Managing Laundry Use

[Dallas65]

When I started hosting last year, I allowed guests to use my washing machine and dryer without any restrictions, etc. I just left guests a jug of detergent (less expensive than pods). Most guests have been great. Soon though, I was going through 2.5x 50 load jugs each month, even though the house was only booked half the year!

Seeing that, I switched to pods and now leave one bag out. I've gone through 160 pods in 6 months. Even that seems excessive. My 22-year old dryer failed after a year, presumably from high usage. 

Should I have my cleaner leave out a small box of pods for the standard weekend stay? Should I implement house rules on laundry? What works best to manage laundry use? I don't want to impose on the vast majority of great guests.

Thanks!

[Diana2915]

I also have a washer and dryer that I let my guests use so far, they have been using the liquid Tide and I would like to know if it’s better to use the pods if they use less what are your thoughts and experience with that

[Dallas65]

I found that guests (and my cleaner) tend to overuse the liquid detergent. Some guests just dump in an entire cap for each load. I switched to pods after my cleaner informed me we had used an entire 50-load jug in one week. That averages to 7 cycles per day if guests were using the recommended amount of detergent!! My house is small and only fits a handful of guests, not the entire street. 

Since switching to pods, I've gone through about one pod per day since guests and my cleaner tend to only use one pod per load. I wasn't concerned until my dryer failed. Now I'm looking for a way to better manage usage without impinging upon the courteous guests. I don't want to lose my new dryer in 2 years. What measures can I implement to reduce usage to a reasonable level without locking down the machines? Thank you!