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.

[ShatnersBassoon]

The public burning of sanitary towels is so weird! WTF was going on in some homes?

[grimupnorthLondon]

oh yes Thefishewife - my Irish nan's 'good room' was only used once every ten years when her cousin who was a nun came to visit. And she was served her meals in there. Alone. The rest of us ate in the kitchen as usual.

[Creativemode]

Just reading through these.

To all those with no flushing rule. I have actually come to understand. My second baby is/was such a light sleeper, I'm terrified of waking him once he's asleep.

I couldn't ask guests not to flush the toilet though I'd have to risk it!

Not intended to make anyone feel bad though, I know what sleep deprivation can drive you to!

[Thefishewife]

Add message | Report | Message poster listsandbudgets Wed 21-Sep-16 15:30:14
Parents of one of DD's friends NO jaffa cakes - literally no jaffa cakes allowed in the house. All other biscuits and snacks fine. Stuff haribo down the kids throats, fill them with cake let them gorge on crisps but whatever you do NO JAFFACAKES.

confused

i would of text mum and oh no she's on a strictly Jaffa diet directed by her doctor what to do lol

[Creativemode]

Another one.

In a shoes off house (fair enough), but was asked to take my baby's pram shoes off, he couldn't walk he was only a few months old!

[DullUserName]

I used to rent a room with odd rules. Part of the rent was an hour's gardening in Sunday at 1pm (never be late!).

If you had a bath, you had to turn the immersion on, set a timer for 35 mins and hang a special flannel at the top of the stairs as a signal... and put 20p in a little pot. If the timer went off before you'd run the water, the landlady would scream up the stairs about you wasting electricity.

There was only one doorbell and there was a complex system of different numbers if tings for each resident. If a visitor got it wrong, she'd yell at them and slam the door in their face. She refused to display any sort of sign to explain the system though. I did hear later that new Posties were specially briefed before taking the round!

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

At MIL's you have to wash the kitchen sink when you have used it, even if you have just rinsed out a glass.
To be fair to her, her kitchen is 30 years old and still looks brand new.

[BreakfastAtSquiffanys]

We are invited to Sunday lunch, and told to get there at 1pm.
Which we do, promptly
Note on Sil's front door. Do not ring bell, baby having a nap.
So we tap , gently on door.
Tap louder on door.
Ring house phone , let it ring once and hang up.
Still no one answers the door...

[WyfOfBathe]

Eggy A friend of mine refers to her children "laying an egg". I worry where they think that hens' eggs come from!

As a child, I had a friend whose mother enforced everyone going to the loo before eating - even if it was just a snack - even the adults had to do this

[Nonewnameideas]

When I was a teenager, my dad and step-mum bought a big middle-class house together. She was from quite a poor background and having a naice house was A Really Big Deal. No particular rules about the house except:

Step-mum chose the decor of my room - wallpaper, carpet, throws, towels, bedding, lamps, furniture etc - without consulting me.
No posters on the walls.
All my books and music tapes were kept out of view in cupboards.
Clothes had to be kept in drawers / cupboards at all times.

Basically, my room was to be kept like a bedroom in show house and I never felt welcome staying at my dad's, which was half of my teenage life.

After leaving for University my step-mum banned me from my dad's house for the holidays because I was so miserable all the time! I wonder why that was .

[JennieLee]

With my mother there are rules about protecting the table before you eat.

First of all you put on the rubber table protector.
Then you put on the table cloth.
Then you put out the place mats, the central mats for dishes and the coaster mats for glasses.
If you are putting anything liquid on the table - eg a bottle of salad dressing - that must be place inside an additional protective carton, so that - if you should be careless and spill it or leave a dribble on the exterior -it doesn't leak through the mats, the cloth and the protector and inflict permanent damage on the table.

The table itself is a varnished, modern, one wipe-clean one.

[AnotherPrickInTheWall]

I once visited a house where we could only walk on the carpet but there was plastic matting forming a path through each room.
The carpets were shampooed and raked every day. The walls were also washed daily ( ceilings included!).

[kissmybumandsaychumchum]

The toilet paper in bin thing is standard in China, still not used to it after several trips but the worst was earlier this year when we hosted our Chinese colleagues for 2 days meetings here in the U.K. Every time one of them went to the bathroom we heard the pedal bin open and close. When they left , the first thing I said to DH was "I am NOT emptying that bin!" He thought very briefly and said "Fuck it, we'll buy a new bin"

[CosyCoupe88]

Have to dry the sinks with a towel in the bathroom after washing your hands....

[Floggingmolly]

Did they slaughter chickens in the living room?? Who has the time or energy (or sees the need!) to wash the bloody walls daily?

[enolagayits0815]

A former friend lived in an eco house, they had a little note asking women not to use sanitary towels/tampons but to help themselves to a reusable cup from the bathroom cabinet instead

[Housewife2010]

My friend wouldn't let me have a shower at her house because she had a water meter. I'm the sort of person who feels grubby if I don't have one every morning. No amount of persuading her that it would be a quick in and out with no hair wash would persuade her.

[PanGalaticGargleBlaster]

Some friends had a strange rule where you were not allowed to use their Labrador puppies as replacement toilet paper.

[AnotherPrickInTheWall]

[StVincent]

I have relatives who do the sanitary towel thing as well (although stove not an open fire thank god!). Lord knows why as it stinks as well as being incredibly embarrasing.

Probably why I use mooncups

[IceIceIce]

I don't think the smell thing is that weird. My friend won't have curry or any sort of crisps. It's her house. If something makes her physically sick then that's fair enough.

The rest are just odd though I won't visit people like that.

[expatinscotland]

I had a flatmate who tried to dominate the place with her rules. She didn't get far. 'You have to . . . ' 'No, actually, I don't. I have to pay my share of rent and bills. I clean up after myself. That's it.'

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

Mil also says 'left a message'. You're never allowed to let the children go in the garden until she has checked there are no messages on the lawn.

[Ezzie29]

We never had proper house guests but for sleepovers my parents were the other way around, friends could happily swan around having snacks and getting drinks in the night and having run of the place. Only rule was shoes off and that's fairly standard.

Only thing which I suppose some people might find strange is that if we had a really good friend round that my mum knew well, she would get the friend to help if we needed to put shopping away or do a bit of cleaning. Friends never minded though and preferred it to sitting around waiting for me or dsis to be ready to hang out again. Before smartphones though so might be different now it's easier to be entertained while you wait!

Some of these rules are crazy, I'm glad I've never been anywhere like that, I hate feeling uncomfortable as a guest.

[TimTamTerrier]

Most of these are very weird, but am I the only one who thinks that one toilet being for the sole use of the mother of the house sounds like absolute bliss? Imagine the luxury of being able to put your bum down on the loo seat without checking whether it needs to be wiped/totally disinfected first.