Neighbor leaves laundry in machine-what to do?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I live in a quadruplex, and am very friendly with all of my neighbors, except one. I don’t have a particular problem with him, it’s just he’s not friendly and some of the things I’ve heard from my other neighbors make me think he’s a bit of a dodgy sort… *

The problem is, the laundry room in the building only has one washer and one dryer, and this neighbor will put a load of laundry in and leave it for days. It’s happened every time I’ve tried to use the laundry room. I know it’s his stuff because I recognize his favorite shorts, plus he leaves his clean laundry on his back steps for a week at a time. So waiting until he finishes his laundry is not an option because he’ll just throw a load in and forget about it, it’s not like he spends a few hours Sunday afternoon doing his laundry and I can just wait my turn.

Once he came out his back door as I was headed to the laundry room, and came in to get his stuff out of the dryer before I started doing my laundry. Today, it happened again, but this time his laundry was still in the washer and judging by the mildew smell it had been there for quite some time. I took it out, put it in the dryer to get it out of the way, then after my laundry was washed I put his in my basket so I could use the dryer. I finally put it back in the washer where I’d found it once I was done with mine.

Thing is, I’m not comfortable touching other people’s laundry (because I know I don’t want anyone’s hands on mine) especially because there are socks and underwear involved sometimes. The laundry room is tiny, there’s no table or anything to put his laundry on, so storage of his laundry is an issue. So far, I haven’t found laundry in both machines at once, but I could see that being a problem too. Also, since the laundry room is on-site sometimes I’d like to do it at 3AM so if his laundry is in there I can’t exactly knock on his door and ask him to move it. And what if I do knock but he isn’t home?

So what’s laundry room etiquette in this case? I’m taking my upstairs neighbor out to lunch this weekend because he’s letting me use his wireless connection**, so I’ll ask him if he has had the same problem.

[sub] *For instance, drug abuse, bringing home strange characters from the bar. For the past month a furniture rental place has been leaving notices on his door trying to repossess their property, last month his rent was so late (more than 2 weeks) that the landlord finally posted a 3-day notice to pay rent or give possession. His new flea-infested puppy brought fleas into my apartment and the guy upstairs, and one of my cats got worms because of it. This is the type of guy we’re talking about.[/sub]

[sub] **My other neighbors are super-friendly, hang out on the patio and chat, go out to lunch together, drive me to the pharmacy for pain meds because I broke my ribs types. I feel comfortable talking to them if they’re making too much noise or if their friends are parking in my space, but not this guy.[/sub]

2

We have got a laundry room in the house where I live too (but with clotheslines instead of a dryer). The custom in our house is for someone who puts a load of washing in, to put his/her basket in front of the machine so if the next user arrives when the machine has finished but has not yet been emptied, they can put the laundry in the basket and the basket in a corner.

Would that work in your setup? Perhaps you could ask your neighbour to leave his basket in front of the machine?

3

I don’t see any option but that you suppress your distaste of touching other people’s laundry.

This is a common problem in apartment buildings and dorms. I believe the usual practice is to take the laundry out of the machine and put it aside and use the machines. I wouldn’t bother putting the clothes back in the washer; what would that serve?

I would generally just pile the other person’s laundry on top of the dryer. If I was feeling especially nice and a load was in the washer (wet) and I wanted to use the washer, I’d throw the clothes in the dryer and pay the 50 cents to dry them. If I wasn’t feeling nice, it went on top of the dryer wet. If a load was left in the dryer, I just piled it on the dryer. I never folded other people’s clothes because I wasn’t sure they would appreciate it.

4

Since you may not be feel comfortable getting into an argument or confrontation with your neighbor, another idea is to contact either quadruplex manager or landlord. Let him/her know you issue and ask him/her to address this issue with this fellow.

5

If a person inconsiderately leaves his wet clothes in the washer for an inordinate amount of time, you may sculpt a laundry bunny out of his clothes.

6

At first, I would have some sympathy. I have forgotten my laundry a time or two… these things just happen sometimes. I would knock on the door, move the laundry like you did, etc. If it is pretty much a constant thing, which is the impression I get from your description, his laundry would be in a pile on the dirty floor. If that didn’t clue him in, I would just throw it in the dumpster.

“But”, you say, “he is probably struggling financially and may be going through a hard time in his life, don’t make his life any harder you big meanie!” Yeah, well tough shit.

7

Oh, shoot…be right back.

comes back with camping blanket forgotten in the dryer last night

I second the idea of asking him if he can leave his laundry basket down there. If that won’t work, I’d probably spend the $2 and get one myself. Failing that, just leave his stuff on top of the dryer.

