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.

Oh, the mugs, the mugs!! Have a friend like this and I'm so used to it that I don't think about it now.

Each member of her family has their 'special mug' and woe betide you if you should pour a cup into the "#1 Dad" or the "Best Ballerina" mug! As if that's not bad enough, she has 'special' mugs for us (girl friends) at her house, too. She picks them with especial care, bless her. I have one with my favourite Disney character, another friend has one to do with gardening, one has 'skiing' motif mug. We figure it's to keep us from drinking from the 'wrong mug'.

Oh, and she also has 'the good matching mugs' that come out when we're socializing as couples or a group.

But honesty forces me to admit, along the mug-front, that I have a mug that says 'Happy Birthday' with a birthday cake & confetti on it that you can only drink out of if it's your birthday. Because it's a birthday mug, you see.

"some sounds awful - inspection of sanitary towels, strict control over washing, lack of clean clothes, people being kept cold and uncomfortable and having food restricted.

Sorry to introduce a dark note into the thread but I honestly think some of this isn't funny at all, it's downright abusive."

I missed the INSPECTION of sanitary towels. I read about them being burned and, of course, there is usually only one fire in a house so it's a communal fire. The restrictions on food and heating are to do with frugality (or stinginess if you prefer). I'm not sure people who switch heating off etc. realise how it makes others feel. It's quite common for the man of the house to be the bill payer and to feel the cold less than the women, for example.

Canyouforgiveher I'm intrigued that your first thought was 'that'll be the dog piss mug, then'

AcrossthePond55 hmmm....now I think about it, I grew up in a house where 'Merry Christmas' mugs were used all year round. Maybe I've been raised to be a sort of mug renegade and anyone else would have known which mug to use? Your special birthday mug sounds adorable though; tea must taste lovely in it.

Twatbadger... Bloody idiots abound in close families. Both my mother and MIL gave DS things he is severely allergic to to prove to us he wasn't really allergic (he reacts to nuts even by skin contact). My mother and MIL are always eating peanuts, my sister threw a strop and called me selfish because I refused to visit if the y didn't agree to put the nuts away. It is relentless. I have another friend who always puts a big plate of peanuts out when we visit, last time we were out she got a huge bag of peanuts and tried to open it before she got into my car. I told her that I would need to leave her there as she couldn't touch peanuts and then go into my car. She was shocked but I think she finally got it.

These people are fucking idiots.

If somebody gleefully farted at dinner they'd not be invited back. But it has never happened so far.

If someone did that here I'd probably kill myself laughing. But I'm 12 like that.

Sniv A Christmas mug used outside of December??!!?? Blasphemy!! I'm sure that twat William Hanson would like a word with you.

Tea does taste lovely in the Birthday Mug. As does milk, coffee, wine, and gin. Especially gin!

I have to say it, I reckon most of these anecdotes are British : we are so eccentric and I think most other nationalities are not quite as barmy.

Oh, bin confusion reminds me of a schoolfriend who I was visiting, and had something I needed to bin, and they told me the rubbish bin was behind the sofa in their living-room. When I went behind the sofa there was row of 4 identical outdoor bins, so I just opened the first one and put my rubbish in, then they all burst out laughing. Apparently I'd put my rubbish in the 'bread' bin. They had an outdoor bin as their bread bin. In the living room. Behind the sofa. Another one was for veg, can't recall the other, but one was for rubbish so I fished mine out of the bread bin and put it in the proper bin.

They were a bit strange, there were seven kids and one night I was there there their dad came home blind drunk and mistook me for one of his daughters (no idea how, they were Chinese and I'm not) and demand I make him French toast. The others said I'd better do as he said, so I had to fish the bread out the bucket and make him French toast untl he fell asleep.

A few years later when I went to visit, I walked into the living room, as you do, and all the furniture was upside down. I was diverted to my pal's bedroom where they explained that the cats had taken over the living room so they'd turned the sofas upside 'to protect them' and left them to it. The whole family and I ate our dinner in the girls' bedroom sitting on the edge of the beds with plates balanced on our laps.

Spiv - I hope it wasn't one of THOSE beakers...

My in laws who live up north never allowed heating in winter - 'cold fresh air is good for you' - they say. It's a wonder we don't go up there to visit.

