Share your sheet wisdom please

[Cari3]

I like to provide good quality sheets thinking people will take better care of them.  I will no sooner have bought new sheets when they are stained.  Like the guy who thought it was a great idea to slather his entire body with self-tan before he went to bed....a delightful full body yellow stain.  It's definitely not uncommon for guests to put cream on before bedtime - more oily stains, nor is it uncommon for them to eat in bed and spill stuff.  A friend said I should spray stains with lighter fluid because it takes care of everything!  What?  That doesn't sound good or healthy to me.  We pride ourselves in being an eco-friendly airbnb and in fitting with that value I don't use store bought cleaners.  I make all my own non-toxic cleaners.  In line with that eco-friendly value, I most definitely don't want to be throwing away sheets to fill landfills and to keep factories pumping them out.  I want to keep our footprint as small as possible.   But how do you take out oil stains in an eco-friendly way?  Or what do you suggest we do to discourage cream-loving guests?   

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Cari3 

sheet wisdom 😄

My friend cook very stained items with a laundry detergent in a big pot on the stove. Old school, effective solution 🙂

[Cari3]

Thank you - I’m wondering whether that would get out oil stains as those are the main ones that bother me.  The rest (if I catch them before I wash) I have a special eco-friendly stain remover that works really well.  Thanks for taking the time to give me this solution.

[Cari3]

@Rowena29 Rowena, now that I have marked your answer as ‘most helpful’ I can’t answer you....so I’m hoping you see this.  Thanks for some really great solutions.  I bought dark turquoise sheets last time thinking:  “AHA, here’s the answer.”  Alas alack , dark sheets REALLY show the stains. I also have one airbnb that has a soft black blanket in it....it picks up every bit of danger fluff there is.  I love your laptop trays....great idea.  I do have trays in the airbnb that I think has the most ‘in bed’ eating happening, but I don’t think they’re ever used....time to put them in a more prominent place.   I did finally put up a noticed that says:  “ please pretty please do not use our white towels to remover your makeup.”  It seems to have helped.  Maybe a notice saying something along the lines of:  “Every bit of cream, or lotion you put on your body leaves an oil stain on our linens, please make sure you don’t apply it within an hour of going to bed.”   And I LOVE your idea of leaving old towels for ‘use for anything.’  I no longer buy white towels because they mark so easily so I have plenty I could leave for people.  Thanks so much for all your helpful suggestions.  C

[Rowena29 · Accepted solution]

@Cari3 

I feel your pain!

I have no knowledge or expertise in using non store bought cleaners so I can't help you there. ( although I do use salt and/or baking soda on a fresh wet stain to draw it up out of the linens - not very time efficient though) so I don't really have much advice for you re this.

I also pride myself on beautiful portugese linens that feel luxurious and are great to sleep in. 

I also have had linens really really badly stained, with makeup, and most recently some weird brown chemical substance from a tradie who was building a pool.

My focus these days is on preventing the stains from happening in the first place,  if at all possible.

Here's some of my strategies.

I charge a substantial security deposit.

I specifically mention in the house rules that excessively damaged or stained linens will incur an excess cleaning fee/ replacement charge. I specifically mention fake tan and makeup stains.

I stipulate no eating in the beds. I have large bedside trays next to the beds and on these I have handwritten "laptop trays"   I figure if they are GOING  to eat or drink in bed, they'll do it knowing they shouldn't be, take a bit more care, and hopefully use the tray to catch any spills

I have a pile of "old Towels" which guests are welcome to use for whatever they please - checking the oil in their car, rubbing down their dog, using as a door mat for muddy feet if it's raining.  They're not used that much but I think just the explanation of why they're there gets people thinking/being a bit more considerate

 I think the security deposit is probably a bit toothless - I"ve never attempted to make a claim against it, but it seems to make most guests at least THINK. Not foolproof by any means but it certainly doesn't hurt

I also have multiple sheet sets ranging from very nice to pretty ordinary.

