Steamer vs Iron

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
1

<p>My daughter currently doesn't iron. I do :D</p>

<p>So I have 3 questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>How important is it to iron and how often do students do it?</p></li>
<li><p>If ironing is necessary what is best to use for a novice at UT - an iron or a fabric steamer?</p></li>
<li><p>Do dorms provide irons, ironing boards or steamers or students need to bring them from home ?
I am asking this because my D got room in Carothers and I found this picture of a laundry room with ironing boards, irons, vacuum cleaners etc.
Division</a> of Housing and Food Service - Pictures of Carothers
I have never been inside Honors dorms and I don't know how accurate these pictures are (they are from Back to History homepage).</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>My understanding is that ironing boards are provided, but not the iron. College kids would do better to learn how to launder the clothes so that they are not very wrinkled. I would say an iron because it is easier to use.</p>

3

<p>lisiatc</p>

<p>She knows how to do her laundry. And most of casual clothes like T-shirts and jeans don’t need ironing at all. </p>

<p>I am talking about different type of clothes like dresses or business attire (skirts, pants, blouses) that would look really bad if they are even slightly wrinkled. </p>

<p>I don’t know how often students wear this kind of clothes. If it is 2-3 times a year for very special occasions I can tell her to use dry cleaner. But if they wear them often because of “special events” then dry cleaner becomes an unnecessary expense for a “poor” student. </p>

<p>When I looked at different dorms I noticed that sometimes students had ironing boards in their rooms. So I thought that they had to wear something that needs ironing then. </p>

<p><a href=“UHD Homepage | University Housing and Dining”>UHD Homepage | University Housing and Dining;
Here if you click on “View room 360” you can see an ironing board in the room.</p>

<p>So I should probably repeat first question.</p>

<p>How important is it to iron and how often do students do it?</p>

<p>Any current students that can help? :)</p>

4

<p>The importance of ironing is not something you can generalize to all students. If your daughter is planning on doing interviews, joining a sorority, or planning on looking professional frequently, then bringing and iron will be a good idea. She can forgo the iron if she’s only going to be dressing casually for class and such.</p>

5

<p>I did not bring an iron or an ironing board. There was one in the laundry room of my dorm (Blanton) which I saw people using from time to time. I’m sure it’s the same in other dorms. I wouldn’t bring one unless she was going to be needing it on a daily basis.</p>

6

<p>bacdgk
She is not joining a sorority. I don’t no about the rest. In high school we had to buy her a whole new wardrobe after she joined a debate team, this wardrobe was later used for scholarship interviews etc.
I really have no idea if any UT activity can require the same type of clothes. </p>

<p>buriedalie
Sorry, I did not understand. Was there one ironing board or one iron?</p>

7

<p>There’s like… a BILLION different organizations at UT. It’s really up to your daughter to decide if she will want to take an iron or not. But all dorms do have an ironing board + iron in their laundry rooms.</p>

8

<p>I am a rising sophomore at UT, and last year I used my iron maybe… 5 times max? I had one of the mini-ironing boards in my room.</p>

9

<p>As I was ironing my son’s dress shirts before he goes back to school, I wondered what ever happened here – did your daughter need to iron?</p>

<p>I probably should show my son how to iron one day, but he doesn’t wear a dress shirt very often. He now has three ironed shirts which should last him at least until spring break.</p>

10

<p>lisiatc</p>

<p>Well, my daughter lives in the Honors Quad. I saw the rooms first time during the move-in, and since the rooms are so tiny, closets almost non-existing, I just had to bring a bunch of stuff back home, including iron. Nothing could be done about beds, you cannot stack them, you cannot raise them above the floor to put bigger boxes under, so we just tried to leave things that were absolutely essential for living and studying. Iron was not essential at that point.</p>

<p>I told her that if necessary I’ll mail or bring it.</p>

<p>She went to job interviews for UT in the beginning of the year. Nobody wore formal clothes, everything was pretty casual. She went to counselor/adviser interviews in December. Clothes were very casual, for Camp Texas interview students even had face painted like Indians. </p>

<p>She got a lot of emails with invitations to dinners and presentations asking to wear formal dress. Her terrible FIG classes ended at 7 or 8 pm Monday-Thursday, so she was never able to go anywhere. </p>

<p>So I still have no clue if she is going to need iron or not. :)</p>

<p>If she continues to get emails about formal dinners and has time to attend (her schedule this semester is much-much better than last semester) she can use dry-cleaners first
[Dry</a> Cleaning & Laundry University of Texas, Austin, TX](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=drycleaninglaundry&find_loc=University+of+Texas%2C+Austin%2C+TX#l=g:-97.74879455566406,30.280786869131834,-97.7230453491211,30.303168661782472]Dry”>http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=drycleaninglaundry&find_loc=University+of+Texas%2C+Austin%2C+TX#l=g:-97.74879455566406,30.280786869131834,-97.7230453491211,30.303168661782472)</p>

<p>If she gets too many invitations I’ll probably bring/mail her an iron; she can put it somewhere under the bed. </p>

<p>Does your son go to any formal events, and if he does, how often?</p>

11

<p>Sounds like my son has a different experience at UT than your daughter. He lives in Creekside and doesn’t have a lot of space in his room, but his laundry room had a board and an iron. </p>

<p>He is in Chemical Engineering and does almost nothing socially at UT.</p>

<p>He played trombone at a local church and needed to wear a dress shirt and nice pants as the congregation usually dresses up.</p>

12

<p>If he needs shirt only once a week he can probably use dry-cleaner. Pants don’t need to be washed after once church visit, he can wear them several times.</p>

<p>My daughter’s invitations were actually from Career Services and similar “interest groups”
So you as an adult :slight_smile: should probably tell your son about importance of organizations like this [Home</a> | AIChE | Texas Student Chapter](<a href=“http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/aiche/]Home”>http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/aiche/) , or [Texas</a> Exes Student Chapter - University of Texas Alumni Association](<a href=“http://www.texasexes.org/tesc/]Texas”>http://www.texasexes.org/tesc/), or applications like this [ConocoPhillips</a> SPIRIT Scholars | Giving to UT – The University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://giving.utexas.edu/how-to-give/corporate-foundation-relations/conocophillips-spirit-scholars/]ConocoPhillips”>http://giving.utexas.edu/how-to-give/corporate-foundation-relations/conocophillips-spirit-scholars/)</p>

<p>I talked to Career Services myself during visits and buildings’ tours and I was told that parents should make sure that their children learn where Career Services are and schedule first appointment ASAP. I was told it was my duty :slight_smile: as parent to educate my child about it. Seriously. :)</p>

13

<p>Yep, he knows about these groups and scholarships.</p>

<p>Your daughter is probably out going and seems to have has adjusted quite well. You should be proud.</p>