Not enough hours in the day: Less hours of sunlight mean it’s much harder to fit in a load of laundry before or after work. It also means that there’s less time during the day to get it dry, not that it’s that easy anyway because it’s…

Almost impossible to dry naturally: The rain has been extremely welcome, but long periods of rain and cloud make it tricky to get your sheets 100% dry outside. Many end up hanging up their linen inside, or keeping their clothes in the washing machine until the weather brightens up, which can lead to…

That smell of damp: Clothes and linen smell damp and musty because there’s excess moisture in the material that hasn’t been able to evaporate. When you bring damp clothes inside to dry, they’re often not able to get completely dry unless properly spaced on a railing and left until completely dry. Packing items away into a closet or draw makes it impossible for the clothes to dry, which means that the smell of damp lingers. Also, if you’re tempted to dry your clothes on a heater, beware – that can raise the moisture levels in your home and encourage mould, or it could even start a fire.

Electricity Costs: Those lucky enough to have a tumble dryer might think that they’ve skipped the hassle of trying to get linen dry, but with the convenience comes the increased electricity bill- especially as electricity costs continue to increase. And what if, heaven forbied, loadshedding starts again?

Then there’s the ironing: While the tumble dryer might get your laundry nice and dry, it’ll also keep your ironing pile large and cumbersome.

Of course, if you want to get some laundry off your plate, you could always rent linen from us. fanute will deliver freshly-laundered linen, towels and masks weekly which means one less thing you have to worry about. The linen is of a fantastic quality and has been cleaned using our near-waterless Hydrofinity system, which means that we use much less water than a regular washing machine – so by renting our linen, you’re doing your bit for the environment.

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Sheets with a higher thread count are said to be stronger and less prone to shrinkage. In order to use more threads in the making of the linen, the threads need to be thinner and the more threads that are used should mean that the linen is softer, smoother and denser, as well as more durable as it is made with finer material. Many will say that the higher the thread count, the better the quality of the sheet, but that is not necessarily true. If the quality of the actual thread that’s used is not good quality, and if the manufacture and weave is poor, the linen that’s the end result will not be good quality – it might be rough and wear down easily because of the poor quality material used.

In fact, absurdly high thread counts over 800 and even 1000 exist. Some linen manufacturers use tricks to inflate the thread count such as twisting multiple yarns together to create a multiple-ply yarn – this might lead to a rough texture that doesn’t have a soft, smooth finish.

While thread counts do play a part in a great piece of linen, they aren’t the be all and end all. The sweet spot for thread count is said to be between 300 and 500. The linen that fanute rents to both its residential and hospitality customers is high quality 300 thread count linen that’s 100% cotton. We use a high quality sheet not only because we want the best for our clients but because we care about sustainability. The higher the thread count, the less wear and tear which means longer lasting linen for us, and a great night’s sleep for you.

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TRSA, the Textile Rental Services Association which is based in the United States, conducted a consumer survey amongst 700 respondents. Their findings showed that while 77% believed that price, location and amenities were more important than linen and sheets used in the room, 72% expected the quality of sheets to match the grading and type of property.

Berendsen UK conducted similar research, surveying 1000 hotel guests. Of the people interviewed, 99% said that good quality towels and linen was important and that 71% always checked the cleanliness and quality of the items. Importantly, 96% said that they would be less likely to return if the towels and linen were stained or of a poor quality, and 95% said that they would tell others about their bad experience.

While a lot of properties outsource the laundering of their linen, guests will hold the property directly responsible for inferior linen and towels. That’s why it makes sense to rent high quality linen such as that from fanute – the linen rental service’s crisp, clean linen and towels are 300 thread count and made of pure cotton.

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Colour Co-ordinating: Make sure that you’re using crisp, white linen with a high quality threadcount (take a look at fanute’s linen offering here). White is the traditional choice for hotel linen because it represents the utmost cleanliness. And on that note, make sure that all of your linens are 100% clean.

Bases: If you haven’t already, remove the old linen and give the mattress and mattress protector a good dust off and vacuum to make sure there’s no debris or dust. Place the fitted bottom sheet over the mattress protector and make sure it’s all tucked in on the corners.

Next Step: Lay down the flat sheet and smooth out so that there aren’t any wrinkles. Next up, place the duvet on top of the flat sheet, again smoothing it down so that there aren’t any wrinkles. Fold the exposed flat sheet back over on top of the duvet, about a ¼ of the way.

Corner: Now, tuck in all of the corners nice and tightly, so that when your guests get into the bed they’ll be nice and snug, with no gaps letting in air. Lift up the mattress to tuck in the corners at a 45° angle.

Pillows: Lastly, add your pillows, making sure they’re nice and fluffed up. Top with whatever accent pillows you have on the bed, giving them a prod to add some differentiation.

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In general, deal with the stain as early as possible – the less time it has had to soak in, the harder it is to get out. Pre-treat with stain remover and soak before laundering according to the fabric care instructions – however, it’s important to never put in the dryer until the stain is removed. Here’s how to get out specific items:

Baby Formula: Pretreat or soak stains using a product containing enzymes. If the stain is old, soak for at least half an hour or several hours before laundering.

Blood: For fresh stains, soak in cold water (never use hot water – it sets blood stains) before laundering. For dried stains, pretreat in warm water with a product that contains enzymes before laundering.

Coffee/Tea: Sponge or soak stain in cool water. Pretreat with prewash stain remover, liquid detergent booster or paste of powder laundry product and water, then launder using sodium hypochlorite bleach if safe for the fabric.

Cosmetics/Lipstick: Pretreat with prewash stain remover, liquid laundry detergent, paste of powder detergent or laundry additive and water, or rub with bar soap, before laundering.

Perfume: Pretreat with prewash stain remover or liquid laundry detergent before laundering.

Wine: Sponge the stain with cool water or soak it in cool water for about 30 minutes. Pretreat with a prewash stain remover before laundering.

You could, however, just rent linen from fanute – not only is the linen of a high-quality thread count, but it’s also laundered with the water-saving Hydrofinity washing machine, so it’s better for the environment. Click here to find out more.

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While working out your direct water usage from laundering linen will depend on how big your washing machine is and how often your guests’ linen is changed, it’s a little simpler to work out your water usage per room. Take about 3 months’ worth of your water bills and divide the average monthly amount by the total of occupied rooms you had over this time. You can compare figures from different times of the year to give you an idea of seasonal fluctuations, and then try to actively reduce your water usage across the guesthouse.

Naturally, one of the ways to do this is to outsource linen laundering, or better yet to rent your linen from a linen rental company that doesn’t need to use much water to clean its linen. Because after all, even if you’re not using the water directly to clean your linen, it still affects your property’s carbon footprint – while you might not see the water being used, it’s still happening.

fanute is the South African distributor for Hydrofinity near-waterless laundry systems, which reduces water consumption by up to 80% while producing a superior clean that’s gentle on linen. Just a single 36kg machine running 14 cycles a day can save up to 2 million litres of water each year.

When it comes to laundry rental, fanute practices what it preaches – all of fanute’s linen has been cleaned with the Hydrofinity system, which not only uses less water but also requires up to 80% less energy and over 50% less chemicals than your traditional laundry. Regular customers will receive a monthly statement which details how much water, energy and detergents they’ve saved by using fanute – and an annual certificate that shows how much good they’ve done for the planet.

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