Challenge #17: Pile o' Ironing

I don't know about you, but I don't do the ironing very often.  Not as often as I should, apparently, judging by the stack of clean-but-not-ironed-and-hung-up-yet shirts and dress pants that currently is taking up space at this little place here.  To give you a rough idea of how high my stack is, well, if I set it on the floor and stood next to it, I'm pretty sure it would come nearly to my knees.

Maybe you don't have this problem.  You lucky dog, you!  Either you take all your dress clothes to the cleaners and then retrieve them pressed, hung, and ready to wear, or your lifestyle doesn't require you to own very many dress clothes.

But for those of us who do have a pile of ironing awaiting our attention, that is what this week's challenge is all about.  Do a pile o' ironing this weekend, or at least between now and next Friday.

Haul out the ironing board, dust off the iron, fill the chamber with water so you can steam out those stubborn wrinkles, and set to it.

Now, ironing doesn't have to be a damper on your day.  Not at all.  It might take you an hour to press your way through the stack of shirts and pants; I know from past experience with piles of ironing that it is going to take me roughly an hour to make my stack disappear.  But that doesn't have to be an hour filled with sweat and tears. Just because my procrastination has let the pile grow and grow and grow doesn't mean I have to hate every minute spent catching up on the task.

It can be fun. Yes it really can. Because I said so.  And because I have a few tricks for making my gargantuan task of ironing a bit more enjoyable.

Here are a few ways you can make ironing less about drudgery and more about some me-time while accomplishing a necessary household chore:

1. Set up your ironing station near the TV, and watch a show or DVD while you iron.
2. Alternately, set up your ironing station near the computer, and enjoy some you-tubing while ironing.
3. Or, set up your ironing station near a dresser, desk, or counter where you can open up a book or magazine and do some reading while making that stack of shirts disappear.
4. Put on some fun music--you can define the genre for your fun--and jam out while you iron.

Either way, get that pile attended to.  Stop tripping over it, or adverting your eyes every time you walk by it.  Stop searching your nearly empty closet for your favorite shirts for work.  Stop giving your hubby reason to point out all that he has clean in his closet to wear to work is polo shirts, again.

Get out your favorite book, show, or music, the ironing board and the iron, then do a pile o' ironing.  When it's done, you'll be glad you did.