What's the weirdest house rule you've ever experienced as a house guest?

[Creativemode]

Just that really.

Mine is someone that wouldn't let me flush the toilet incase it woke their children.

Also another wouldn't let me go upstairs to the toilet incase the stairs creaked and woke their children (there was no downstairs toilet).

I had a school friend that wasn't allowed fish and chips in the house because of the smell.

I remembered another- friend had a dog. Dog was trained to shit in the bathroom on a newspaper taped to the floor for the purpose. If you went to the loo and found a turd on the paper you were supposed to change the newspaper.

I have no idea if he kept it up, didn't visit again.

My friend was an au pair and stayed with a bonkers family who insisted she wiped down the shower with a towel after every use

^That is me! I always use a squeegee and a towel to dry the shower doors, the taps etc after every shower! It's because we have such hard water. Drying it prevents limescale from building up and saves an awful lot of work later on.

However, if someone else uses our shower, I don't say anything. I just sneak in after they have finished and dry it all myself!

I guess I probably am slightly bonkers!

Wow, this has put some of my relatives / in-laws rules into perspective! I dread having to visit some of them...

Nothing but kettle out on kitchen counters - toaster and coffee machine to be put away after each use - extremely annoying! Counters are all granite, but coasters / trays have to be used at all times!

Everyone must be in the same room at the same time (exception of bathrooms obv). So no lie in, no watching tv / reading a book in between meals / whilst someone is cooking.

Windows closed at all times in summer, even if there is a heatwave (to stop flies coming in).

No milk down the sink (septic tank issue), so have to go to end of garden to empty baby bottles / porridge.

No red wine / coffee in living room (cream carpet).

Tablecloth to be used at all mealtimes (in case table scratched - they've had it years but suddenly super precious about it).

Must wait to be served breakfast, even if breastfeeding and starving, and don't really want to wait for pancakes and eggs and bacon, but just fancy a bowl of cereal. And must help with washing up of all milk jugs / small containers for jam and fruit dragged out for the occasion. Can't just pour milk straight from the bottle for a cup of tea?!

Probably more that I'm forgetting.

Oh, and small bins in each of the five bathrooms, but dont dare even leave a wet nappy / sanitary product in any of them - have to go straight outside.

And dog has first pick of seating in living room.

much of it seems to be about making visitors hyper aware that they are in someone elses territory
lest they forget they must continually pay respect to the person who's home it is by observing all the rules
power and control

it's the antithesis of 'make yourself at home'

pp's who say they dread visiting these unwelcoming hosts, why do you visit?
I would refuse to

GabsAlot if tied up in plastic bags, they wouldn't smell at all, but I take your point about nappies and sanitary items not being very pleasant after 4 weeks, plus the amount of nappies that would be there. My children are older and I have had a mirena could for 10 years and haven't had a period in this time (it is WONDERFUL)

I also think that having rules which everyone sticks to could be a way of managing conflict within a household...the greater the potential for conflict the greater the need for rules to keep it under control?

My aunty wouldn't say fart she would say pump'ed me and my sister would laugh so much.

I actually cannot see anything wrong with 4 weekly collections apart from the need for a bigger recycling bin, our "bin" in the kitchen isn't even full of non recyclable stuff after a week, so 4 weekly would be no problem, don't people recycle virtually everything apart from tetrapak?

We have to empty our kitchen bin every day, it's a tall pedal bin. I honestly don't know how people get away with less. We have pet cage waste,food and cooking waste plus the recycling bin is rammed. I double wrap everything and it still smells and there's flies and maggots even with Jeyes powder. It's utterly rank as the only place the bin can go is outside my kitchen window. Blerk.

My MIL had the rule that no one was allowed to do any washing up until everyone had finished drinking their coffee and all the conversations have died down.

Me too (I think I'd love your MIL). I HATE guests who get up just as conversation is getting interesting to "help you clear up". I don't want guests to help me clear up - I want them to be guests, chat to each other, make scintillating conversation, drink their coffee, sip their wine. I do not want them to wash up. Why would I invite people to my home to wash up? I also try very hard to minimise the time I spend away from guests in the kitchen for the same reason.

We have to empty our kitchen bin every day, it's a tall pedal bin. I honestly don't know how people get away with less. We have pet cage waste,food and cooking waste plus the recycling bin is rammed. ....

The pet waste (apart from cat litter) would go in the gardening recycled along with food waste. I just wonder if people are actually recycling all that they can recycle.

dame
her mum not only burned them In front of me but unrolled each one for further inspection

Are you serious? That is not on at all. I don't have a DD, but if I did and had heard this, there would have been an exchange of words. To put it mildly.
Completely lacking in compassion.

