I may have made myself into a domesticate, at least in the fact that I can run a home, but there is one chore that I refuse to do. Ironing.
I detest it. It's one of those things that truly makes me feel like a homebody, who never did anything with her whole life, barefoot, and ironing in the kitchen. Talk about a stereotype.
Israelis are obsessive about their ironing. One of my friends has 5 irons, as each of her 13 children insist on having a perfectly starched and pressed shirt/skirt/pants every day, and she detests ironing almost as much as I do. She's of the opinion that if they want it badly enough, they'll do it themselves.
I've tried. I buy Mr. NMF no-iron-needed shirts, I try to hand wash and hang to dry, but the inevitable task of ironing sometimes comes up. If I was spoiled rotten, I would just send it to the cleaners to be pressed, but I don't have the money to spend so heedlessly.
When one gets married, sometimes household chores don't come easily. Cooking for a family, ironing, laundry for a family, dishes; they all fall into my hands. I don't mind, I was single enough that I did it all for myself for a long time. Just, there were chores then that I hated, and I still detest now.
I don't know how to get over my bad opinion of ironing. But, at least I'm not alone. Most of the women I know don't iron, or iron only when forced, and then in large bunches of 20 shirts at a time. It seems that if the shirts just keep on collecting, our guilty consciences will eventually encourage us to pick up that tool and start the torture.
Anyone else have chores they hate doing? How do you deal with it?
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2 days ago
12 comments:
Make him iron. :) (Spoken as someone who enjoys ironing... every couple of years or so.) This past week I took out the ironing board and ironed about 20 shirts/tzitzis, and hope to not have to do so again [by taking things out of the dryer and sticking them on hangars fast] for another year.
May be you should try to divide who does what at home.
Ironing one shirt at a time - not a big deal, takes about 5 minutes after the iron is hot. I don't think that it's a big problem for a guy to do, but it always feels nice to have something your wife put her hand on with you through out the day... Compare to something handmade.
I hate taking out garbage when it's assumed to be my and only responsibility. Though I have no problem doing that if remember that myself, like if the bag is hanging out there close to the door - I'd do that before going to bed.
Same with washing dishes.
Cooking is not my thing so I don't even get on it.
Ezzie- Yeah, but I feel bad doing that. After all, I put him to work taking out the garbage and doing sponja- the least I could do is iron.
My dryer doesn't seem to work in that regard, no matter what I do, it always comes out wrinkled. Sigh.
BTS- Yeah, but it is a big deal. Ever tried to iron a no iron shirt? Practically a 15 minute job per shirt.
That's a sweet thought- never thought about it like that.
So who does it for you- the cooking/dishes/garbage?
Oh, and I think all guys forget the garbage every once in a while- it's one of those things that if there isn't a blazing neon light there, it'll be forgotten.
"Ironing one shirt at a time - not a big deal, takes about 5 minutes after the iron is hot." - that was supposed to mean about the guy, not you...
"Ever tried to iron a no iron shirt?" - what's that? 100% cotton?
"So who does it for you- the cooking/dishes/garbage?" I'm single and still live with parents so - cooking does my mom, dishes - she or I, garbage most of the times I. I'm not married yet - do you have anyone for me?
I think garbage for guys is like iron for you - detested.
Yumm....call me crazy, but I love ironing...
;-)
I actually don't mind chores much, but maybe that's just now since I don't run my own home yet. Get back to me in a bit and ask me again.
As a housewife, you should know better then ironing while barefoot.
very dangerous!!
BTS- No iron, for me, at least could mean 100 % cotton, but I was referring to the shirts that shouldn't need ironing- the 1/2 poly-cotton blends. They seem to hate the iron for some reason.
And, detesting garbage? I'll have to think twice then, before asking Mr. NMF to do it.
Corner Point- Then you'll have to come to Israel and do my ironing for me, okay?
Careful- Thanks! You're right. I usually wear slippers though.
I love cooking, so I do plenty of it, and enjoy every minute of it. I'm neutral on laundry- It's not so bad in terms of DOING it, but being that we live in a walk-up with machines in the basement, it involves a lot of shlepping. But that's what husbands were born to do anyway, in addition to taking out the garbage, plunging the toilet, and opening pickle jars, so I'm covered there.
The one thing I absolutely cannot STAND to do is clean. I HATE cleaning. My husband hates it too. Until such day as we can afford a cleaning lady, the strategy is to live in a giant mess until A) we have guests (in which case we don't actually clean, but rather shove everything into various closets until the guests leave), or B) it gets so gross in there that we really have no choice but to suck it up and clean. Scenario B has only occurred twice in the year and 2 months since we got married :-P
Can you get a shipment of downy wrinkle releaser from USA? Soooo worth it!
Jb- Hah! Every time I have a jar/bottle I can't open, that would be Mr. NMF's job also. It's a guy thing. (No sexism meant :D)
Oy. I sympathise with the cleaning issue. Have you tried taking a day to just relax and organize? That's what I do when I can't stand the clutter anymore.
Bas~Melech- I'll try to ask my next visitor to bring some. Any other good tips?
In my family we actually never iron stuff, my mother sends stuff to the cleaners sometimes. The only time I ever ironed, was for our HS concert/play, we had costumes which had to be ironed, so I did that.
I would say the only chore I dislike doing would be to clean out the shower hair from the drain.
Jewish Side- I would do that- just it costs money to send to the cleaners every time- and money doesn't grow on trees here. (At least, readily available money, as the fibers it comes from do come from trees.)
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