-Raymond (MONEY BLUE BOOK)

Green 3 — I think you raise a great point. For every guest that misbehaves their is at least one guest that goes above and beyond the call of duty. Since we started renting we’ve had a few guests purchase brand new items like spatulas, grills scrapers, scissors, etc. They always leave a note to let us know that they are replacing a broken item or adding something to the house that was lacking when they arrived.

We broke a coffee mug at one home we stayed at. It wasn’t a matching set, so we rushed out and bought a nicer one to replace the one we had broken! Apparently not all people are like us frugal types. 🙂

I DJed at a community radio station for 6 years and we had to completely deface everything to keep it from walking away – labels were too easily removed. I recommend using our CD trick for your DVDs – write your info with a sharpie on the cover insert (take the paper part out and write on it – there’s no removing that!), and also write your info on the DVD itself.

My family inadvertently took some kitchen utensils home from an Outer Banks rental house…we felt so bad that we mailed them back. Maybe your renters will do the same once they settle into their fall routines 🙂

You bring up a great point though. In the case of board games we can just write Property of Owner across the box with a thick Sharpie marker. Maybe the current labels aren’t prominent enough to deter the guests from taking them.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Have you tried labeling everything?

I know I used to do work study in college and my stapler and scissors would always sprout legs and walk away. (Usually to the copy room) Finally I put on stickers with a frowny face and the message “I live at the front desk” and stuff remained there. The grad students meant well, but it drove me nuts to have to pull new supplies out at the start of every shift.