Neoprene my PIL have a similar system but oven ever thought about mocking them.
The teason that arrangement is simple: very little money dcs everything gets recycled. They make compost to grow vegs so they don't have to buy them. Fire in the living room heats the entire house everyday and they do need all the bits of wood to start it, cooked left over of the hens or dog etc...
I actually quite like that way of doing things. It's a bit like the Good Life isnt it?

It wasn't exactly a rule but I was asked to leave the water in the bath after I had used it for the lady of the house to jump in after me! I asked for a towel and was airily shown some pegs with the families towels draped over ......all used. Had never met the family, my first night in England !

My ex wasn't allowed to make a sandwich in the house after 8pm or have a bath after 9pm, there were no younger DC in the house but his DM and SD were OCD beyond belief the house was a show room and looked like it wasn't lived in.

thefairyfell 😂 I am laughing so hard at your bread bin story. Thank you! 😂😂😂

Fair dos there are some strange households out there!

My mum wouldn't let me wear my dressing gown in bed - she said it was unhygienic.
She had a specific butter knife that you used to transfer the butter to your plate but then you had to use your own knife to actually spread the butter.
She had a sugar spoon that you used to put the sugar in your tea with (but not actually submerge in the liquid) but then you had to use your own teaspoon to stir.
When they first had an electric shower installed and I came to visit as an adult there was a whole routine you had to go through. The shower screen had to be angled in a certain way, there was a specific mat to stand on after your shower, then there was a whole wiping down the tiles with a particular cloth, opening the window, moving th screen to a certain angle rigmarole after your shower.
My parents are lovely but their obsession with keeping an immaculate home, as a rather messy daughter, drove me nuts.

Does anyone else have relatives who keep a plastic pot of water inside the microwave for 'safety reasons'?

NB The microwave is never used.

"She had a sugar spoon that you used to put the sugar in your tea with (but not actually submerge in the liquid) but then you had to use your own teaspoon to stir. "

Good for her. It's horrible when people put a spoon that's been in their tea or coffee back into the sugar pot.

thefairy hahaha!!

jennielee absolutely yes, my parents!!! It was recommended in the manual of the first microwave they ever bought she they have been doing it ever since!!!

jessicarabbit I am so pleased!

My DP's house rules are so regimented. Shoes to be left by front door. No earring between meals whatsoever. Two sheets of toilet paper only at a time. Only watching documentaries or the news on TB. The rest is apparently for imbeciles(!). Staying over; window open all night to get a good stream of air, even when snowing. The bed has to made to a pristine level with hospital corners. When having a bath you can only use four inches of water. No music in the evenings unless it's my father's choice. Conversation in the evenings as they read newspapers and do the crossword together. The kitchen door must be kept shut all's the time. The 'phone has to be answered in a certain way. Table manners! Don't talk with your mouth full. You cut your food precisely, not pull it. You have to hold you knife and fork properly at all times. Including the children. Packets of food aren't allowed to be placed upon the table. Everything has to be in dishes. All dishes and plates have to be piping hot. When eating peas, you don't scoop them up with your fork. You have to stab several each time. Everyone has a designated place to sit. Everytime you wash your hands the basin has to be left perfect and dried. Ditto bath. No ornaments at all in the window. Only two m/three in a dressing table... We have to take flowers, wine and chocolate. All good quality and only certain expensive brands. They don't use our wine because it's not been aired for long enough(I suspect they take ours to another dinner party, because I'm not a wine buff. We are only allowed to eat anything remotely food like at the table. Despite my children being older and Ble to eat off plates without dropping a crumb. It might bring in mice or rates, for goodness sake!

I could go on, but I'd be here for st least another fortnight. Needless to say, I hate going there, feel on edge the entire time in case I break a house rule, then get told off for it; even inf front of my own children. I avoid going there at all costs, feigning illness or something. God forbid if we do go there. Last time I was so on edge the entire time, I ended up within a moment of leaving the table requiring a receptacle which was an old ice cream box (which had to be carefully lined with kitchen towel first) to be physically sick into. And I was. It's really that bad! 😱😱😱

Wrt rationing the loo roll, what on earth do you do if you need more? I never don't need fewer than 2 sheets!

Not being goady, I promise. But for those of you with these unbelievably anal-retentive parents, why do you go visit? Or at the very least, why don't you stay elsewhere so you can get a break? Do your parents ever visit you and do they demand the same rules in your house?

I guess I can see wanting to maintain some type of relationship, but I'd be damned if I'd subject my children to them!