The Iron is Hot

In Sleeping Naked is Green, Vanessa Farquharson writes about her year of making one green change every day, for a grand total of 366 changes, because she inadvertently chose a leap year.

If I had one of these, I wouldn't
worry about using electricity--
but I would worry about dropping
it on my foot. Source.

One of her earlier changes was giving up ironing. I'm guessing this was more of a sacrifice because she is Canadian, where people expect to see wrinkle-free clothes in public, whereas I'm a rumpled American surrounded by other rumpled Americans who don't care what my t-shirt looks like.

Also, I've pondered the merits of giving up ironing. Do irons use that much electricity to merit putting them on the shelf in the name of protecting the earth? I'm thinking that keeping the bathroom light on while I'm showering uses more watts. On the other hand, I don't iron every day.

So, does this count as a green living tip? Not exactly. I iron my hankies because it increases the available surface area, and I have a couple of other things that usually need ironing. But I've found that hanging them out to dry (surprise!) fixes that, which is totally crazy. So, no iron needed at all during the summer, and when it's not 3 million degrees outside, I save them all up to iron at once.

Do you iron? Do you feel like you're using a lot of electricity to de-wrinkle your clothes?