Depending on your work and your personal style, clothing care will be more or less a chore. It might surprise you to know that for those who still wear a suit to work, clothing care couldn't be easier. And that's why this mode of dress probably persisted for so long. Buy 3 suits, 6 or 7 shirts, dry-clean the suits occasionally and have half of the shirts laundered at a time and you're covered.

I don't happen to dress up for work. But I also don't have anyone doing my laundry so I'm left to fend for myself. And in spite of my age, I do have a few shreds of sartorial pride left in me and so attempt to look as €cool€ as I can under the circumstances. This has left me doing laundry off and on during the week, and wondering how I came to be ironing clothes for half an hour at a time.

The problem is starched shirts and creased pants have largely gone by the wayside as jeans and sneakers, and the un-tucked shirt have taken over. And €" while the laundered look isn't hip, everything still requires some wrinkle removal €" and, thus, the ironing.

So €" before I tell you how to make your whites white, let me give you this tip€¦ invest in a powerful, high wattage, fast to heat up, lots of steam clothes iron. This will cut your ironing time by a third. Here's the low-down for casual ironing:

- Shirts require pretty much the entirety of its surface gets ironed to some degree. Tip: don't put creases in the sleeves.
- Pants usually require just a quick flat press on the legs €" wrinkle removal only to the extent that you don't look like you slept in them.
- T-shirts require little care if you remove them from the dryer quickly and fold. Otherwise a quick flat iron will be needed.

Getting whites white. I know you've been waiting for this and I only hope my answer is the best there is. Once you've figured this out, there's nothing much left to learn. There are many opinions, so give some of these a try:

- Dry your white clothes in the sun. It has bleaching qualities.
- Wash whites separately using hot water. Pack your loads loosely.
- Use a water softener or add vinegar to your load (about 1 cup).
- Wash whites after every wear. Even though they will look clean, the oils from your skin will lock stains in.
- While regular bleach can work, don't overuse it. Fabrics will deteriorate prematurely. If bleaching, use an oxygen based bleach such as Oxiclean or Clorox 2.
- Don't dry a garment that has a stain. It will lock it in. Treat stains with stain removers.
- For bad cases, boil a kettle of water add a cup of vinegar, turn the heat off and place soiled whites in the kettle and soak overnight. Then wash as normal.

Everything else is a snap. Darks with darks, lights with lights. Immediately remove from the dryer to limit ironing. Keep it clean!