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Original poster

What’s a weird thing your In-Laws do?

772 replies

FirstFallopians · 16/01/2024 12:06

I was thinking there about how my BIL maintains that all families are a little bit weird to someone else.

Thought he was being flippant but then I remembered that my in-laws keep their family toothbrushes and toothpaste in a drawer in their bathroom. If you need a bit of floss after Sunday lunch you need to stick your hand into a sticky, damp mass of plastic and bristles.

What slightly weird things do your in-laws do?

OP posts:
BustyLaRoux · 17/01/2024 21:02

ILs and the endless mugs of tea at set times.
Tea as soon as they get up.
Coffee at 11am.
Tea at 12:30 with lunch.
Tea after lunch.
Coffee at 3pm.
Tea at 6pm
Tea after dinner.
Always the same. MIL complains about insomnia!!! I think we know why! I wouldn’t care but when they used to stay at our house (they’re actually exILs now) they used a new mug every single time. That’s 14 mugs every day! Why can’t they reuse a mug?! The dishwasher full of mugs and none left for anyone else. Drove me mad!

Ohwhatfuckeryitistoride · 17/01/2024 21:17

Fil (now dead) would never take his coat off if he came to visit anyone. We all found it weird and slightly rude, like he couldn’t wait to go.
He also had a mug in the kitchen where all fat was poured. Bacon, pork, beef whatever. (We always make dripping, but this was strata on strata of fat) gross, but he did make the best roast potatoes.

canttellyouwhereorwhatido · 17/01/2024 21:27

HerculesMulligan · 16/01/2024 12:54

I adore my PIL and they are beyond brilliant, but my MIL has a bizarre/hilarious habit which we call "minimising" where she'll cut down packaging to throw it away while you're still using the item. So if you've eaten the top three inches of rice krispies in the packet, next time you open the cupboard the top three inches of cardboard box will have been cut away. Sometimes she rips the top half of the page of the newspaper away when she's read it, and will then carry on reading the bottom half of the page.

No one knows why. She always does it at her house, occasionally at our house and even once at my SIL's ex-husband's house (everyone's still extremely friendly, he found it bizarre/hilarious too). DH says she's done it forever.

That is my absolute favourite so far. It's deliciously eccentric and bonkers. I want you mother in laws address right now so I can go and stare in her larder at her small packages 🤣

delboy76 · 17/01/2024 21:34

A bag for life ( Sainsbury's ) means just that. If the original bag gets damaged and you're unable to use it any more, they will replace it with a new one free of charge.

SunflowerSeahorse · 17/01/2024 21:42

We go to the same place every year for our holiday. Because we love it and it's so familiar and comforting.
Our sons are 21 and 19 and still choose to come with us, so I guess it's not that bad! In different years they've brought the current girl/boyfriend for the second week. A great festival, camping, then a week in a holiday cottage nearby. Been the same cottage for the last 2 years, but has been a variety before that.
We're not in-laws yet, but we'll be someone's weird in-laws one day, I guess 😄

Xtraincome · 17/01/2024 21:47

I wish I had something to contribute here but ILs are not instrumental in our lives really and late MIL has been gone 5 years and was very unwell for at least 10 years before she died.

To avoid feeling sad and left our at the bonkers ways- I once worked for a lady who had lost her husband some years back. She was 80-something, they married just after WWII and sadly never had children. They were each others world and as she never worked and he was very old fashioned, she told me he would come home at lunch every day (he worked until he was 86) to a 3-course lunch, leave, then back for a 4-course dinner all prepared by my friend. She genuinely lived a wonderful life with him although he was a bit bonkers 😆. He collected chop sticks so he could air conduct along to classical music- once found six in one drawer as well as 3 genuine conductor sticks.

