"What's The Most Bizarre 'House Rule' You've Encountered At Someone Else's Home?" (40 Answers)

A schoolfriend's parents had a rule where you couldn't wee directly in to the toilet water and had to aim for the inside edge of the bowl.

I forgot one time and was never allowed back again because they'd heard me wee.

When I was like 14, my friend was having a Halloween party. I had my period, so I went to the bathroom to change my pad. I wrapped up my old pad in some toilet paper and threw it away. The next day at school my friend said her mom was going through the trash (I guess this was something her mom did 😵‍💫) and she found the wrapped up bloody pad and was angry about it. My friend who was also another girl got in trouble for it because her mom thought it was hers. This was 15 years ago and I’m still so freaking confused by it.

My former step father only wanted the toilet flushed if you went number two and only once a day per person. Cheapness is a sickness.

They had a room in their basement that they let the dog s**t in if they didn’t feel like taking it for a walk

Once stayed at a relative’s place where they had a strict "No Radio Waves After Dark" rule. Post sunset, WiFi was shut down, phones were powered off, and even the microwave was a no-go zone. They believed that radio waves interfered with sweet dreams. The first night I was there, I felt like I time-traveled to a pre-internet era.

When I was a child, my mom had a friend who would watch me for an entire weekend, or a week during the summer. She had a daughter that was a year younger than me.

She was an absolute clean freak. I liked her because she would take me places, but she had a lot of rules. Couldn't wear shoes in her house. Ok, not all that weird... but she would take your shoes to the basement utility sink and scrub the bottom of your shoes. Can't have your pants too long, because they might drag on her floor and get dirt on her floor, so I had to roll up my pants. Can't touch the walls, because the dirt from your fingers might get on her white walls. If it was nice outside, you're eating outside, because your crumbs may get on the floor. She was also an English teacher. Even at 6 years old, I couldn't say "yeah", you say "yes". Only ignorant people say "yeah". Can't say I'm going to take off my shoes. "Only rockets take off. You REMOVE your shoes." Couldn't say "I'm done!" According to her, "only turkeys are done. You are FINISHED.""

My wife stayed home with our two kids, and their various friends were frequent guests. She was happy to have them over, but she established that she was NOT there to entertain them. They had quite a bit of freedom to do things, or to do nothing, but if they tried to involve her she would have them clean something around the house.

So one day our daughter had two friends over, one who knew the ropes at our house, and one who didn't. The latter started to say, "I'm bored!" and the former quickly said, "Quiet, or she'll put us to work."

No talking about or watching anything that contained “magic.” Harry Potter was banned along with many shows and cartoons.

Everyone needed to be patted down and searched just in case someone was the feds wearing a wire 😂

Having to ring the bell by the gate and wait minutes until my neighbor (same age as me) would open the door and come to the gate to let me in. I would hear them hecticly moving around behind the door when I rang the bell.

Turned out years later that they hid a girl, which they adopted because doctors told the parents that they were infertile and can’t get a child on their own. Right afterwards they got pregnant and then again (my friend). They were upset that they got lied to and tried to bring the girl back but they refused. The only thing the parents came up with, was to hide her. I walked in and out their house several times a week and never knew she lived there.

It wasn't really a rule but I got invited (and my parents jumped at the opportunity) to a friend's house quite often. The friend's mom was sort of weird, whe was usually in her bedroom on her computer unless she was in the livingroom demanding us to paint her nails.

Anyways, the rule was eat before you get there because you won't be fed while there. If your there while they have dinner you sit in the livingroom or my friends bedroom and wait. Weirdly, this extended to breakfast and any other meal had while I was there. No matter how long I was there.

Anyways, I figured out by age 8 that I can go 3 days max without eating before I pass out and get sent home. 😅

Edit: honestly, yall, it seemed so normal at the time. I would literally wake up in the morning and play with Bratz dolls while she finished breakfast I wasn't abused or anything just sort of neglected I guess? But it wasn't this woman's responsibility to take care of me tbh. I appreciate the kind words, thanks guys. 😊 hope yall have a great day.

