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Original poster

Should you change the beds every time you have guests?

216 replies

homecomingposy · 14/08/2023 09:25

I’ve always thought it is absolutely the case that a guest should have clean bed linen when they come to stay. I’ve been doing it for years. Even tho it means tonnes of washing. So when I stayed over recently at ( very good) friends I found a dirty sock in the bed. Someone had stayed in it before me.
Plus, a month or so ago I stayed at another friend and had to brush out hairs from inside the bed and off the pillow. Which I then turned over. Now to clarify, I said nothing. Got on with it. But for some ( justifiable ?) reason, I feel a bit queasy about this.
am i the only one who changes the sheets each time ???

OP posts:
Louloulouenna · 15/08/2023 08:33

Hang on but if there is a top sheet between you and the duvet how is that different from a fresh top sheet used with blankets which quite obviously are not washed each time?!

There is no point at which your body would actually touch the duvet cover…..

Simonjt · 15/08/2023 08:37

Louloulouenna · 15/08/2023 08:33

Hang on but if there is a top sheet between you and the duvet how is that different from a fresh top sheet used with blankets which quite obviously are not washed each time?!

There is no point at which your body would actually touch the duvet cover…..

A top sheet doesn’t stop you touching a duvet, you moved it to get in and out of bed, your belongings likely touch it, if your arms are out of the bed at any point they’ll be on the duvet, the duvet will also be touching the dirty sheets and pillow cases. Using unwashed blankets is also disgusting.

Louloulouenna · 15/08/2023 08:50

The clean top sheet would be folded over the top of the duvet and extend by a foot or two so you would use that to fold the bedding back. I guess your arms / hands could touch the duvet but then they obviously come into contact with furniture etc which haven’t been freshly washed.

Blankets are obviously not washed every single time and nor are bedspreads!

Cakeorchocolate · 15/08/2023 08:54

Of course fresh bedding.

silentpool · 15/08/2023 08:59

Of course! I've been to stay with people who haven't changed them and yes, you do notice...

Sennelier1 · 15/08/2023 09:07

I always change the sheets between guests, even the junior bed used by both my grandsons (cousins, not brothers). If only used one or two nights I will leave the sheets on for a returning guest (f.i. my daughter and husband living abroad) but if the return is not within the week I change the sheets too.

studentgrant · 15/08/2023 10:03

I do but sometimes I Les r then sheets to do for themselves, unless they are elderly.

brokenlore · 15/08/2023 10:51

I'm a bit of a minger (only change my own sheets once a fortnight), but it's gross not to change sheets for guests, yuck!
Guests always get fresh linen and towels (I might not iron it!) but still nice fresh crisp sheets!

springtome · 15/08/2023 19:23

I only have my brother and sil stop usually so don't wash every time. If I knew someone else was coming before then, I would wash them. We stop at their house too but they have more gusts stop. I know who they are and if I'm honest, it doesn't bother me if they hadn't changed the bedding. We both wear pjs and I don't believe their friends/my bros in laws would be getting up to anything sexual so just sleeping in the bed.

DameCurlyBassey · 17/08/2023 09:31

OnTheBoardwalk · 14/08/2023 22:47

Absolutely. 4 out of 5 times in a year I’m the only person who stays at my friends house. I tell her not to change sheets between my stays but would expect her to change them the one time a year another friend stays

shes at mine twice a year and I'll sleep in her sheets (if hot and my room south facing) but never let her sleep in mind

You’re a nice friend.

DameCurlyBassey · 17/08/2023 09:34

LongTermLurker · 15/08/2023 06:40

Zelda, what on earth do you do in bed (or how unwashed are you) to have such epic levels of revulsion at the thought of sleeping in sheets that someone else has slept in? How do you manage to sit on sofas that have possibly never or very rarely been washed?

As mentioned above I wouldn't mind sleeping in sheets that a sibling had used once. They're clean people, and wear pajamas. Am I making in imagination in what would be so repulsive about touching the same fabric that they've touched?

Isn’t sitting on sofas different to being in bed all night wrapped in sheets and duvet, tossing and turning in bed for hours, sweating - I don’t do that on a sofa.

avocadotofu · 17/08/2023 09:35

You definitely should!!

DameCurlyBassey · 17/08/2023 09:39

I once stayed in an air bnb and found evidence that they had not changed the sheets - perhaps the last guests had only stayed a night or so, making the owners think the sheets were fresh enough. I found it gross but didn’t tell the others who would have upped sticks and abandoned the holiday.

Now I would never stay in an air bnb with no washing machine.

KarmaStar · 17/08/2023 12:45

Yuk,what did you do ? I would never have got into either bed.disgusting.
Unless sock just got into laundry in dryer unnoticed and a pet had been on bed .

AtTheStream · 17/08/2023 20:19

Even if we throw a dinner party, get blind drunk and end up with a surprise guest or two I always always change the sheets for them

Never occurred to me not to

Missingmyusername · 17/08/2023 20:22

SM4713 · 14/08/2023 09:33

I would have handed them the sock and said 'I found this in the bed, do you know who it belongs to'???

If you don't make it obvious that you know they didn't change the sheets- they never will! Yuck. Imagine going to a hotel and the sheets aren't changed 😖

🤣

TowerRaven7 · 17/08/2023 20:24

My god yes! This is making my skin crawl!

MavisMcMinty · 17/08/2023 20:28

I’m the laziest sloven alive, but would always ALWAYS have fresh clean bedlinen on the bed for visitors. Wouldn't be ironed though.

ZeldaWillTellYourFortune · 17/08/2023 20:31

TowerRaven7 · 17/08/2023 20:24

My god yes! This is making my skin crawl!

Same here!

I'm dumbfounded at the number of people willing to sleep in others' dead skill cells and other detritus.

fleur25 · 17/08/2023 20:39

Absolutely clean sheets! I can't believe anyone would even think it would be acceptable to do otherwise!

ThePoetsWife · 17/08/2023 20:40

Urgh. Your friends are minging.

I always strip the bed when leaving after a guest stay so they have no choice except to change the bedding.

Coronationstation · 17/08/2023 20:43

Ewww that’s grim! I have one fairly
regular visitor so occasionally take their sheets off, don’t wash them if they’ve only been slept in 1 or 2 nights, and put clean on for someone else, then put theirs back in before they stay again. But different people always get different sheets!!

MasterBeth · 17/08/2023 20:49

It's polite and hospitable to provide clean sheets to guests. I always would.

But it's not disgusting or unhygienic.

MasterBeth · 17/08/2023 20:50

"Dead skin cells"!! That's dust. Dust won't kill you

2jacqi · 17/08/2023 20:51

shocked to think that this would be acceptable to anyone!!! that is disgusting! did you say anything to either of your hosts???