To not put cups/mugs/glasses upside down in cupboard?

[EvaLaDiva]

My MIL and many people I know do this...I think it goes back to days when mice were rampant. But why would they still do it? To me it makes the mug or glass musty and smelly. My MIL insists on turning all mine upside down when she visits. Not a major issue but just wondering if it is only me ;)

[TwoLittleTerrors]

Mine are all the right way up. Why do they need to be upside down? Never heard of it!

[TwoLittleTerrors]

Also do they have all the plates and bowls upside down too?

[whothehellknows]

Sometimes my mugs won't all fit in one row in the cupboard, so I have to turn some upside down so that I can stack more on top. I know my mum did the upside down thing, but I've gotten out of the habit.

[londonrach]

Very strange. Agree with you. How you know the cupboard is clean with the lip touching the cupboard. Right way up here ad in mil, dsis, dm cupboards...

[Got99problems]

I keep mine upside down so I don't one day find a spider in one! Doesn't make them musty IMO

[Nomama]

Ick! When mice were rampant you'd have had to drink out of mouse pee'd upon mug rims. Nowadays you just get the slightly fusty edge of not quite dry when put away cups - blech!

NU in the slightest to question the 'wisdom' of that!

[diddl]

I think you should put them in your cupboard how you want & MIL should keep her interfering mitts off!

My husband does it-I guess that's what MIL "taught" him iyswim.

I don't do it.

Neither of us feel the need to change the cupboard to "our" way though!

[londonrach]

Plates and bowls upside down!!!!!! How you get hold of them if you needed them. Very strange never heard of it.

[CatsClaus]

i do both....some of mine are upside down and then you can stand others the right way up on the bottoms of the upside down ones.

same for wine glasses...if I alternate upside down with right side up I can get all of my red AND white wine glasses in one shelf....otherwise the buggers take up an irregular amount of room.

[PausingFlatly]

Depends. Do you have cockroaches or mice?

I've lived places where they were endemic, and you pretty swiftly find yourself storing mugs upside down, so you don't have to rewash the whole mug to use it.

[EvaLaDiva]

Thanks for your quick responses, haha to turning hers the right way up, I may be disowned :D

[PausingFlatly]

MIL shouldn't be messing with your cupboard. But she was probably taught it as the "proper" way, way back when. It doesn't click till living near vermin.

[Princess28]

My MIL does the same- does my head in! If you are at someone else's house and want to be helpful putting stuff away don't put it in the other way up. Have managed to catch my husband out though when he's claimed to have washed up only to open the cupboards to find his mum had been round!

[CatCushion]

I'd be rewashing every mug before use if I lived in an infested area.

[mrsminiverscharlady]

My parents do this because of 'dust' apparently. They appear to use every cup and glass they own every day, so how dust gets a chance to accumulate is beyond me!

[spamanderson]

I always put mine upside down, just 'feels' right. They're in a clean cupboard, no we don't have pests of any nature but I just think they stay cleaner that way.... One of my foibles I suppose!

[Sandthorn]

Completely bizarre, and much more likely you'll end up with chipped glasses, by putting their weight on the weakest part.

As for the vermin story... Is it supposed to be ok having mouse pee on the glasses, just not in them? Completely agree with PP... If you've got mice, you're going to want to rewash your glasses anyway, AND prioritise getting rid of the dirty little bastards!

[Sandthorn]

Ps. Next time you're at her house, turn the saucepans and all the plates and bowls upside down, and tell her you thought she liked them that way.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

I think it's weird too. I never heard of the mouse/cockroach reasoning. If I had mice or cockroaches I'm pretty sure "hmm must stack the cups upside down" wouldn't be my first action.

They do it at our work (I always wash the cups out anyway prior to use owing to cheap dishwasher and ickiness)

[GooodMythicalMorning]

Right way up. Always

[iwantginsoakedXmas]

hmm. I always store my mugs upside down, but glasses the right way up.

How odd ??

[CatCushion]

We have one cupboard shelf for mugs and they have to be stacked to fit. Straight sided at the front so that they don't rock when the door closes and fall out and break when the door opens.

[PausingFlatly]

Like I said, it doesn't click unless you've lived in a time or place where vermin are endemic. Because if "get rid of the vermin" IS an option, it's obviously the first everyone would chose.

But if all that happens after every extermination is that your home is immediately recolonised from the surrounding vermin population, you take additional measures to stay healthy. This is an easy one. Still means you have to wipe the rim before use, but that's better than re-washing the whole mug - especially if water's short or has to be fetched by hand.

It's a hygiene measure we no longer need here, but older people will have been taught this as the "proper" way.