MrsPetty · 17/01/2024 21:47

My Ex in-laws used to arrange family lunches at restaurants for Mother’s Day, MIL birthday etc. but they literally couldn’t stand one another. They never kept in touch in between these really awkward, strange gatherings. I went to a few and made my excuses thereafter…

Sandytoesfrecklednose · 17/01/2024 21:48

Buy one cup of tea (not a pot) between the two of them when we go out for lunch. Financially secure and relatively normal but this baffles me!

canttellyouwhereorwhatido · 17/01/2024 21:53

istoodonlegoagain · 16/01/2024 14:44

Thought of two more, which I'm so used that I'd forgotten aren't really normal. All of my ILs are very open about their bowel habits. A bowel movement is known as "entering the toilet". So we'll be sitting there eating dinner and one of them will say they need to go to the toilet. Fine. Will come back and say "I just entered the toilet" and everyone will look on in expectant. anticipation. Details will be given, such as whether it was hard/loose, to what extent there was straining, stool length (!) and then they will say they now need to rest/lie down. This will prompt someone else to say "last week when I entered the toilet....". The most bizarre time was when BIL recalled in front of extended family the time his soon ate sunflower seeds, which had caused a "backlog" and BIL had to use a cotton bud to 'pick' away at the poo until it was ready to move. The son was a teen at the time, and if I had a pound for every time I'd heard this story I would be rich!

MIL and SILs are obsessive about organizing things,you can't just sit and watch a TV programme, your hands have to be busy. MIL could produce a massive bag stuffed with plastic bags and everyone would sit around and flatten and fold each one and organize them into piles according to size, colour, thickness etc. No clothing can ever go in the recycling, everything is cut up, zips/buttons taken off and the fabric cut up into cloths for spills or cleaning. DH always critisize me for not having a "cloths drawer" that I've cut up of his old holey vests.

My family are very odd regarding formalities. I wouldn't be able to call into my DMs house if I was going past without a prior appointment. They wouldn't dream of coming over without a formal invitation, and 48 hours before I'll get a "I just want to confirm that Sunday 6pm for a cup of tea is still on?". On the day I'll get a text to confirm they've left their house and we should expect them soon. I feel much more relaxed with dh's family!

I think that is the first time I have read something on MN that has genuinely made me cry with laughter imagining your reality of a highly descriptive bowl movement as dinner party chitchat. Thank you 🙏

Jellycats4life · 17/01/2024 21:54

there are six glasses of wine in a bottle and you may not have more than one glass, therefore a bottle may only be opened if there are six people present.

OMG 😂 This is one of the meanest, most joyless things I’ve ever heard!

Cherrysoup · 17/01/2024 21:58

maddiemookins16mum · 17/01/2024 17:59

Me too, I get huge pleasure from an overseas supermarket too ☺️☺️

Show quote history

Same, I think my favourite was near Orlando, it was beautiful, colourful, all the fresh produce looked amazing. We came off the highway once and went the other way for miles to go to the K-Mart we’d seen. Fabulous!

Cherrysoup · 17/01/2024 22:02

ThistleTits · 17/01/2024 19:11

@DilemmaDelilah I love cabbage with stew.

My DH made stew for tonight and did cabbage with it! Brilliant!

Cherrysoup · 17/01/2024 22:16

SecondChancesAtLife · 17/01/2024 09:24

We would be staying at their house and we’d all prepare to head out as planned; as the rest of us were getting shoes on he would say, “Hold on while I change my trousers”

My dh does this! Will sit and wait until every is ready to go out at the door with their coat and shoes on then decides to go and change into his “going out” trousers 😡

My IL’s are pretty crackers but the main thing is their messiness. The house is always messy, sometimes with straw on the floor (they have chickens tbf but they live outside!)
There is always talcum powder all over the bathroom as they sprinkle it liberally over themselves after bathing. Pots are left sitting in greasy water all day and one thing that turns my stomach is a jug next to the sink in which they put tea bags, coffee grinds, eggshells etc - it will stay there for days. This is possibly to go into a compost heap but it just turns my stomach along with the grubby sink with bits of food floating everywhere 🤢

I am very fond of them though.

Don’t you have a compost container in your kitchen? Am I weird to have one? All the peelings/shells go in there then it goes into the council provided food bin and is collected weekly by the bin men. I only empty it every few days, probably daily in summer due to the risk of maggots. It does have a lid, being an old horse treat container.

Ifulikepinacoladas · 17/01/2024 22:17

Zigzagga · 16/01/2024 15:01

I have the best one...