I gauge my guests and choose how to make up the beds accordingly.

A mature adult couple visiting from overseas to rest? They get the portugese fancy stuff

A group of 7 young adults  - they get the cheap stuff and HEAPS of facial wipes etc left out.

I started off with all of my mancester and linens white.  these are still what I primarily use and with the strategies above, I'm not going TOO badly.   However I 've also invested in good quality black towels, handtowels and bathmats  and I"ve recently bought some black sheets.

I've found the black towels, hand towels bath mats etc great for the teenagers and tradies. So far no colour stripping.  Not trialled the black sheets yet and not so sure they are going to be so good - they seem to attract a lot of fluff and dirt that really shows up.

Hope this is of some help

cheers

[Emilia42]

@Rowena29 They say the hardest car color to keep clean is black. It will be interesting to see how your black sheets go.

[Rowena29]

Yes @Emilia42 I KNOW  - I'm questioning the wisdom myself..  I know  they'll be hopeless for oily stains, but my rationale was for just general GRIME ( my husband is a tradie and weirdly we seem to be attracting tradies to our listing) and the streaks of dirt they leave behind on all the white stuff is just extraordinary. Also blood - always cutting themselves.  The black towels have worked so well... ( very good quality and highly textured - not sure if that affects things). I"ve not used the sheets yet - just pre washed and was not impressed with the quality.  I'll keep you posted...

[Kat84]

There is a broken chain between eco-friendly host - - > not eco-friendly guest - - > eco-friendly stain remover

In addition to boiling you can try vinegar. 

The wisdom is simple - since it takes long time (sometimes life span) to teach people to be eco-friendly, it's better to prevent them from booking by simply updating your House rules

[Cari3]

Thanks Kay...that’s probably a good idea.  Thanks for the tip about vinegar.....I haven’t tried that.

[Emilia42]

@Cari3  are you using colored sheets or white?

[Cari3]

I started with white sheets and recently bought turquoise ones thinking that would help...but actually I think they show the oils stains even more:(

[Sarah977]

@Cari3   Yes, dark colors show stains as badly as light ones. The best is if you can find something pàtterned that small stains won't be evident on. I have sage green, red and beige sheets and in 3 years of hosting, no one has ever stained them to the point that it couldn't be easily cleaned. And my pillowcases I make myself- they are heavily patterned, quilting-type cotton and co-ordinated with the sheets and add a fun touch.

I've been lucky not to get "self-tan" guests, or heavy make-up users. Acne creams are supposed to be the worst- I've read posts here where hosts say nothing  will remove those stains.

I don't have any tips for oil-based stains, but I should think hot or boiling water, as others have suggested, with vinegar or even lemon juice (altho that could bleach out a colored sheet) might do the trick.

Sheets don't need to be super high quality or expensive, as you've found, it doesn't lead guests to take care with them. Ikea sheets are fine and not pricey, sometimes you can order end-of-the-line or last year's color sheets from various sites online super reasonably. And my friend who hosts swears by the multipacks of white towels and washcloths from Costco. She says everything washes out of them like magic. 

[Cari3]

Thanks Sarah, I’m definitely going to try boiling them.  Funnily enough I’ve not had stains on my pillows lips - only my sheets.  You’re right guests don’t seem to take any better care of ‘good’ sheets.  I also don’t want to just be throwing out old sheets all the time.  More for our landfills and more stuff in general.  But I really appreciate your ideas as well.  I especially like the idea of patterned sheets - I think that’s a great idea.  Thank you

[Mark116]

@Cari3   We give sheets and towels that are beyond saving to the local animal shelter, they use them to line the cages, so one last stop before the landfill:) 

[Cari3]

I just smacked myself....duh....why didn’t I think of that.  That’s a fabulous idea.  I have used mine as drop cloths for painting and for covering plants to protect them from frost and I’ve even cut some to use as tie up strips for plants in the garden....but I hadn’t ever thought about giving them to the local animal shelter.  Thank you