Ironing Lady..

Hi everyone

For weeks and weeks now I have been saying to DF that I will be an ironing lady and he keeps laughing at me!! Fair enough, I dont do any ironing... I dont even have an iron or ironing board!!

My mum used to be an ironing lady for years and years when me and my sis were younger. I remember sitting in the back of the car, and going from place to place.

So my question is, is there still ironing ladies out there?? Would you be interested in an ironing lady? How much would you be willing to pay to get your clothes washed?

Thanks everyone!!

ps: mods, if I have broken any guidelines with my questions, please let me know. Thanks :)

Up until a couple of months ago I was an ironing lady in Karratha - there was a HUGE need for it up there. I used to charge $20 an hour which was pretty standard for the other ironing ladies up there too. That involved usually the customers dropping the clothes off and I would then drop them back at their house. My turnaround time was 48 hours (just in case I had a shocking day with the kids ;)) but most weeks would get it done in 24 hrs.

Hope that helps. :)

I saw a notice up on the community board at the shops the other day, $30 per basket. Not bad if it's a BIG basket! LOL.

I've also seen it charged per shirt - like $2.50 for a business shirt etc. Not sure how that would work out.

DH keeps wanting me to get an ironing lady, but I feel it's my job and can't bear the thought of someone else doing it. LOL. Chips away at my pride every time he says it too! grrr. He only suggests it as a one off when I'm snowed under.. but I tell ya, it makes me get on top of it! LOL. So personally I wouldnt' use a regular ironing lady, but I do know people that do. (I guess it helps that DH wears mostly t-shirts to work, so not too many shirt shirts to iron).

Great idea V. Guess you would have to be very good at it though, but your mum could teach you all the tricks! I'm terrible at it- poor DH.
We are going to look into getting DH's shirts done by someone, as ironing just doesn't fit into my day anymore ;)

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DH keeps wanting me to get an ironing lady, but I feel it's my job and can't bear the thought of someone else doing it. LOL. Chips away at my pride every time he says it too! grrr. He only suggests it as a one off when I'm snowed under.. but I tell ya, it makes me get on top of it! LOL.

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LOL Liz, I feel the same, and get very offended when MIL says she'll do my husbands shirts! Like she is saying, "you are a bad wife, you can't even manage to do the IRONING!"
I know thats not what she means! but thats how I take it! lol..but at the moment I wouldn't mind getting a stranger to do it.

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are there still ironing ladies out there??

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Not many!

It took me ages to find a good one that worked in well with our family, so I reckon you may be onto a winner, if there is the demand in your area.

What I wanted was someone to come and pick up the ironiong at a specific time, then drop it back off at a specific time around 24/48 hours later.

OR, for someone to come to my house and do it on a specific day at a specific time on a regular day

(I know that makes me sound anal, but this household is a very busy one, with stuff sceduled in every day, so I wanted to be able to plan round it all IYKWIM?)

Anyway, eventually I found my Vonny who is an angel and a legend and she picks it all up on Tuesday at 9.30am and drops it all back on a Friday at 3.30pm (when she stops for a cuppa and plays with the kids!)

She charges me $25 an hour and takes 2 hours a week to do what would take me for ever........and she does it better than I ever could, and we all adore her.......she is a fantastic support to me and this family of mine......

I use an ironing lady and pay $20 for a reasonable basket of ironing (picked up and delivered) which I am told is a very good price so you could probably charge $25. I would be lost without her and know there is a huge demand for ironing ladies.

Wow, Veronica, it sounds like its a good idea - there's a market for it, by the sound of things. I'm surprised actually that lots of people hire someone to do their ironing... I probably wouldn't myself. But I must admit, I am cr@p at ironing LOL. I never iron any of my own stuff and DH irons his own shirts...

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Like she is saying, "you are a bad wife, you can't even manage to do the IRONING!"

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ROFL, I must be the worst wife in the world for making HIM do it himself!

I'd hire an ironing lady!!! Most definitely.
There is nothing worse than standing around in the heat of summer ironing a weeks worth of shirts... ewww. If I could pay someone to do it for me, I would.

I thought about doing this.. I called a company that hired people so I wouldn't have to go out on my own in the beginning, but i was only going to make like $10 per hour +$2 for pickup drop off etc, so i didn't bother.

If i did I would just do it myself and letterbox drop... Might do it after the baby is born.

If you do start up, i recommend getting a steam station thing. They make ironing SO much quicker!

For people who charge by the hour - how do you know how long it took them to do it?

and

For people who charge by the basket - how do you standardise a basket?

Not sure which way i should charge. Or it might be per item, I would probably prefer to pay that way if i was doing it.

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For people who charge by the hour - how do you know how long it took them to do it?

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Yael - I suppose it all comes down to trust really and you might have a vague idea before hand how long the ironing might take you.

Most of the ironing ladies I have met charge by the hour as sometimes if you charge by the basket some weeks you may have all business shirts or delicate items that take forever and other weeks have lots of t-shirts that you zip through.

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I use an ironing lady and pay $20 for a reasonable basket of ironing (picked up and delivered) which I am told is a very good price so you could probably charge $25. I would be lost without her and know there is a huge demand for ironing ladies.

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do you have this ladies number? I HAVE BEEN looking everywhere for an ironing lady:dance: