What’s a weird thing your In-Laws do?

[FirstFallopians]

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?

I take bedding if we stay overnight at my daughter’s. They’re busy people, so don’t need to be doing extra washing.

She separates every sock,pair of pants,pillowcase etc,checks every pocket-twice and puts it all in,an item at a time

My parents do this and it drives me bananas. At my house, everything goes in the laundry basket then all gets transferred to the washing machine. It gets broadly sorted into towels/bedding (a slightly hotter wash) and “everything else”. At my parents they have whites, light colours, dark colours, mixed colours, towels, teatowels, bedding… and each individual item, underwear included, gets unfolded and examined before going into the washing machine.

I didn't know it still existed!

My family always have a gathering whenever it's someone's birthday. Our birthdays are spaced quite well through the year, so it means we meet up regularly - it works well!

Oh thanks OP I love this thread it’s giving me a good laugh. Both my parents and IL’s had strange habits. My IL’s used to buy a Morrison’s family sized apple pie. One each with their own pension money every week. Then sit down together to eat their own individually purchased large apple pie. My own DF was a stickler for ‘routine’ everything done at exactly the same time each day. Even family pets had to conform to his ‘routine’. Not that they ever seemed to mind!

This isn't weird, this is the aim.

They're all late, excessively so, so if you are invited to 'lunch' at 1 then lunch will actually be at 4.30.

My MIL always washes her hair in the kitchen sink. I can sort of see why she'd do it if she didn't want to have a shower but she will have a shower with a shower cap on to keep her hair dry then put on a bath robe and go to the kitchen to wash her hair in the sink- so it must be far more difficult to do this than to just wash her hair in the shower.

She also has a deep distrust of any food that is not heavily processed, but calls processed foods by the name of (what she considers to be) the closest less processed version and considers them interchangeable. So dairylea triangles are 'cream cheese', chocolate cereal is 'muesli' etc. She is convinced that she gets her '5 a day' because there are bits of dried veg in her cuppa soups, raisins in her biscuits (=' cereal bars'), tomato sauce on her spaghetti hoops and she is always eating salad (shop bought potato salad). She is otherwise a sensible woman and DH has tried to gently explain the difference for to her health but she will not believe him.

My family do this, only as far as I know attendance isn’t “expected”, everyone just enjoys getting together. That’s how I feel anyway, maybe there are aunties who’ve been attending under pressure for 30 years!

Where do you keep your toothbrushes?

What's wierd about that?
Please tell me you don't leave yours out where the poo germs can land on them? 🤮

My MIL constantly tells people they look tired, in a passive aggressive way. Sort of ‘Hello darling how are you? You do look tired. Did you have a busy week?’ That sort of very rude bullshit said through a smile. She does it to lots of people and I just think Wow you’re so badly brought up & so rude! every time.

@Aquamarine1029 that made me laugh 😂.

My in laws never wipe the counter after spilling tea/coffee on it. Ie they make tea and maybe drip a bit from the spoon. And they just....leave it. And dh does too. They are incredibly neat and tidy in other ways so it's odd. And in dh's case it's bloody annoying as it means someone, ie me, has to scrub the surfaces with pink stuff or barkeepers friend every few days to keep them clean.

My parents. (ILs are deceased). They smother my lovingly made creamy chicken and ham pie with sweet chilli sauce.

My MIL does this too! I once got myself a glass of water, ended up nipping to the loo before I'd finished drinking it, and by the time I got back the water had been poured away and the glass washed, dried and put back in the cupboard. I don't drink hot drinks but I've noticed everyone cautions MIL not to pour their drink away if they have to leave it for any reason. 😄

She once offered me half a melon as a hangover remedy. #random

She also once told me she keeps jars of oranges in Cointreau for 'emergencies'. (Context, obviously, was when she's caught short for a gift to give someone, it just came out sounding quite odd. 😄)

I keep my toothbrush in a drawer in the bathroom to protect it from the water and particles that the flushing toilet vortex spreads six feet round the bathroom if folk don't close the toilet lid when they flush.

Who flosses at someone else’s house? Surely this is not usual.

My MIL has a creepy fabric hoover cover that looks like a doll. I didn’t realise the hoover was under there for at least 10 years.

My in laws are always on the verge of becoming hoarders. They throw nothing away and even get upset when you throw your own belongings away. They can find a use for everything. Drives me wild!
In fairness my parents have some strange quirks. Very routine driven. The world will stop spinning before they change their shopping routines.

Oooh, l like this one but don't have the time! 😋

@LindorDoubleChoc "Is it limited only to inlaws? What about our own parents or siblings? Can they have odd little habits too?"

Nope. This is Mumsnet. In-laws only.

(Ex inlaws) if they gift you socks or a tshirt your expected to wear them IMMEDIATELY or there will be tears first year in there were tears ex and bil went to the kitchen to see why mum was having a breakdown sil hissed quick CHANGE YOUR SOCKS FFS I did ex came storming in to tell me off saw the socks were on my feet span around to tell his mother off

Thank goodness for the divorce 😂 it was "tense" every year

My dad takes 'cook from frozen' stuff out of the freezer for hours to plan the meal ahead.
Rings my doorbell while open the front door with the spare key.
Changes the settings on my dishwasher, coffee machine, tumble dryer. For no reason.

Someone with gappy teeth? If I'm given pork it's a nightmare but I take my own floss so I'm good

But only women's in-laws.