Mil says no tea in living room

[LetUsHaveACupOfTea]

NC incase mil on here. No one is allowed to drink anything but water in mil's living room incase it gets spilled on the rug. To have a cup of tea I need to go downstairs to the kitchen to drink it. The rug isn't mega expensive or anything. I'm not overly clumsy. AIBU to think that's a bit silly? Do you allow your guests to drink tea infront of the telly or might it risk them ruining your rug?

I have this rule but only for the kids! They can have a drink of water anywhere, but no other drinks or food outside the kitchen diner. Grown-ups can have whatever drinks they want, and snacks as long as they've got a plate. We don't eat meals in the lounge though.

Is it a new rug? Just saying this because my mum got a new carpet and for about 2 months wouldn’t let anyone take a drink in the living room.. she came out with one day that she can’t be bothered doing it anymore and hates having her coffee in the kitchen and let us take our drinks in, DM low and behold put her coffee down on the floor next to her stood up and kicked it across the carpet

There is also no food or drink allowed anywhere in my home other than the kitchen or dining room. No food or drink anywhere in my house but those 2 rooms

This obviously works for you, but I can't imagine never having an early morning cuppa in bed, and I often take one to bed with me. (Actually, I've just had tea, toast and honey in bed, but made the concession of using a napkin to prevent runny honey on clean duvet).

Her house her rules..I'd just bring a none spill cup and see if shes ok with that.

No tea or coffee or squash in the living room or upstairs. We have a perfectly good kitchen to eat and drink in. A dining room to entertain in.

A dining room is great for dinner parties, but what about when people come round for a less formal drink and a chat? Do you expect them all to stay in the kitchen, or do you sit round the dining table?

Horrors! Just remembered the ex of a friend. No cooking or eating at all in his immaculate flat. No tea, coffee, alcohol nor sugary drinks. No visitors either

@MargotB7: someone did this at my friend's house. They'd just moved back following bad flooding, and everything in the whole ground floor was brand new.

Thankfully, they'd had their cream carpets Scotchguarded. The red wine just sat on the top of it in drops, where it was easily blotted up, they dabbed it with a bit of water on a clean cloth afterwards and the next day, you couldn't even see where it had happened.

I was so impressed, I vowed that I'd have my next carpets professionally Scotchguarded before fitting.

You should respect it.
The rug may be cheap, but she bought it and doesn't want it ruined.
You can sit MNetting in the kitchen with your tea.

I think that part of being a good host is making sure your guests feel relaxed and comfortable.

Rules about where you can eat and drink would make me feel uncomfortable, so I wouldn't visit unless it was unavoidable.

It's given me a business idea though. Do you think there might be a market for an adult version of these?
www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/d4456.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj6302sHa5gIVR7TtCh3rSgr-EAQYAiABEgJeUPD_BwE

@Fatted, I know exactly what you mean and I think it's exactly why it's so important to me.

In the house I grew up in, you had to wear shoes at all times you weren't either washing your feet or in bed, for your own safety - not just because of the chance of injury, but because of the almost guaranteed infection that would result from the slightest scratch.

When I got my own place, it was incredibly important to me that it was clean, safe and not filled with knackered shit to the ceiling. To have things damaged by other people, things I worked bloody hard to pay for, hurt.

I wasn't worth keeping a clean and safe home for as a child. And having the few things I'd worked hard to buy being treated shabbily and ruined reinforced that as an adult. That I wasn't worth their consideration.

I think this is sad, never drinking tea in your own living room. A coffee on my sofa is one of my favourite things.

YABU to see her less over this though, batshit as it may be. It's just tea.

Where's FIL? Maybe he bought it and so it's sentimental to her so she doesn't want it ruined. Completely her perogative, what she allows in her house.

Just saw MitziK's comment, forget I said batshit. Sorry.

Fatted I grew up with a mum that hoarded things like newspapers. The house was so bad and embarrassing I couldn't and wasn't allowed to have friends over. But that hasn't made me so anal I don't allow tea in a living room

LakieLady that or an adult non spill sippy cup for adults. Given some of the replies on here you could make a fortune since there seems to be many people anxious of guests spilling tea on their precious rug

WaitrosesCheapestVodka it's more the unwelcoming feeling you get when here. Mil is very rigid over many things. It doesn't feel like a home at all, it has a very cold feeling about it.

I drink tea contestantly so I'd be in the kitchen most if the visit. Maybe that's her plan...

*constantly

Asking my dh about it, and he says it's a class thing. He said that it's working class to drink tea in a living room . Surely not?

There is also no food or drink allowed anywhere in my home other than the kitchen or dining room. No food or drink anywhere in my house but those 2 rooms

So you never curl up under a blanket on your sofa with a hot chocolate and a good book on a winters evening?

not any stranger or ridiculous than all the people who put carpet everywhere and insist on people taking their shoes off and go into a full meltdown if anyone spills wine or kids play with make-up or pens.

It's exactly the same thing!

it wouldn't work for me, I like a house that is lived-in and welcoming (and it's clean and tidy enough that I never have to frantically hide mess before anyone visits!). Your MIL is just the same as so many posters on here, so why not.

We dont drink tea in living room as spilt milk is a bugger to remove!

I have no time for tight arsed people who put their house above their guests. I don't go to these people's houses because I think they are fucking rude.

I don't go to these people's houses because I think they are fucking rude.

well they are, but I do feel more sorry than anything else for anyone making their life so much harder than it needs to be. If someone wants to waste half a day in tears cleaning a spill on a "fashionable" light grey carpet not when it takes me all of 30 seconds to make it clean AND photo ready , I know where I'd rather live!

@WaitrosesCheapestVodka. No offence taken. People who haven't lived in the situation don't (and I wouldn't want them to) always understand quite how bad it can be and why having something nice is so important.

I'm talking full on, goat paths through the shit, fish tanks in the grass (and the scars to prove it), five knackered fridges full of bloated packets and tubs food six months out of use by dates, breathe in and turn sideways to pick your way gingerly down the five inch wide path down the stairs, type of hoarding and filth.

The first time I bought carpet and had it fitted (at the hefty cost of £180 all in - just over 3 weeks' wages for me at the time), I was near to tears with how good it felt under my toes - it was warm, soft and clean for the first time in my life. And then the ex kicked his coffee over the middle of it the following evening.

That hurt and I don't give a monkey's whether anybody thinks I'm lower class or 'anal' for it.

If you care about another person's feelings or at the very least, respect them as a person with value and worth, you do as they ask in terms of how they wish their home and property to be treated.

@LetUsHaveACupOfTea ! Please ask him where the upper classes drink their tea, I'm desperate to find out. Don't want to commit a social faux pas when I invite Lady Bracknell round for a cuppa.