before.rb

def state
  case
  when !collected? then 'booked'
  when !ironed? then 'collected'
  when !delivered? then 'ironed'
  else 'delivered'
  end
end

# ironed?    might raise an exception if collected? is false
# delivered? might raise an exception if ironed?    is false

now.rb

STATES = ['booked', 'collected', 'ironed', 'delivered']
def state
  begin
    STATES[[collected?, ironed?, delivered?].take_while(&:itself).size]
  rescue
    # do exception handling here
  end
  # of course, by here you still don't know what state you're in
end