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Original poster

When do you wash spare room bedding?

34 replies

Notanotherone5 · 02/12/2022 01:05

I normally wash spare room bedding the day before we have guests coming to stay, so it’s nice and fresh. But that does mean that we aren’t ready for guests to stay at no notice

We’ve just had some guests come to stay at very short notice (thankfully they were also the last guests, so no need to wash bedding). It’s made me wonder if we should be more prepared

OP posts:
DramaAlpaca · 02/12/2022 01:08

Immediately after they've been used

FiveShelties · 02/12/2022 01:09

As soon as the guests have left.

Original poster
Notanotherone5 · 02/12/2022 01:14

DramaAlpaca · 02/12/2022 01:08

Immediately after they've been used

But then it can often be 3 months before the next guests. Don’t they get a bit stale? I like them to smell fresh from the wash but I guess I could try frebreeze?

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watcherintherye · 02/12/2022 01:18

I don’t keep bedding on the spare beds, just a mattress protector. The clean bedding goes on before guests arrive and comes off when they leave.

AlwaysLatte · 02/12/2022 01:29

I wash the bedding the day they go home and put it on the bed, but if it's several weeks before anyone comes I wash it again.

ImpossibleGirl · 02/12/2022 01:45

We strip the bed and wash the sheets as soon as they leave. The bed is left "unmade" with mattress protector/pillows/duvet in place but covered with a bed spread to keep it dust free. Looks like it's a made up bed until you pull back the throw / bedspread.

Clean sheets and towels in the dresser in the room, so readily accessible if we have short notice / unexpected guests. Easy to make up without disturbing the rest of the house in the wee hours when one of your mates has missed the last train home and comes back with you instead. GrinWineWineXmas Blush

The only time we don't immediately change the bedding is if it's MiL, one or two nights, and she's also the next guest in 4 weeks or less for another night or two - then we just air the bed the day before she returns. Depending on length of visit and frequency, the sheets for her are changed every second or third stay.

fallfallfall · 02/12/2022 02:04

Right after, no reason for the bedding to become stale. Do you wash clean towels before guests? Why would the bedding be more stale than towels in the linen closet.

Shearlingsway549 · 02/12/2022 02:15

I wash them quite soon after guests have gone. Fold and put together in a complete bundle for that bed.

Store in linen press with small bar of soap in the bundle. They smell lovely!

We have guests quite often though!

VanGoghsDog · 02/12/2022 02:24

I can't understand why they'd get more "stale" on the bed than in a cupboard, the other way around if anything!

Anyway, I have two sets, so I leave the "dirty" on if it's someone who might use the bed again. If unexpected guests I can just swap for the other set.

If not likely to be the same person using, I wash and remake the bed with the other set, and store the unused set.

Forgottenmypasswordagain · 02/12/2022 02:30

I wash them and get them out to make the bed when I know somebody's staying over.

Christmasnero · 02/12/2022 02:31

Notanotherone5 · 02/12/2022 01:14

But then it can often be 3 months before the next guests. Don’t they get a bit stale? I like them to smell fresh from the wash but I guess I could try frebreeze?

Show quote history

Are you just keeping dirty 3 months old bedsheets out though? That would gross me out.

we only have overnight guests about three times a year. I’d wash after they leave then maybe fabreeze or a quick cycle or even just in the dryer with a dryer sheet to freshen them up before they stay

Sparklingbrook · 02/12/2022 06:10

Strip the bed and wash after they’ve gone, then only make the bed up again for the next guest.

KangarooKenny · 02/12/2022 06:16

I wash the bedding as soon as they leave, and throw an old sheet over to cover the bed. I only put the sheets back on if someone is staying.

WendyWagon · 06/12/2022 12:40

Straight off army style.
I once slept at a very house proud friends' home . I turned the pillow over in the night to find lipstick marks on the cover. Never saw her in the same light again.

BlondeBombshelf · 13/02/2023 15:54

DSS stays 4 nights a month so it gets washed once a month, once he’s stayed in the room 4 times.

fussychica · 13/02/2023 16:33

Wash as soon as DS has left. Bed made up again as may or may not be used by DH or me if we are having a restless night or go down with a cold etc. Wash and remake for
DS, only person who stays, regardless of whether they have been slept in, or not, since his last visit.

Oblomov23 · 13/02/2023 16:48

I wash it as soon as they leave, and then as soon as dry, make the bed again. It would appear I'm the only one to do this.

greenacrylicpaint · 13/02/2023 16:50

immediately after guests leave.
in between bedding is stored away and a new sheet is put on to use the guest bed as day bed.

VintageThoughts · 13/02/2023 17:04

Oblomov23 · 13/02/2023 16:48

I wash it as soon as they leave, and then as soon as dry, make the bed again. It would appear I'm the only one to do this.

Not the only one. I do exactly the same.

MrsR87 · 13/02/2023 17:29

We now have a sofa bed in our spare room as we downsized it from a bigger room when DD2 was born. So we wash straight away when they have left. Then it all gets put into
the drawer underneath ready for use next time.

HyacinthineMacaw · 13/02/2023 17:34

Our spare bed is used far, far more often by one of the two of us than by guests, so we keep ‘our’ sheets on for as many uses as you’d usually do, and change them regularly, and of course always change them just before someone else stays. It’s our old double bed (we now have a super king which I love), so we have lots of changes of bedding available.

reluctantbrit · 13/02/2023 17:35

We swapped our guest bed to a proper futon as soon as we stopped having guests on a more regular basis (family members too old and ill health to travel to us). So no more issues with "do I make up the bed or not".

So all spare bedding is in the chest and I don't have special duvet covers, I mix and match what I use for all beds (we all have single size duvets and duvet covers as we are all duvet hoggers and love different weights).

I would think a bedding not used for several months gets too dusty to sleep in. In the past I had large covers over the whole bed but I didn't like seeing it and as the guestbedroom is also my office I lobbied for the futon.

LittleBearPad · 13/02/2023 17:36

When they go unless I know the same person is sleeping in it next time they come.

NoDairyNoProblem · 13/02/2023 17:39

Oblomov23 · 13/02/2023 16:48

I wash it as soon as they leave, and then as soon as dry, make the bed again. It would appear I'm the only one to do this.

I do this too. If it’s been a long time between guests I will probably pop on a fresh set before they arrive (say Christmas to Easter) but we have a few to swap between.

Headstones250 · 13/02/2023 17:42

I strip it immediately and remake it there and then. I like having a spare bed made up ready, just in case I can't sleep through DH's snoring or if a guest arrives in the middle of the night (ie the kids friends after a night out).

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