I wrote about Women’s Work being the hardest work I’ve ever done. It’s by far the most viewed page (6000+ page views) after it was Stumbled (very kindly) by Vered whose excellent blog MomGrind has been a firm favourite of mine since before I even started blogging. Thank you Vered.
My use of the phrase ‘Women’s work’ is a little tongue in cheek, and is not meant to demean women but rather highlight the largely unappreciated role of women in society. It’s a role I’ve been getting acquainted with over the last six months and it’s opened my eyes to how the other half live, and honestly, it’s hellish hard work.
Being a fairly typical man I’m drawn to gadgets especially those that will make my life easier.
So here’s my advice regarding Irons:
Get the best steam iron you can afford
.
In fact, get the best Steam Iron you can’t afford.
The laundry is practically an industry in our home. There are seven sets of clothes to be laundered along with six sets of bed linen, a dozen bath towels and anything that a wet dog touches/sleeps on.gets wiped with.
You know what laundry is. You don’t need me to tell you.
But what I want to fix in your mind is the sheer volume of washing and ironing that needs to be done in our home.
My mother in law lives in a small annexe we built onto the side of our house, so she lives with us but also independently of us. She can come and go as she pleases and often does.
It’s a good thing. She has her own life and her own commitments and it all works very well.
The thing is, that whilst my mother in law is around, she’ll do the bulk of the laundry.
When she’s not around I miss her oh soooo much. I do. Really. Because I have to do it!
It was my own mother who tipped me on to the idea of getting the best iron I could afford. Prior to that I was using one of those ‘normal’ irons not much bigger or better than a travel iron. Here’s a picture in case you’re in any doubt about what I mean.
I would suggest that this is the kind of iron you’ll find in the vast majority of households.
These irons are in use up and down the UK everyday causing untold misery and suffering.
I have no idea how ironing works in other parts of the world or even whether it’s called ironing? Are irons called irons elsewhere? Hmmm?
Anyway, this is exactly the same sort of iron my mother in law uses and it’s just blown up. It’s knackered. It’s kaput and she needs a new one.
On the other hand, my steam iron is the cat’s whiskers. It’s the bees knees.
My steam iron looks like this.
It’s sooo sexy. It has a large detachable water tank which means I don’t have to refil every two minutes. It has constant steam and a turbo steam function and this is what makes it so good.
But beyond my weird attachment to this beautiful object its actual value to me lies in its ability to make short work of the ironing.
Ironing is back breaking, dreary and soul destroying. It takes up time better used for other endeavours like making paper planes with my kids or playing mind games with the neighbours who are plagued with pigeons landing on their flat roof to eat bird food someone ‘accidentally’ spilled there.
So why is it my mother in law can’t quite bring herself to splash out a little extra to get one of the Big Daddy irons? It would cut her ironing time in half.
I tried to explain to her that if you spend as much time ironing as we do, you’d be classed as ‘professional’. Professionals use professional tools for a reason. I mean you wouldn’t find a bricklayer using a palette knife instead of a trowel. Fair enough, you could still lay the bricks but it would take ages and require twice the effort.
I don’t think I managed to convince her but at least I tried.
Listen, if you are close to replacing your old steam iron I urge you to get one of the glorious irons like mine. You won’t regret it.
Okay, I’m just about to do something either very brave or very foolish. What I’m about to suggest might not be warmly received, but Gents, if you’re determined to buy your wife a domestic appliance as a gift instead of the sparkly earrings she really wants (you damn fool), you might as well insult her by buying her a quality iron.
Not romantic I know – but bloody useful.
Dave
ps If you feel that my message about steam irons is worthy of being seen by the masses, I’d be grateful for a Stumble, otherwise feel free to call me a tool in the comments and we’ll leave it at that. 
I’m only blogging twice this week as I have a shed load of gear I want to get listed on eBay – and lots of other things I want to achieve too. I’ll be back again on Friday!
One last thing: There’s a picture at Small&Big that freaked me out. Go and have a look.
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