I bet at some point or the other you’ve seen these articles. Those that tell you “You HAVE to iron everything to look good”. “Wrinkled clothes look badly taken care of”. And so on and so forth.
And yeah, wrinkle-free clothes DO look much better. But who wants to spend hours every week ironing clothes? Let’s be honest, most people don’t really care for ironing.
And some of us HATE it!
What do you do if you hate ironing?
So when you hate ironing, you’ll start looking for ways to make your life easier. Ironically, the first advice you’ll often find is: Just find a way to enjoy it.
Related: How to find cleaning motivation: 11 tips
Disclosure: Some of the links below are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
What? How do you enjoy ironing?
Yeah, I’ve asked myself the same thing. And yeah, sure, there are a few ways in which you could make an ironing session a little more enjoyable. You could watch a binge-worthy series or listen to an audiobook.
But that’s not the point here, is it? The real question is: How can we not have to iron at all?
How do I not iron again?
So how do we avoid the ironing stuff altogether? Well, there are a few different ways. You will have to pay in one way or another. Some ways to avoid ironing cost money, others time. And with some, it just means, you won’t have perfectly wrinkle-free clothes.
Your pick!
How do you wash clothes without ironing?
Okay, now let’s get to the real stuff: How do you wash clothes without ironing?
Obviously, you can bring everything to a dry cleaner. But, that is probably the most expensive option. If you can afford it – good for you!
But, there are other ways, too!
Materials matter
For almost all the tips here, you need to consider one big topic: materials! Even with the best tricks, some materials will only look ironed when, well, ironed.
So make sure to buy easy-iron materials! Some materials, like polyester, don’t need ironing at all. Unfortunately, those aren’t exactly skin-friendly.
My preferred material is cotton. And that DOES wrinkle, unfortunately. Still, it can depend greatly on the weave, so keep an eye out for that!
Wrinkle-free drying
The first step to avoid ironing is drying your clothes as wrinkle-free as possible. Whenever I take shirts etc out of the washer, I hang them on clothes hangers immediately. For more stubborn candidates, smoothing them over with your hands will help, too.
When it comes to clothing items like t-shirts, this can already be enough.
And for thinner materials and anything that wrinkles easily, the next step will help additionally.
Shower steaming
Whenever you want to wear something that’s still looking like it needs a little smoothening out, hang it in the bathroom. Then take a hot, steamy shower.
This works perfectly for my jumpsuits or finer shirts. Try it, you might be surprised how effective it can be!
If, however, you don’t do hot showers or this simply doesn’t work for you because your bathroom won’t steam up, there is a quicker alternative.
Get a steamer
Using a steamer, you can achieve the “shower effect” much quicker. I personally got a hand-held steamer after a bout of frustration about the wrinkled state of my favorite button-down shirt.
Ironing shirts is so frustrating, and they often immediately wrinkle again!
With a steamer, all I have to do is hang the shirt on a clothes hanger, heat up the steamer, and then steam it for a couple of minutes. Done!
It’s really satisfying and much easier than ironing shirts! If you don’t have one yet, I really recommend making a steamer part of your arsenal. You can get one here!*
Flat-ironing?
One downside of the steamer is that it cannot handle deep wrinkles and thicker materials too well. For lots of clothing items, hanging them wrinkle-free can solve this problem.
However, what do you do with shirt collars and sleeves? If you’re into straightening your hair, you might be in luck!
A hair straightener is technically a hair iron. And, guess what?
You can also use it to straighten out clothes! Just using it on collars and sleeves of shirts makes a giant difference in the way they look.
Definitely make sure there are not hair styling left-overs on your hair iron before you do that. You don’t want those on your white shirt collar, do you?
What about wrinkle release spray?
Lastly, we have to talk about wrinkle release spray. When you really want to avoid ironing, these can also work. And they can work pretty well!
However, they do have a few downsides.
Firstly, you really need to plan ahead. Steaming also takes a few minutes, but with these sprays, you ALSO need to wait for the fabric to dry again. They only work if you coat the material well.
Secondly, and this one can be pretty individual: You’ll have to be able to not mind the scent. Some of these sprays, especially the popular Downy Wrinkle Release spray, are pretty heavily scented.
Related: How to make sure your home smells amazing after cleaning
Another alternative is making your own DIY wrinkle-release spray. But, in all honesty, those don’t usually smell that great either.
If time is not an issue, and you like the perfume, I’d suggest simply buying a tried and tested wrinkle-release spray. You can get some here!*
Found some good tips to avoid ironing?
I hope these tips will help you in reducing your time spent ironing. If this was helpful to you, I’d really appreciate any shares!
Thank you and enjoy your ironing-free time!
*These links are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
