Basic Requirements - toilet paper!

[Jane563]

I am very fortunate in that I have a Monday-Friday MSc student. Before she left on Friday morning she said that she wishes to stay this week, provided her university doesn’t close and no travel restrictions come in. She asked what would happen with her money if things change over the weekend.

I very much doubt if I will get anyone else this coming week and told her to book on Sunday evening, just in case things change and said I would keep the room. I also promised her I would refund if she has to go home before Friday. I am talking about a very good guest (who I left in my home, while I went away for a few days) who has booked with me lots of times.

My problem is toilet roll. I usually buy a big pack once a month, but my supplies are starting to dwindle. I resisted the temptation to panic buy and now I can’t get more!  Supplying it is a requirement that I won’t be able to meet unless things change in the UK.

I’m thinking of asking her to bring some in exchange for a discount!!!

[Stephanie]

It's true here in England @Donald28 . Even my family home of 6 people that buy 24 rolls a week aren't able to even get a small amount of rolls from the shops at the moment. It's clearly well known that TP is the ultimate immune booster... apparently...

Also, we don't have a Costco at all. The equivalent must be a Tesco @Helen350 (do you think?)

[Helen350]

I've tried all week to get TP to no avail @Stephanie . 1 non -Airbnb guest tonight for 4 days, a 2 day doctor for the weekend, & an Airbnb TOURIST couple from Coventry coming Sat only! (Should they be doing that? Should I be telling them to 'Bring your own'?) I'm down to my last 5 rolls, but hiding 4, ha ha! - Will the doc from the 'safe' north of Northumbria mind sharing a bathroom with the couple from the more infected south?    - I think I'll just hope for the best!

- Keep calm & carry on!

[Helen350]

@Stephanie  I reckon their Costco is more like our Poundstretcher, Home Bargains, or B&M...

[Stephanie]

Can I DHL you some? @Helen350 

Home Bargains are doing a thing where over 60's can come in for the first hour of shopping without hoarders going crazy buying everything. Not saying you're over 60 (I honestly see the dog first in your pic!) but there are some options. 

Cov has stuff in the Tesco Extra (my Dad just confirmed) so maybe they can bring you some supplies as a nice gesture. 

Would love to hear more about the Doctor staying, sounds like it could be very interesting in these difficult times! (PS. Some would say the South has always been infected but then again I've a Northern heritage) No shade, Southerners! All in jest! 

Thanks,

Steph

[Helen350]

@Stephanie The North - South divide does not apply to my weekend menage a quatre... The doc is Nigerian, the carer is Tanzanian (living in Reading) & the tourists are Indian! (Not British Asians, real Indians, told me they were here for 3 years last time they came, May 2017.)

[Helen350]

....... 60! - I'm 59 in three & a half weeks @Stephanie ! ; )

[Stephanie]

@Helen350 I make NO assumptions 😄 I shall have to send you a present! How about this:

[Louise0]

@Donald28 Your listing is a 'tiny house' with one bathroom. 

My listing is a not at all 'tiny' house, with 3 bathrooms.  It sleeps 8.

I get a lot of bookings from groups of young women.   Young women on average go through 1/2 a roll a day, i.e 8 women x 7 days = 28 rolls of toilet paper. 

Toilet paper is now essentially unobtainable, everywhere.  Even if you are lucky enough to track it down, you're limited to one pack of 4 rolls per purchase.  So, that's how an Airbnb host can "not have enough toilet paper".  Got that?

[Helen350]

Exactly @Louise0 ! Mind you, I'd be furious if my guests wasted so much toilet paper! I'd expect 1x roll to last 4 people 1 week! Last week a male guest got through 1/4 ltr shower gel in 4 days! - That amount usually lasts 1-2 months!

[Louise0]

@Helen350 1 x roll would not last 4 people for 1 week.  The average use is 88 rolls per year, per person, which is one roll person every 4.148 days.  So, 4 people over one week would use an average of 2.37 rolls.  When you've got a house full of young women the usage is substantially more.

