He's leaving me!

As the possessor of 56 shirts I am happy to do my share of the ironing. T shirts and polos do nothing for the mature man with the expanded waist, so I gave them up long ago.

And no short sleeves!

Flower oh no, you must iron the entire shirt. What if Mr.P wants to take it off? We are approaching hopefully the warm season, you cannot expect Mr.P to sit with a jacket on, slowly expiring because if he removes said jacket, there will be creases and crumples on his shirt.

Perhaps he could ask the landlady where the local laundrette is and see if she offers. Provided her charge was reasonable, that may be an option. 50p a shirt as opposed to £1 at a drycleaners would be fair and remove a lot of hassle from his life.

I would dry them on hangers, most buttons fastened, and just iron the collar and cuffs, Phoenix with possibly a quick pass down the fronts, taking in the corresponding bits of the back at the same time if you resist being so thorough that you open the shirt up again (DH always put on and took off his shirt over his head, so the buttons stayed done up permanently)

Haven't read all that has gone before so probably 'shooting from the lip'.
First the good bit..... glad your new(ish) job is going well.
Now the bad bit..... May I gently suggest that your DH irons his own shirts?
When my boys wore school uniform (and Scouts uniform) and the OG wore shirts to work AND at the w/end, I reckon I used to iron around 19 shirts per week. As I worked too, washing and ironing had to be done at the weekend (no tumble dryer in those days).
I waited for retirement and a more equitable sharing of chores before rebelling and refusing to iron another shirt.The OG now does his own ironing.
As you BOTH work, I think this is a reasonable suggestion!

Just iron the front and the cuffs - make him wear a jacket.

A typical good news/bad news story! Though I think the good news of work can trump the bad news of ironing! Good luck to both of you

Hello all, and thank you for the good wishes.

I'm enjoying my job so far, just finished week three. I really hope they do keep me on after the trial period.

I have designed new email footers for them, and am now liaising with a freelance web designer to get the new website done. I have made some inroads into re structuring the filing system, and have a very basic grasp of a few of the technical terms. However, I do wish my Word skills were a bit better but hopefully more of it will come back to me!

At least he has a job now phoenix which is the main thing. I think you were just joking about the shirts really,it's not that bad is it? I iron shirts all the time for my DH as he likes a fresh shirt every day, either at work or at home.He used to be away all week years ago, and I found the break did us both good! My DH refuses to wear T shirts [don't think he has ever owned one] although he only wears a tie for work.Speaking of ties, he owns about 40 of the blighters but I have noticed he only chooses from a about 6 , when challenged on this he says he likes these ones the best, but won't get rid of any of the others.How is your own job going, by the way?

Wonderful news that you are both in work again after all the heartache you have been through.
Lots of S to you both !

phoenix it's so good to hear that you're both back working again. Iron the necessary bits if you must and get on with enjoying a bit of peace of mind again .
number, DH's shirt (note 'shirt' singular) is languishing in the waste-paper basket that serves as an ironing basket. He does actually have 19 shirts. I know this because I was clearing out his cupboard and managed to put about 10 in the charity bag. Mind you, they did have flowers on and wide pointy collars . However, he prefers his GREY shirt with the cut-away collar if he really HAS to wear one - which isn't at all often. Hence the waste-paper basket ironing pile. I do not iron unless absolutely necessary. I FOLD!

My hubby only wears a shirt once in a blue moon, I think the last time was our son`s wedding in July 2011!

After years of moaning about ironing DH's work shirts I started taking them in to our local dry cleaners to be ironed. It didn't cost a lot and they came back looking lovely.
If I'm doing the ironing myself I always go for the ironing the bits that show option.

You could buy some very wide ties.

And you don't have to iron the whole shirt...only the bits that show if he's wearing a suit.

Many thanks to all for the good wishes and suggestions! Definitely some food for thought there, with regard to laundry options.

I'm pretty sure that there is a surfeit of white shirts somewhere in the house, but have the feeling that one particular batch (possibly the ones from Asda or maybe Sainsburys) proved to be a bit short in the body.

Mr P has said he is quite happy to wear them to help with the laundry turnaround thing, but I feel that not only would they be a bit annoying to wear, with them forever being untucked, but he would end up looking like a badly wrapped parcel.

Dear Mr P, he often seems to end up sort of "sartorially" challenged, not one of life's snappy dressers!

phoenix I am not a lover of ironing but I think that I could manage 5 shirts, maybe 6 in case there is an accident.

Seriously, maybe wherever he is going to work it may be a bit cheaper there to get them done weekly. Mr.P can always investigate when he gets there.

Just think that it is a small price to pay for 4 evenings and nights to slob around as you wish after a day's work and if you do not fancy cooking a meal, you can have beans on toast.

Great to hear that you are both in work again

First of all congratulations on Mr P's job. We had 9 years of this when DH worked in Bournemouth on a series of contracts and after a very few weeks he found a small studio flat to rent and later a slightly bigger one so sometmes I would take the dog down for weekends instead of him having the long drive home. One thing was a given - he found a laundry that did shirts and his sheets/duvet covers. I was OK to lob pants etc into the washing machine if necessary but no way was I going to do 2 lots of sheets and 5 shirts every weekend. It worked very well and occasionally when the weather was particularly dire here or we hd had a houseful at Christmas, he would take out sheets down with him and send them to the laundry too!
I shouldn't say this but enforced separation was absolutely fine by me. He got lonely initially as he is not a mixer and go-er outer, but the suggestion of a season ticket to the BSO was an inspiration so he would go to a concert every Wednesday which he loved. I had never lived alone (married straight out of university) and I really enjoyed my freedom!!!
Nuff said!

It's good to hear that things are going well for you, Phoenix. The idea of spending some of your joint earnings on an extra set of shirts sounds like a good one to me. Mr P sounds as if he's worth ironing for! to you both.

We are both in the process (slowly) of going through the wardrobes and drawers to get rid of clothes that we never wear. Trying to be ruthless, but very difficult. Our children are much better at this. Youngest son 'if you've not worn it for a year bin it'. Different eras. SallyAnn is doing well this month.

Can he not find a B&B with an accommodating landlady??

One that likes washing and ironing I mean

Some strong deodorant and make do on two shirts a week?! Mitchum is good - lasts for days.

Sorry that he is having to work away and live that horrid life of B&Bs during the week - but the weekends will be all the more precious.

What a great partnership, phoenix. Fair division of labour!

My DH has a wardrobe crammed full of shirts and he only wears a few favourite ones. Shame I can't pass some on to you phoenix

aggie I promise I didn't nick your idea... I'm just a bit slow typing and hadn't seen your post