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

[Member869894]

More of a WWYD really and I'm aware this is a first world problem. I have a lodger. He's nice enough but he uses the washing machine 4-5 times a WEEK. This morning I've come downstairs to a lone pair of shorts in there swishing around.
I'm not good at confrontation. How do i broach this without offending him?

@DoubleShotEspresso lol at foul, heaving and revolting. Get a grip.
and consider the environment a lot more than you currently are.
4-5 loads a week for one person is ridiculously excessive. And yes I’ve said that three times on this thread. Because it’s true. There is truly no need to be washing so much, so often unless it’s actually dirty/sweaty/smelly in some way.

My grip is perfect thanks.☺️
Let’s break this down, let’s say the lodger has work clothes 5 x days a week, possibly commuting in on public transport, say 3-5 days a week? That easily 1-2 loads per week of necessary lsundry.
Then say they go running, to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, that’s another 1-2 loads, depending on the sport, but cannot be reworn
Then they might change clothes for a couple of evenings out, home clothes/pj’s? Another load right there.
Then bedding and towels -another load.
Am just saying it all adds up, I honestly cannot see this as excessive, it’s a basic necessity.
Since when is doing laundry a waste of water? Washing is literally one of the main uses of water.
I am by no means a cleaning obsessive, but we often do 4/5 loads in a day. Minimum of two loads most days. For a single man weekly, I think this is pretty fair no?

Of course washing your clothes when they are dirty is necessity just as it was sixty years ago. The issue is about whether it's reasonable in the terms of energy and water efficiency to do multiple small loads in the washing machine instead to waiting until there's enough for a full load. Just because you can financially afford to run a machine half full or with a single item doesn't mean it's reasonable to do so.

5 shirts, trousers, pants and socks is 1-2 loads of laundry? And 5 sets of gym clothes is another 2?
How small is your washing machine?!

Family of 3 and we do maybe 3 loads a week, fewer in holidays when we don't need white school shirts clean.

Trousers are likely a dark colour, along with socks etc, so 1 x load.
Shirts/light colours = 1 x load
Gym kit/sportswear = maybe 1 x load (we have no idea on this for this thread) but we would wash gym kit or grubby football wear rather than have it sitting & smelling bad.
That’s about right for a standard sized washing machine. How big is your machine?
Then as before 2/3 loads for bed linen/towels & any other clothes. This is seriously normal !

A load in my machine fills an airer, so probably 15 larger items and a load of underwear etc.

Darks, including gym stuff and dark bedding if I need to fill the machine is one load.
Lights, including gym stuff and light bedding is one load
Towels at 60 with any other bedding is load 3.
Anything left can usually wait until there's other stuff to wash with it.
Done.

Tbh this obsession with gym stuff is nonsense, wear stuff that's natural fibres instead of those horrid plastic wicking clothes and they don't get stinky, they're just clothes and just need hanging over the side of the laundry bin so they're not in a festering sweaty ball and they're fine to wait a day or two before washing. Most people don't do that level of exercise anyway.
When I was playing a sport that had a lot of uniform at.a pretty high level I was training 3 or 4 days a week plus competing some weekends and I still wasn't needing to do 5 loads of laundry a week.

Simple, I have noticed an increase in bills recently and noticed the machine on with very little in it. Please be conscious to only wash when you have a full load as if the bills continue to rise I may need to increase board to cover it. This can be avoided if we are both mind full of energy use, us its better for the environment.

@DoubleShotEspresso
Since when is doing laundry a waste of water? when you're washing stuff that doesnt actually need washing.
Washing is literally one of the main uses of water.
Yes....... but thats not a reason to use it as if its an endless resource (which it isnt - most of the UK has in the last 3 months had almost no rain - England during July had only 10% compared to an average July)
I am by no means a cleaning obsessive, but we often do 4/5 loads in a day.
Um.... 4-5 loads a day...... how many loads a day do you think a cleaning obsessed person does then?

Im a lone adult. I do 3 (sometimes 4) loads a fortnight. Nothing about the way I live my life, doing about 3 loads of washing a fortnight (actually sometimes less) is "foul", "heaving" or "revolting".

A dozen washing extra washing machine cycles over the course of a year is not going to make a blind bit of difference.

So annoying when they don’t come back and update everyone

Yes, it does, if every single person having access to a washing machine did only full loads and as a result did 12 machine loads less .per person then it would gradually make a difference when coupled with other less wasteful habits. You do come across as a person who has enough money do as you please and could care less about the long term consequences of selfish wasteful practices on planet and the next generation.

I expect that the OP decided that telling her lodger off for using the washing machine too much would piss him off. If he’s otherwise a good lodger then it may not be worth it.

@CruCru. True 🙂

This has been an interesting thread. I’m a bit bemused by the people who seem to hardly do any laundry as much as I am by the people who seem to wash their towels and bedding really often. It did give me the push to wash my children’s bedding - we have a lot of houseguests in the summer so I tend to prioritise their stuff then.

I meant more when do you run it so you're definitely in the house for the 3 hours. Working from home does help but I still like to get mine done early doors so it can be hung out in the garden while the kettle boils.

Yes, working at home means I'm basically always here. But I'm happy for it to be running while I pop out to get lunch or whatever.

Oh I'm too paranoid to leave mine running when I'm out. Watched too many episodes of London's Burning and Casualty and Watchdog!

Yes, I've seen a lot of people on MN say the same, but I am prone to anxiety, so I try not to let my imagination run wild or I'd end up paranoid about everything (dishwasher/lightbulbs…) and never leaving the house!