AIBU to ask my lodger to cut down on washing machine use?

" If I spilled something on one item of clothing, and I needed it soon, or was worried it would stain, I'd handwash it."

I would just sponge the actual stain and if I wore shorts (or whatever) a lot, I would have more than one pair!

Does he not have many clothes? How old is he?

It's excessive for one person!

Bedding once every two or three weeks should be fine. Even so a sheet and a duvet cover wouldn't fill up the machine.
A bath towel and hand/hair towel a week is not a full load.
One load of clothing with another white load sometimes so about 1.3 loads per week.
If someone exercises a lot, then yes, than can be another load so an average or 1 or 2 loads for a single person.

In any case, machine should not be on unless 80% full so OP can just tell him this.

Isn't he aware of the water shortage apart from anything else

Give him a choice. If you aren't put out by a lack of access to the machine then maybe:

"When you moved in, it was on the basis you'd be paying £X per wewk. This was calculated on the assumption that you'd be doing X full loads of washing each week. Given that isn't the case, would you rather pay £X amount more or consolidate your loads? I'd personally prefer you to consolidate as your current usage is making it difficult for me to plan my own laundry and I really don't want to schedule set days for laundry! I want you to feel comfortable and a laundry schedule is a bit more uptight than I'd want us to be!"

@IronEverything are you familiar with the concept of handwashing? If I spilled something on one item of clothing, and I needed it soon, or was worried it would stain, I'd handwash it.

What you do is put water in the wash basin, apply some detergent, and then immerse the garment in the water. You can use a scrubbing brush if the stain needs scrubbing, or if not, you can just sloosh it in the soapy water until it's clean. Then, you rinse the garment in the sink, using water from the tap.

The whole process uses zero electricity, takes a few minutes, uses a fraction of the water that a washing machine does - and in this weather, you'd have a clean dry pair of shorts within an hour. It's incredible what humans can do if they put their mind to it!

Think only time this would be ok is if he’s like pooed himself and doesn’t want to contaminate other clothing. Speaking as a potty training mum. Orherwise yeah maybe ask him to do fuller loads.

What was the agreement when you moved in? I know it's not the same as landlord/tenancy rules as he is just a lodger, but changing after someone's moved in can be tricky. Maybe agree set times if he's willing, and that will be easier as you'll know he's having Tuesday/Friday evenings, or whatever.

Washing machine on for one pair of shorts ??
he is taking the 💦 literally !!!

I'm pretty sure that it's not good for a washing machine to have too light a load, same as with a too heavy load. The drum doesn't spin properly.

And as for using the tumble dryer in a heatwave - words fail me!

Bet he wouldn't be doing this if he had to pay for the electricity bill himself. He may have the mentality that he is damn well going to get his money's worth out of the rent he is giving you. It's cheeky behaviour.

Watch he doesn't do something similar like put a heater in his room and leave it on overnight.

Does he pay for his own powder and stuff?

Eco wash on my machine is 3hrs 40 mins.

It uses far less water/electricity than the quick wash but it’s the noise that’s annoying, having it running for hours.

we use the wm 3 times a week between two of us hes being excessive

TWO HOURS?!?!?!

I’d offer to do the laundry for him and chuck it in with my own stuff.

Otherwise, I would just accept that people do things differently. This is a lodger, not a family member. He’s paying for this and modern washing machines are extremely cheap to run anyway. He would use far more electricity by cooking one meal a week.

Hey lodger, would you be ok to wait for a full load before turning the washer on? Happy to agree which days we both use it, if that helps?

He most certainly wouldnt be doing that if he had to pay for a laundrette wash but its ok to waste OPs money is it? Let him use the laundrette.

putting filthy crap into my machine
What do you think washing machines are for...?
But she was a cheeky mare using your machine for other people's washing. And I'm intrigued; what exactly was her work that it generated all this washing, and why was she doing it?

I told my old lodger she could only use the laundrette from now on after I caught her several times washing a huge amount of stuff from work, overalls, tea towels, towels. Other peoples stuff basically in my machine every single day.
I didn't give a fuck about offending her as she couldnt care less about my ectricity bill and putting filthy crap into my machine.
Your house, your rules. If he doesnt like it he can go to the laundrette.

And he could have spilled something in the shorts and needed to throw them straight in the machine when he had nothing else to wash.
Wouldn't you hand-wash them, or at least rinse them out/apply spot stain remover or whatever, then put them in the wash the next time you were doing one?

While I don't think five loads a week is unreasonable, it is if they're tiny washes.
I'd say you've been looking at the energy bills and the 'household's water usage (rather than pin it on him) and frame it as you both need to be really mindful of water and other utilities, so you both have to wait til you've got a reasonable amount to wash and dry things outside if at all possible.

I am sure colour catcher sheets do work but if you want your whites to stay very white then they should only be washed with white.

Reasonable to expect washing to be a load.

Asking politely and explaining why is not confrontation.

Well, it does depend on the size of the bed, the size of the towels and the size of the washing machine. If it is a double bed with 4 pillowcases, duvet cover and under sheet then the machine is probably nearly full up. I believe in fully loading a machine but not over loading it. Yes stuff does dry really quickly in this weather.

Colour catcher sheets are your friend!