Am I the only one who does this?

[gatorsmom]

We had a lot of friends and family stay with us this summer, including my inlaws. A discussion I had with my MIL is still haunting me, 3 weeks after they left. My inlaws babysat our kids for a few nights of their stay while Dh and I had a little getaway trip. When Dh and I got home from our trip I was asking MIL how everything went, were the kids well behaved, etc. She said they were fine, everything went well, and oh by the way, she was washing the sheets on the guest bed. This confused me and I said so, because she and FIL were going to sleep one more night on them. She confirmed that yes, they were going to stay at our house one more night and leave the following morning. When i explained that I would have to wash the sheets after they slept on them again, SHE looked confused and asked why since they had only slept on them one night after they were washed. I said well because no one wants to sleep on sheets that someone has rolled around in for 7-10 hours, potentially naked. She said she thinks it happens all the time at hotels and other people's houses.

What do you guys think? Does that happen frequently? I'll admit, it gives me the heebee jeebees. Feet are gross. Back sweat is gross. I washed the sheets after every guest to make sure they were clean for the next guest. But maybe I'm being ridiculously OCD about this? Sure enough, the next morning she only brought up the pillow cases to be washed. Is this common? Do you think hotels and BandBs and other people don't wash bedding between guests? It's possible I'm being OCD (my mother was a clean fanatic and raised me to be too. I blame her) and that I should just plan to bring my own sheets when we travel. Thoughts?

[BDKmom]

I always have clean sheets for when guests arrive. I may not get to washing them right away after someone stays with us, but I always wash them fresh for the next person. Sometimes even if no one has slept on them since the last guest, depending on how long it has been and if they smell musty or anything. And, yes, I wash them even if the previous guest only slept on them once.

[mmsmom]

She is wrong. I have an expectation of clean sheets if I am at a hotel or someone's house. My guests always have clean sheets. Growing up our guests always had clean sheets. I will say my former mother in law was not the best at this and I got in the habit of asking her if the sheets were clean or if I needed to change them whenever I stayed with them. Clean sheets are very important to me!

[Globetrotter]

I always wash them!

[123LuckyMom]

Um, now I'm skeezed out that there may be people out there who don't wash their guest sheets! I absolutely wash mine between guests. I might wash them right after a stay and not again right before the next stay (so the clean sheets might have been on the bed unused for a while,) but I'd never keep sheets on there that had been used. And if it had been a while, I'd change the bed or wash those sheets again before the next visitor. Clean sheets are a minimum expectation for a guest, I would think.


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[TwinFoxes]

I'm the opposite of a germaphobe. It never in a million years would occur to me to not wash the sheets between guests. That's just disgusting. And I worked in a hotel after college, and all sheets and towels are washed even if they look unused. Your MIL is insane.

[TwinFoxes]

Clean sheets are a minimum expectation for a guest, I would think.



Exactly!!!

[Soccermomm]

Another one for clean sheets! Sometimes we go months between house guest when we lived on the west coast. I would wash sheets after guest left, and I would wash them again the day or two before they arrived so they smelled fresh and clean.

You MIL is so wrong! The ONLY way this would be okay, would be if SHE was coming back in a few days to stay with you.

[gatorsmom]

Your MIL is insane.

Yeah, I've been coming to that conclusion based on other things she has done. I'm so relieved to hear I can probably chalk this up to her crazy and not mine. :P

[mackmama]

She is wrong, and that is gross!!

[DualvansMommy]

I always wash the guest bed sheets after the guests leave, in preparation for next one. However I also wash again if months have gone by in between visits and start to smell musky or stale.

We declined a pass at one of my dearest girlfriends house to stay whenever I'm/were in the area. It's such a bummer cuz she lives in one of shore town, but I refuse to after couple of separate stays! My friend never washes the sheets, only at the allotted laundry days for sheets which for her, once a month. I woke up covered in red marks on my lower legs and my oldest son was covered in marks too after sleeping in one of their queen beds. Ugh!


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[Soccermomm]

I do wonder if we should BYOS from now on. Bring Your Own Sheets!

[belovedgandp]

Ugh, not easily grossed out but that is gross. Fresh sheets are fabulous!

[mackmama]

I will add a recent story that now will forever make me quite picky about having clean sheets.

