Ironing: Save Time, Save Money, Be Organized, and Reduce Waste

Ironing has always been a problem for and I've found a good solution that is easy and respects the environment: the Singer Iron Press.

The Problem

For years I've worn button down shirts and had to iron them. I used to go to the dry cleaner, but I didn't like the extra errand. I didn't like the extra driving. I didn't like getting the shirts home. I didn't like removing the plastic and making more trash. I didn't like the cheap hangers, that seemed to multiply. I didn't like having to remember to bring the clothes to the cleaners. On top of it, I had to pay for it. In some ways this reminded me of salad bars. You pay to do the work yourself and it's not even that great at the end. Then there is the time to take out all that trash and organize my closet at some point from all the extra hangers.

In theory the concept of going to the dry cleaner is supposed to be easier. Overall I found for my 5 weekly shirts that it took me about 15-20 minutes of time per week, and I paid about $20.00.

Steam Closet

I thought about the solutions quite a bit. I considered first, a steam closet. A steam closet is an appliance like a washer or dryer in which you can hang your clothes, it steams them as they hang, and the wrinkles theoretically come out. Unfortunately the reviews were not that great, and they seemed to only mildly remove the wrinkles. If you really want to get the wrinkles out, you need to press them.

Traditional Iron

I considered ironing clothes myself, but it just takes too long and is too much work. I have to have and store an ironing board. It takes a long time...about 11 minutes per shirt. I wear about 5 shirts a week, so that's an hour of ironing. No thanks.

Iron Press

Then I found the Singer Iron Press (available at Amazon). It's a smaller version of the type of press a professional dry cleaner would use. It's great! I can iron a shirt within a few minutes. I can iron my five shirts within 20 minutes. Furthermore I find I iron lots of other stuff too, like pants, napkins, and the kids clothes.

Here's why it's very cool. First, the iron and ironing board are one piece, and it's smaller than a traditional ironing board. This makes it easier to store and use. It just closes up and I put it in the closet. It's portable.

Second, it applies 100 pounds of pressure to shirt, which makes the wrinkles come out more easily. This also saves your arm. The leveraging power of the clamshell design does the work for you, no pushing an iron around.

Third, it has a large surface. You can iron large portions quickly, because it's like a mini ironing board.

Fourth, it has built in steam jets, so as you close it, you press the button on the handle and the steam jets quickly steam the entire surface.

When I finish ironing I hang my shirts on wooden hangers that I bought from Ikea, although there are plenty of places to buy them online. As a result my closet is always organized to the point that it seems like I have OCD, but the hangers don't build up and the wooden hangers are more attractive. In fact I've spent less effort, less money, and done less damage to the environment.