Not me but a friend went round to his GFs for a Sunday lunch with her family early on in their relationship. They offered him a drink, wine, beer etc and he said oh no I'll just have some water.

And they just pointed to a glass of water on the kitchen counter, he thought it was a bit weird but took it and had a sip and put it back. Then he saw his GF Sis come in and take a sip and put it back...

Basically they have 'family water' a glass of water they leave available on the side and you drink water out of there rather than have your own glass....

You do have the best one, that's insane 😂

maryanne3 · 17/01/2024 22:56

If you feel the need to floss after every meal, then why don’t you carry some floss in your handbag? Instead of rootling around in your in laws bathroom drawers then coming onto a public forum to complain about the state of them. They aren’t the weird ones.

CrapGoat · 17/01/2024 23:02

MrsHughesPinny · 17/01/2024 20:43

@Allwelcone Do they have a fridge in the bedroom for the milk?! I’m intrigued and now want a teasmade. I haven’t seen one since the 80s!

@MrsHughesPinny I have a teasmaid-I don't use milk myself but I buy those little sachets you usually get in hotels or such. You can get them on amazon/ebay.

JustTooDarnLoud · 17/01/2024 23:04

@MrsHughesPinny they are having a surge in popularity again. You can buy a teasmade in Argos. I don’t have one btw.

Tonightforonenightonly · 17/01/2024 23:57

HeddaGarbled · 16/01/2024 12:22

They don’t have kitchen bins! Both MIL & SIL have a black plastic sack on the floor of their utility rooms for all their kitchen rubbish. Well off enough to have utility rooms but won’t spend money on a bin, the weirdos 😃

I dont have bins. Cant stand the smelly messy things. I keep an empty cardboard box in utility and put in any rubbish. then run aitside to the bin and empty it as often as needed.Maybe Im related to your in laws!.

Original poster
FirstFallopians · 18/01/2024 00:13

I never said it was after every meal.

I asked MIL once and she said if I ever needed it again just to help myself? No need to worry about me rooting around my in-laws bathroom uninvited.

Unclench, it’s a lighthearted thread.

OP posts:
Mumtoone39 · 18/01/2024 01:49

Worryingly I do several of these, but anyway....
Mil always carries a compass, not for going up hills and things, just for out in the town etc. She says it's so she can find north if she gets lost.

Yikealikes · 18/01/2024 02:11

My mother used to also try and make my eldest call me by my nameb when he was small. I am sure there's some weird psychology behind it around no longer being the main "mummy". It really hacked me off!

GothConversionTherapy · 18/01/2024 03:00

Purpleafro8 · 16/01/2024 14:39

My MIL thinks that sitting on a cold surface makes you infertile.

They don't use knives. Everything is eaten with a fork or spoon.

They eat their dinner off small plates - like the size you'd put a teacup on.

They don't believe in showering when you're ill.

They eat a full hot meal for breakfast. Think stew, potatoes, soup, dumplings. Sometimes even wine. In fact every meal of the day is a hot meal. No sandwiches or cereal.

They don't drink water, only tea.

All that said, they're from an Eastern European country where these things are probably normal.

Mumsnet has a weird thing against people from eastern Europe, I don't get it but it's quite rude, and can see why brexit went through with comments like this.

maryanne3 · 18/01/2024 05:07

Perhaps to you. Sneering at others behind their backs isn’t always as “lighthearted” as it might seem.

222333Annie · 18/01/2024 05:21

MIL is constantly having a massive clean out then goes and buys loads more crap only to have a massive clean out again. Although I find it strange she has kindly offered to help me streamline everything in my home ,it was great ! I just made sure not to fill my home again. Before you say this is completely normal it happens on a 2-3 month cycle haha and she always try’s to give me things she’s throwing away and I can tell she slyly gets offended when I say no.DH and I always joke about it

MoonWoman69 · 18/01/2024 07:06

OP I'm loving this thread, thank you so much!

@GothConversionTherapy @maryanne3

I have seen absolutely nothing offensive in these posts at all! It even says in the OPs title, "light hearted"! I suggest you both leave this thread and go get yourselves a sense of humour, or find the threads that contain something that actually is offensive! Fun sponges everywhere! 🙄