We recently stayed at a very high-end hotel. I found many dark hairs in the bathroom sink so called and asked to make sure housekeeping had cleaned. They sent housekeeping back up while we went to dinner. Later that night we climbed into bed only to realize the sheets felt very crumpled. I pulled back the duvet to find that the sheets hadn't been changed. How do I know this? Because they had fresh stains on them and many pubic hairs all over!!!! I almost passed out. I called management who was non-plussed and insisted the sheets were clean. It was mind-boggling. I took many photos, and we decided to leave the hotel at 11pm to find somewhere else to stay (which was very challenging with 6yo DC). I still haven't decided how to handle this situation since the hotel management was so unhelpful.

So... fresh sheets are a must!!

[eagle]

yes even if the sheets are clean they can smell musty after a few months of no use in a guest room

[gymnbomb]

I definitely always wash them between guests!! The only possible exception is that if I can't sleep and decide to sleep in the guest room for some reason I would do that after my parents left, or possibly for one night before they came, without washing sheets. But my mom and I routinely share beds at hotels and stuff so that feels different to me.


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[JBaxter]

I wash the sheets and the cotton blanket when guests leave and make the bed. I don't rewash but Ive never had them smell musty either.

[BunnyBee]

Well, we have to kick a kid out of a bed for a guest to sleep in one, and the guest gets fresh sheets. If my mom sleeps one night on my daughter's bed, I usually don't rewash. I know she sleeps in PJs and isn't doing anything freaky in there though.

Hotels are supposed to put on clean sheets after every guest. Most of them now have a card to put out if you're staying more than one night and want to save water by not having your sheets changed nightly, but that's not for different guests!

[MMMommy]

Firstly, I think it is weird that she pulled the sheet to wash when she had just one more night to sleep on it. It wasn't like she had another week left to sleep on it. I would have just washed it after she left, after her last night. Secondly, I think she is wrong about hotels. I expect clean sheets at a hotel when I check in. Sometimes hotels have that environmentally friendly sign that says "please place this card in your bed if you want your sheets changed." With that card, I understand if you don't put the card in the bed, housekeeping will reuse your sheets when making the bed. But the sheets should have still been clean for you when you first checked in. As for staying at other people's houses, I would hope that the sheets are clean. I don't think I can assume that they are always clean like I would assume when checking into a hotel, but I hope they are clean!

[RiverRat]

Depends. If one of my sisters sleeps one night and the next one to sleep in there is the next sister then no I don't wash them. Any other company I wash them after they arrive.


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[Pear]

I always wash the sheets just prior to guests arriving. I have been known to leVe the lightly used sheets on the bed after a guest, because I think a fresh wash just before use is ideal.

[NCGrandma]

Very timely question. I just got back from visiting my family. They and I always put clean sheets on whatever bed/sofa bed/air mattress the guests are sleeping on. Because they just moved into a new house and are still getting settled, I stayed at a fairly nice hotel near them. Sheets looked ok (certainly not like PP's gross experience!) but I kept wondering because I had just read a news article saying that many hotels don't change sheets even though they say they do... When my flight was delayed, I spent one night at a different hotel, and the whole place looked spotless, especially the bedding. Guess where I'll stay next time?!


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[gatorsmom]

I will add a recent story that now will forever make me quite picky about having clean sheets.

We recently stayed at a very high-end hotel. I found many dark hairs in the bathroom sink so called and asked to make sure housekeeping had cleaned. They sent housekeeping back up while we went to dinner. Later that night we climbed into bed only to realize the sheets felt very crumpled. I pulled back the duvet to find that the sheets hadn't been changed. How do I know this? Because they had fresh stains on them and many pubic hairs all over!!!! I almost passed out. I called management who was non-plussed and insisted the sheets were clean. It was mind-boggling. I took many photos, and we decided to leave the hotel at 11pm to find somewhere else to stay (which was very challenging with 6yo DC). I still haven't decided how to handle this situation since the hotel management was so unhelpful.

So... fresh sheets are a must!!


I gotta know- which hotel was this???

[essnce629]

I always wash them!Me too, BUT my kids always love to sleep in our guest bed (it's bigger than their twins) so they'll often jump in the bed as soon as my mom leaves and end up sleeping on her unwashed sheets for days! But that's my kids, sleeping on their grandma's sheets, not the other way around or strangers. I always wash the sheets before any guests, including my mom.

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[lizzywednesday]

She's wrong. Hotels absolutely change the sheets between guests. In the interest of saving on water/laundering costs, they don't wash them every night of your stay, but they totally wash/change them when they turn over a room!

I'm not the best housekeeper (actually, I'm downright lousy at household management stuff) but I definitely ensure guests have clean sheets if they're staying at my house!