On the shower gel front, 250 mls over 4 days is high, but not so much as to be extraordinary.  It's 64.5 mls/day, which is on the high end of average but not exceptional.   

I can't imagine how anyone would only go through 250 mls in one month, let alone two.   250 mls in one month is 8.33 mls a day, or less than two teaspoons of shower gel per daily shower.   That's not realistic.

[Helen350]

@Louise0 When I was a child in the 60s & 70s, I remember 1 roll of paper lasting a week. (Family of 4.) Now, when I have 3 guests plus myself in my house, I roll generally DOES last a week, or more, unless guests are wasteful, or steal TP to blow their noses. Regarding shower gel, 2 teaspoons is exactly the amount you need for one shower, I'd say. Before I had paying guests, a 1 ltr  bottle would last me a year! I charge £20 a night or £30 for a couple. At that price I expect guests to use 1 - 3 'pumps' of shower gel, one or two pennies worth, not half a bottle. When mixed with water to make a lather, 2 teaspoons covers your whole body. - It's SUPPOSED to be diluted, you are not supposed to cover your entire body with undiluted shower gel! How wasteful! If guests want to be as extravagant as you suggest, they should use their own toiletries! As for toilet paper, a dozen sheets per person, should be more than enough per day. 

- I guess Americans are selfish & wasteful......

[Louise0]

@Helen350  According to an MIT study, the average woman uses 76.2 sheets of loo paper per day.  So you, at 12 sheets per day, are an extreme outlier.  Your estimate of shower gel usage is pretty off the charts too.  Seriously, you use 1 litre a year?   That's 2.74 mls a day, or around 1/2 a teaspoon!

http://web.mit.edu/barryk/Public/MIT/2.744/experienceAnalysis/general.html

[Helen350]

@Louise0 76.2 sheets of loo paper per day?! How selfish & entitled! That would clog the septic tank where I live, my sewerage ends up in the septic tank in my neighbours garden -7 houses all draining to the one neighbour who has to deal with selfish people putting too much stuff down the loo.........

I'd suggest you can clean yourself with 3 sheets of TP per visit to the loo... So unless you pee & poop 25 times a day, you DO NO NEED 76.2 sheets! (It really pees me off when I put a fresh roll of paper in the bathroom & its gone 1 or 2 days later. You may do this in your own home, but in an airbnb which costs £15/20 per night, it's unreasonable to eat into the hosts profits so much... If I thought people would use a whole roll of paper per day, or two days, I'd have to put my prices up! My prices are based on guests using so little toilet paper & shower gel, you would not notice the deplenishment on a daily basis.... 

Yes, 1/2 teaspoon shower gel  per day is all I need! You're not meant to use it neat! This guy last week used 1/4 ltr in 4 days! I'm surprised it hasn't brought him out in a rash!

[Sarah977]

@Louise0  The average woman or the average American woman? I'll bet their survey wasn't international. A roll lasts me a week or more. And I've never seen the point of something called shower gel. What's wrong with soap?

[Louise0]

It's an MIT study, so presumably only women from the USA. 

If you host a lot of groups of younger women, you will have observed that they use a lot more toilet paper than post-menopausal women. They use the TP to wrap pads and tampons before they dump them in the bathroom bins.  It's a waste of TP, but better that than dealing with used sanitary napkins stuck to the sides of the bin :(. Yes, I guess you could supply paper bags like they do in hotels, but the environmental footprint of these is much greater than a few sheets of TP.

And yes, I too am baffled by the body wash thing.  I much prefer a good old fashioned cake of soap.  However, in a hotel environment, body wash is a more appropriate choice because guests will not use a 'pre-loved' bar of soap and you need to supply a new cake for every guest.  Before I began my Airbnb adventure I never purchased body wash; didn't see the point.

I offer both body soap and full cakes of soap to my guests.  Full cakes actually cost less than the small ones.  About half of my guests use the soap and I now have hundreds of cakes of barely used soap in a big bag in my laundry and grateful friends who no longer need to buy soap.

BTW, I'm now going further down the rabbit hole and wondering why in some cultures a bar of soap is referred to as a 'cake'?   I'll be G'g that.