Man, this is one reason I love my building. It’s a six-flat of really cool people, and MO here is to put your stuff in the washer and start it, then put another set of quarters in the slot for the dryer, with a dryer sheet on top and a laundry basket in front. If someone else gets down there before you do, they toss your stuff in the dryer and start it. If your stuff is in the dryer and they need it, into the basket it goes. If I’m really lucky, the OCD lady from next door gets into the mix, and she loves to **fold **my clean laundry! I’ve got to work out when her laundry day is and use this to my advantage… :smiley:

8

XaMcQ would have you wait as long as it takes…

9

To start off with, yes, this is really rude of him and you shouldn’t have to deal with it. But you DO have to deal with it, so you need to find the approach that will trouble you the least.

When dealing with “dodgy” people who live near you, I recommend avoiding personal confrontation. And even what you consider polite inquiry/offers of assistance might be interpreted as confrontation. And I would worry about possible retribution if I dumped his kit on the floor.

I think I would buy a roll of the cheapest trash bags I could find, and when this happened just dump his clothes into the bag. I would also notify the landlord. it sounds as tho he is having difficulty with this tenant, and additional complaints from other tenants might be enough to make him evict the guy.

10

I came in to suggest this too. This is a better than putting the clothes on the drier because they won’t fall on the floor and get filthy.

11

I agree with you in general, but I wouldn’t dry someone else’s things because I don’t dry all of my stuff either. The shrinkage would be my fault.

12

I wouldn’t dry his things because a dryer load costs $1.25.

(Although, I frequently dry one load of mine for every 2-3 washer loads).

13

The first few times, I’d probably try and get in touch with him to move it himself (knock on the door, “Hey! I was going to do some laundry and noticed your stuff in the washer. Are you all done with it now?”)

If it kept happening, I’d dump it on the floor.

It’ll get dirty, but laundry that’s been in the washer a day or two needs to be rewashed anyway - it mildews and gets nasty amazingly quickly.

14

It’s inconsiderate of him to leave his stuff in the machines but dumping it on the floor may result in the kind of confrontation you’re not comfortable with.

I second the recommendation to buy an extra laundry basket (couple bucks at local shop), plus invest an additional $1.39 in a pair of yellow rubber dishwashing gloves if you’re squeamish about touching his stuff.

If he leaves his crap in the laundry machine, dump it into your spare basket and set it aside while you do your clothes. Dump it back into the machine when you’re done. Wipe down spare basket with a little pinesol if it’s icky afterwards.

If his stuff is sticking around so long that it’s mildewing or stinking the machines/room up, either mention it to the offender or contact the landlord.

15

I am a bit squeamish about touching his stuff, just because wet underpants are icky, but I’ll do it (I mean, I did it yesterday). I just wanted to know the standard laundry room etiquette.

My old place had two washers and dryers, so it was annoying if someone left their stuff in one machine but you could still do laundry. However, if they left their stuff in both machines and it wasn’t gone in an hour I’d put it in their basket, which they usually left on the table. I just always felt I was doing something rude, like I said I really wouldn’t want someone else handling my laundry (especially that asshole in my old place that put my wet laundry on the dirty table right next to my basket. I threw a load in at midnight on a Tuesday, and came to move it before 7 AM. I really didn’t think someone would need the machines between those times, but you could have put it in my basket damnit.*)

I guess I’ll just keep moving his laundry if it’s not considered horribly rude (I mean, ruder than hogging a machine for several days). I can spare a basket, because we keep our detergent and fabric softener on top of the dryer so I can’t put the laundry there.

The mildew stink was rather strong, I’m sure it had been in there a day or two. But hey, he’s the guy walking around wearing clothes that reek of mildew.

*Now this makes me wonder if I was the rude laundry person at my old place. One week’s worth of laundry at my old place for me and my SO was usually 4 loads. I’d throw 2 in, wait an hour, put those in the dryer and throw the other 2 in. The laundry usually didn’t sit more than an hour or 2 unless I deviated from my normal Saturday afternoon routine. When I found myself in a similar situation I’d wait an hour or two to see if they’d finished their laundry. But, I’m pretty sure (based on the laundry basket s/he left) it was my nemesis, the newspaper-thief and fighter-over-parking spot next door. Jerk.

16

This never occurred to me. Retroactive apologies to the two or three people who’s stuff I may have shrunk in a Nob Hill Ave. (Seattle) apartment building in 2001-2003.

Wow, that’s very considerate IMO. I’d give the guy 10 minutes max, not an hour.