[rin]

I definitely wash sheets in between guests EXCEPT if, say, there are back-to-back visitors like one of my sisters one night and then another of my sisters the next night (so close family members who I know would be fine sharing a bed if they were staying at the same time.) In that case I sometimes won't change the bedding if it was only a night for the first sister, but I'd never dream of doing that for people who weren't that close.

I would be beyond grossed out to learn that a hotel was not changing sheets in between visitors.

[ett]

I will add a recent story that now will forever make me quite picky about having clean sheets.

We recently stayed at a very high-end hotel. I found many dark hairs in the bathroom sink so called and asked to make sure housekeeping had cleaned. They sent housekeeping back up while we went to dinner. Later that night we climbed into bed only to realize the sheets felt very crumpled. I pulled back the duvet to find that the sheets hadn't been changed. How do I know this? Because they had fresh stains on them and many pubic hairs all over!!!! I almost passed out. I called management who was non-plussed and insisted the sheets were clean. It was mind-boggling. I took many photos, and we decided to leave the hotel at 11pm to find somewhere else to stay (which was very challenging with 6yo DC). I still haven't decided how to handle this situation since the hotel management was so unhelpful.

So... fresh sheets are a must!!

Post a review on tripadvisor.

[nfceagles]

I'm definitely not a germaphobe and could easily sleep in sheets previously slept in by a stranger if you challenged me to, but even I always give guests clean sheets. Only exception is if my mom stays one night and I know she's the next person to sleep in there. But even then it's because she tells me not to bother if she knows she'll be back in the near future.


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[mikala]

I always wash sheets between guests but I generally wait until I'm ready for the next arrival. It seems wasteful (water/electricity/time) to wash them twice between guests.

I'd hope that hotels change linens between guests but am certain that isn't always the case based on things I've noticed while traveling over the years.

[ckso]

Your MIL definitely is in the wrong. Guests should expect clean sheets regardless of whether it's at a hotel or someone's house.

Recently I remember seeing some sort of news expose on whether hotels changed sheets. I can't remember which channel though

Basically they checked in and sprayed something on the sheets and pillows. It's washable but can only be seen using a black light. They would check out and then check back in using a different name but requesting for the same room. They found several hotels that either change the pillow cases but not the sheets and hotels that didn't change anything at all. GROSS!!


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[pastrygirl]

Eww. Always wash between guests, even if they are related to each other.

[bisous]

I'm definitely not a germaphobe and could easily sleep in sheets previously slept in by a stranger if you challenged me to, but even I always give guests clean sheets. Only exception is if my mom stays one night and I know she's the next person to sleep in there. But even then it's because she tells me not to bother if she knows she'll be back in the near future.


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I'm the same as you.

OP, I'm wondering if your MIL wanted to save chores and do more ahead of time. My parents are like that. They start doing as much as they can before their departure to clean up. HOwever, they would still launder the sheets after sleeping in them!

[basil]

I think I have a realistic idea of the germs likely to be transmitted on sheets between guests, but I still launder in between guests.

My parents have a beach house where they don't have a dryer, and she will sometimes not launder the sheets if I sleep there for a weekend and then my brother comes the next weekend or something like that. But that doesn't bother us.

[pharmjenn]

The sheets are always washed after a guest and the bed remade. Our guests are usually my mother though, so if she stays a night and is coming again a week later, I won't wash. BUT.. I have had my mother stay over, and then a couple days later my father started his visit (they are 30yrs divorced, Mom lives nearby and is over at least once/month, Dad lives cross-country) Dad doesn't always get clean sheets, but Mom will ask whether they have been cleaned after Dad stayed. Funnily, Dad tends to not get under the sheets anyway. This last visit he slept under the comforter but on top of the blanket (so the blanket got laundered that visit!) instead of just asking for me to remove either the blanket or comforter.

[davidrgraham]

I have a very high tolerance for germs and whatnot. Your mother-in-law is insane. Grody. My #2 doesn't stink, but everyone else's sure as heck does. It's like that.

[niccig]

Gross. I was sheets after guest leaves. They go in a fabric storage bag on shelf in the office (couch pulls out for bed)


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[citymama]

I ALWAYS wash sheets/pillows after someone has slept on them. I sure hope hotels do - that would be disgusting if they didn't!

My question is - why was she washing the sheets on her last day before she left? Did she need them to be super clean for her last night or did someone have a mishap? If the latter, she should know why they need to be washed!!!

[HannaAddict]

Ick ick double ick. We always changed all sheets and pillowcases between guests. Ick to not do that.


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