Person I live with constantly leaves laundry in dryer for days?

Question

I live with my boyfriend, his mom and 2 other people that are related. My boyfriend and I are in our mid 20's, and the people related at young 20. The mother will usually take her clothes out within a day or on that day that she does her clothes. But when his sister does laundry she will leave it in for 3 to 5 plus days and will come downstairs to get a pair of pants out of the dryer or a towel. She came downstairs 3 times in one day just to grab one piece of clothing instead of just folding them and taking them out so someone else can use them. I need to do laundry and it's been a weekly process now that she's had them in there for. What to do in this type of situation? I don't talk to her much and she doesn't talk to me much either, so I don't want to have to ask her to take her clothes out all the time, I usually end up saying something to the mother, but what else can I do besides talking to her and why do people do this all the time? I always clean and take clothes out within the washing cycle time of 2 hours.

Answer 1

We live in an apartment building, where there are washer/dryer pairs on each floor. There are rules posted. The one about clothes left in machines says, "Please remove your clothes from the machines within half an hour after they're done. Clothes left longer may be removed to the counter."



I've only had to do this once. I folded the clothes loosely so they wouldn't wrinkle. There were some wild ladies' panties in there, so I made sure they were right on top of the pile. That'll learn 'em, I figured.



Another time, I knew whose clothes they were, so I went to their door and asked if they wanted me to move their clothes. They said, "Yes, if you'd like. We're tied up right now, but we'll come get them as soon as we can."



My recommendation: Give the clothes a short fluff to minimize wrinkles, then take them out of the dryer, fold them reasonably neatly, and leave them in a pile somewhere. If you have some grocery bags saved, you could leave two or three as a gentle hint to take all the clothes away.

Answer 2

Remove them and place them on top of the machine. If it does not get claimed after an hour to a few hours. This way she'll get the message. Remove them earlier if you need the machine earlier- I would wait at least 30mins for someone to take their clothes out.

It is just laundry room etiquette. The machines are shared and not reserved for people to leave their belongings in for days.

Answer 3

People are creatures of habit in their own homes. They may not even be aware of your hardship, and so you may have to remind, remind, remind.



You might ask if they'd like you to put their things in a basket. Try putting an empty basket on top of the dryer to make it easier.

Answer 4

Of course I might certainly be more evil than most, and in my case her clothes would just begin to disappear from existence. I know of one of those clothes drop off bins for the poor near my house.

I, too, am sick of inconsiderate people.

Answer 5

Say nothing,,,just put their clothes on top of dryer and dry your own

Answer 6

Nothing you can say, living in another's home, and they are family.