Getting Shirty
30May2006
I’m weird. You know why? Because I love ironing. I really do prefer to iron my own shirts.
Generally I am very lazy though, so I tend to iron every day just before I go to work, which is not very productive. But once in a while (i.e. this week) I manage to summon up the time and energy to iron 5 shirts and ties on a Sunday evening so I am prepared for the week.
The good thing about batch ironing is that I can try to beat my ISR (Ironing Speed Record) of 4 minutes per shirt – without losing the quality of the press. What do you need for a 4-minute shirt? A good IEQ – Ironing Effectiveness Quotient. Your IEQ is calculated by taking the number of shirts you can iron in an hour and multiplying it by the amount of times you iron per week. These factors also help:
- Good starch – or Febreze if you don’t have any. I have even been known to use a water/sugar mix if I am desperate (i.e. in a hotel room with an iron made of plastic)
- A good iron – I spend a long time purchasing an iron, as I know the quality really makes a difference to my IEQ. I am not flashy enough to splash out for one of those steamer professional ones, but it has to have good steam, a big water reservoir and a long cord
- Good cloth – the quality of the shirt really makes a difference. Some cheap shirts do iron easily, but they don’t tend to last long. I even iron my non-iron shirts because they can still get creases. No breast pockets helps speed up the time, but French Cuffs always add an extra 30 seconds to the overall ironing time – but why have a shirt without French Cuffs?
Even with all these factors taken into account, I have still never managed a 3-minute shirt.
Another thing I do is rotate my shirts and ties so I do not wear the same ones 2 weeks running.
But I do get bored of my shirt collection, so every so often (again, this week), I order some new ones from my favourite supplier. My rule is – one shirt in = one shirt out, which means for every new shirt I buy one goes to the charity shop.
On a related note, those pesky iPods get everywhere! BTW, what’s your IEQ?
I may never be able to work out my IEQ, as I only iron on the day, but I’d be interested in working it out sometime…. (bet I could beat the 3 min mark… with fancy creases too!!)
I think my IEQ is probably around 5 minutes. I like to iron too, but I like to take my time. I’ve never thought about trying to be fast at it… Interesting idea! I think I have great IEQ potential as I was in the Navy and had to iron and be quick. I’ll give it a go sometime. I like to vacuum as well. Go figure.