Would you say anything about lodgers excessive use of washing machine?

mlz1413

Roses if you own the house and she is your lodger stop feeling embarrassed about tackling this issue.

Just say to her one evening do you have 15 mins for a quick chat, then say as you do not use the w/m more than twice a week you had not expected her to use the w/m so much and with so little in it.

Ask if she has a reason for doing this ie skin complaint, lack of clothes and discuss future useage, ie buy a couple more bed sets so at least 2 can be washed togther and when can she afford to buy more clothes. Quite frankly 2 pairs of knickers and 2 tee shirts should have been washed by hand and would only take 3 bowls or water max.

Also tell her that she needs to buy all her own detergent and will need an extra contribution to the elec and gas of 50p per load so that's currently £4 per week, with a review on the arrival of the bill.

You'll probably find that she never had to worry about the costs before and just simply hasn't thought about the useage.

NB I can do 8 loads - but its when I have to do a full set of football kit and 2 peoples work and evening clothes, bedding and towels in a week.

clairet707

Imp wrote: »

If you care about your clothes, don't have a huge number of them and want to stay reasonably clean, then the weekly washing comprises of the following loads.

1) Darks
2) Whites
3) Coloureds
4) Bedding (two loads as it is a double bed)
5) Towels

I personally try and get through that lot once a week so I don't end up with huge piles of dirty clothes.

Seriously - you do all that EVERY week??

crikey

in our house we do 2 maybe 3 a week

2 loads of washing clothes - this is usually is 1 dark and 1 white, towels go in with their relevant colours, and this includes OHs cycling gear - unless he is doing his newer stuff and then he does a separate load as it doesnt have conditioner in

and then bedding we do every other week and we fit a double duvet, double sheet and 2 pillow cases in 1 wash.. not sure how your double bedding doesnt go in 1, do you have an exceptionally small machine?

poet123

As a family of 5,I wash at least once a day. Also, I generally do 2/3 more loads on my day off. We get through 20 shirts each week,7 towels a day,and 5 sets of bedding a week,along with all the other "sundries" my tops,underwear,socks,trousers,jeans,football kit x 3. My machine barely has time to draw breath.

However, for a single person 8 times a week does seem excessive. Maybe she hates dirty clothes hanging around,does she have a wash basket?

poppysarah

I don't think there's any excuse for putting so few things in the washer.
Clothes have never been cheaper.

RetroBob

poet123 wrote: »

As a family of 5,I wash at least once a day. Also, I generally do 2/3 more loads on my day off. We get through 20 shirts each week,7 towels a day,and 5 sets of bedding a week,along with all the other "sundries" my tops,underwear,socks,trousers,jeans,football kit x 3. My machine barely has time to draw breath.

However, for a single person 8 times a week does seem excessive. Maybe she hates dirty clothes hanging around,does she have a wash basket?

7 towels a day? I make one last a couple of weeks if I leave it to dry properly.

Hermia

mlz1413 wrote: »

You'll probably find that she never had to worry about the costs before and just simply hasn't thought about the useage.

I wondered that too. Is she someone who has just moved out of her mum's house? When you live at home you do take these things for granted. When I first moved out of my parent's home I was astonished at the cost of these sort of things!

I live in a block of flats and have to use a token-operated machine which is in the shed. I just do one wash a week because of the expense and I don't want to spend my evenings in a creepy shed. I would never have believed I could have managed on just one wash a week, but I discovered that I do actually have enough clothes to manage.

bendix

I think the OP is being a bit precious, to be honest. If you're happy enough to take the lodger's rent, you have to put up with her foibles. Unless you have a clause in the rental agreement about washing machine usage, she's entitled to enjoy the premises and its facilities in anyway she sees fit.

poppysarah

Nah you're wrong there Bendix. To use facilities in a manner becoming to a lodger would be a lot higher standard than I'd expect of family members.

bendix

Completely disagree, and the law is quite clear on the subject. Irrespective of whether the landlord lives there or not, a tenant - and this girl is a tenant - has the right to use and enjoy the facilities as she wishes, without the landlord interfering with that enjoyment.

If the landlady didnt live there, would there be similar restrictions applied? No, of course not, and the landlady would also be liable to wear and tear on the equipment, including the Washing Machine.

Tenants have rights, and one of those rights is to live as they see fit so long as they are not wilfully destroying the property or acting in any way disreputable.

Does the OP want tenants, or does she want someone who will live as she wishes her to?

poppysarah

She is not a tenant. She is a lodger. They are very very different things.