My parents house has its own septic tank as its in the middle of nowhere.
We never flushed any sanitary ware or oil from frying pans down the drains.
Mum puts puts kitchen roll over the oil to absorb it. If you have to maintain your own sewage system, you need to watch out for these things. It does make you a bit more aware, which is a good thing.

DH cocked up our drainage system and caused damage to next doors floors because he flushed baby wipes down the loo. They don't dissolve. I was furious, but he had no idea. An expensive mistake.

Some of these are hilarious

we dont flush pee during the night if only us at home . we do if anyone else in the house though

I love, love Greece. I love the people, scenery, the culture, the history, the food etc. I respect their plumbing issues. But after staying there many a time in a heat wave, sharing with many people who have upset tummies and women with periods I have fantasised about making this problem less unpleasant. I have spent too much time thinking about it and dream of every dwelling, taverna, bar, public bog etc having a tiny little incinerator with a flap and a button to ignite.

DH cocked up our drainage system and caused damage to next doors floors because he flushed baby wipes down the loo. They don't dissolve. I was furious, but he had no idea. An expensive mistake.*

If you ever take a lit match to a baby wipe, you'll see it melts before burning as it's pretty much made of plastic. I found this out recently on a visit to a wastewater treatment plant.

Flushed wipes clump together and cause havoc in sewers.

And I cocked up the quote...!

People don't really flush sanpro and baby wipes down the toilet; regardless of septic tank or mains drainage do they?

People don't really flush sanpro and baby wipes down the toilet; regardless of septic tank or mains drainage do they?

Oh yes they do. Loads of them do - see this thread where people don't seem to understand that plumbing is a human construct and might have some limitations.

My sister visted us in US - main drains. We never flushed anything down the loo except loo paper. She flushed tampons down the loo (told me on last day). 5 days later we had a major spill into our only bathroom - sewage and shit everywhere. DH stayed with it while I took the kids out. He cleaned up and waited for the plumber.

Pluming isn't a god given right. It doesn't exist in the wild. It is one of the finest achievements of humans. Sticking paper etc down drains not fitted to take them is like pissing on electric wires because you should be able to piss anywhere you like. NO. Human constructs that make life better usually have some rules involved.

I completely agree re plumbing.

But it's good manners if you live in a modern city with good modern plumbing to give your guests access to it. and privacy.

My parents:

-ration toilet paper for family members. You have to ask my mother for loo roll and get interrogated as to why you're using so much.

-ration toilet water (father turns down the tap so the toilet cistern doesn't have enough water to flush anything) WHICH IS RAINWATER ANYWAY

-refuse to flush after they've been, and refuse to let anyone else flush at night as the rainwater tank pump is noisy. This includes not flushing after #2s.

-refuse to put a proper door (stupid louvre thing) on the only loo that anyone's allowed to use - so everyone in the entire house can hear everything. My mother has her own large bathroom with a proper door, but if anyone else goes in there they get shrieked at for stealing her toiletries/ using too much toilet paper/ messing up the bath towels - because she'll be standing outside the door with bleach and a loo brush and a catsbum expression when you come out.

Oh and they provide only one guest bed, and refuse to let people sleep on the sofa. So because Dh has a bad back, I fail to sleep on the floor and dear father will ALWAYS walk in and "accidentally" trip over me, swear and shout and scream about bloody f*ing weirdos who don't share beds with their husbands - at 6am. Becuase there must be something wrong with you if you're not up for the day at 6am.

We don't stay there any more... can't imagine why.

e1y1

When the plumber came to rod our drains to clear the blockage of wet wipes, he told me some pretty hellish stories of people's ignorance towards plumbing.

Eg drainage systems of high rise flats being blocked by dirty nappies having been flushed down the loo, and forced down the U bend and into the system. He said that when they lifted the drain covers for the building there was a sea of used nappies floating on the top and the pipes were all chocked from backed up nappies getting stuck. Happens all the time, he said.

Are people not being educated on this? Or are they just too lazy to put the used nappies in a bin?

canyouforgiveher is right. Plumbing isn't a God given right.

Mum's work colleague rationed the toilet paper, 1 square if you went for a wee and 2 squares for a poo.

They had a posh house and posh clothes, but it was all fur coat and no knickers, outwardly they looked rich but behind closed doors they counted every penny and were miserable. She couldn't sleep at night for fear of all the money they owed, but was horrified of suggestions of a cheaper lifestyle

We had a house big enough for us and the toilet roll was left in the bathroom! We may not have had designer clothes etc but we had clothes we liked and we weren't afraid to get them dirty. We were happy. I still don't care what other people think of my clothes, belongings etc, if that's all they care about then I'm better off without them anyway