the market for some time already, so if anybody has one of these at home, I would appreciate if you share your experience.
Some have expressed the opinion that manual ironing will be a matter of the past some day soon and we will refer to the time we used to iron that way as the "modern iron age". Well, we know some people on the planet still live in a proper stone age today. I have no big faith that manual ironing will become a relic any time soon.
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2 comments:
Since you are asking for sharing opinion - at home we don't iron anymore, since our lifestyle allows us that. It's true, with properly hanged clothing right after washing up, there is no need for ironing. We never thought of it as eco-friendly, just as saving of our time. It's easy! :)
Dear Mojca,
yes, there are other things which is eco-friendly just as a by-product. Sometimes I do not have time to shower, and then I am an ecoandwaterfriendly energy saver, who is a bit dirty. :)
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