There are people out there who much prefer packing away their clothing and simply ironing each garment as required. However, most people gather the ironing together and do it all at once, a couple of times a week or once a week for some. It could be that you really despise ironing, or perhaps you really enjoy it – either way, it’s one of those things that simply have to be done. After all, you couldn’t possibly go for an interview or a meeting or even attend work in crumpled up clothing. So let’s embrace the chore of ironing by looking at fun ways to make better use of the time – you may just come to love this mundane task!
Quiet Time
When everybody in the house is fast asleep and there’s nothing disturbing the silence except for the gentle hiss of the iron, it can be immensely soothing! After a very long day of hustle and bustle, simply using the time to iron to unwind in silence is meditative. It’s the perfect excuse to simply ‘be’ and allow the repetitive motion of the hot iron erasing the creases from all the fabric induces a state of peace and tranquility before you lay your head to rest. This makes ringing time to focus and recentre by doing a single monotonous task.
Music
If the idea of silence and meditation and tranquility gives you jitters, then don’t worry – you can use your ironing time to play some of your favorite music, which can help you finish up the chore before you’ve even realized you were halfway done! Explore new music, cheer yourself up, and maybe even sing along as you iron. This is useful for lowering stress and uplifting your mood. Having music playing can help you pack up your cupboard with a bounce in your step!
Podcasts
Music isn’t the only thing you can listen to as you iron. You may like to listen to a podcast! There are thousands of different topics that you can choose from ranging from politics and news to motivation and learning. Think sports, comedy, language or anything your imagination can think of – it’s probably there. You may even listen to a podcast of your favorite book or one you really wanted to read. Use podcasts to inspire you, to get educated on something like a new language, or simply to escape into a fictional story. The choice is yours!
Chat
If listening isn’t your thing, you could choose to use your time ironing to chat a bit, and get some talking done! The rest of the day is often so busy that you don’t get a chance to make the phone calls you would like to or speak t those around you about things. Use the time you are ironing to make phone calls and place it on speakerphone. Your mom or your friend will really appreciate you taking the time to call them, too!
Multi-task
For some people, it can be irritating to stand around ironing clothes as you feel like there is a lot more you could be doing with your time, or that you could be doing something more productive rather than flattening out wrinkles from fabric. Well, the good news is that you can still be productive while ironing! Simply have a book at hand with a pen, and as you iron, you could come up with your grocery list and in between folding items simply jot them down. The same goes for creating to-do lists for the next day. You could also go through your mental checklist to check that you hadn’t forgotten anything you were supposed to do and make a note of it.
There are many things you could do as you iron, and choosing the right things to do while ironing can be the key to helping you look forward to doing it! Try out as many of the ideas as you can and think up some of your own, too, to find what really helps you feel great as you iron. Before you know it, you may be looking for items to iron from your cupboard just to have an excuse to iron!