If you need to pass gas you have to go outside and all the way to the mailbox.

I stayed at a friend’s house for a few days when my parents were out of town when I was 13 years old. I have always been someone who draws a lot (I went to art school for my undergrad.) When I started drawing in my own notebook after dinner, my friend told me that if her father caught me, I would be in real trouble because he thought drawing was a waste of paper. So I stopped drawing for 4 days. When I returned home, I rushed up to my room, grabbed a drawing pad and drew for hours. The funny thing is that her dad was a lawyer. You know how I said that I was in art school for undergrad? Well for graduate school eventually I went to law school and worked as an attorney for almost 30 years before I retired. Most lawyers waste an inordinate amount of paper, both in and out of court, especially when this guy was practicing.

These are from one ex friend house... We were friends in middle school:

1) immediately after getting home from school she had to sit down at the table and recount her day step by step, including all conversations. Not like "school was okay, we had a test in math and I think I did good. We had chicken at lunch" but "when I got on the bus I said hi to the driver and sat in my seat. My partner wasn't on the bus this morning so I read 5 pages of my history book. The bus was quiet for the whole ride. Then we got to school and I stopped to talk to x at her locker. She was wearing y and z and asked if I saw Inuyasha last night. I said no and she asked me why." Etc etc

2) must complete homework and study after recounting day for at least 2 hours. I guess not that weird but weird to me

3) never allowed to lock doors

4) cannot leave house without putting on makeup and having hair styled. Every day. Not her rule she made, her mothers rule for her. She had to wake up two hours earlier than most everyone else on school days just to do this. She was a pageant girl so her mom was a loon.

5) wasn't allowed to shower, only bathe and only bathe with the door open. There was no curtain. Red flag now as an adult but at that age I just thought it was weird. She also regularly bathed with her younger sister who was only a few years younger than her.

6) can only watch TV with both parents present.

All around weird person with a weird home life. Almost feel bad for her looking back but she was an a*****e in the end so meh. Obsessed with being popular, having the best grades, and cried when she found out Santa wasn't real... In eighth grade.

EDIT: yes she was an a*****e to me and did some really horrible things. Yes she was being abused at home but no that doesn't mean she gets a pass for the things she did to me in high school. She can still be abused at home and still be an a*****e. I think I was her punching bag to let out all that anger on and she was the reason I'd attempted suicide so I'm sure you can see how it would be difficult for me to not think of her as an a*****e even after all these years.

I have a job that involves going into peoples homes. I had an inspection once at house where the homeowners insisted that I put on this light blue bath robe (over my clothes) and white slippers to enter their home. The husband, wife, and adult daughter who lived with them were all wearing the same blue bath robes. This was in the US Midwest… just a “typical” American midwestern family so it wasn’t even like a cultural thing that I was unaware of. I still wonder to this day if they were messing with me.

My friend’s mom wouldn’t let her put any trash in the bathroom trashcan. There was a trashcan there but it was just there for show (???) They were directed to put all trash generated in the bathroom down the toilet.

Must be up by 9am and fully clothed. No pajamas or sweats etc.....even if it was the weekend and even if you had no plans to go anywhere or do anything. We would wake up and just sit there.

My friends thought it was weird that they weren't allowed to go into the basement when they were at my house. I didn't know this until we were all much older, which I then explained that my parents were major pot heads and the basement is where their smoke spot was located. Also discovered that's why one of my friends wasn't allowed back over; her parents recognized the ode de stoner on her clothes.

Knew someone who was an engineer for BT back in the 90s. He used his skills to build a household PBX exchange with a billing system.

Once a month he would present his children with a printed bill for the calls they made.

He also had a payphone for visitors to use.

My friends house rule when I was a kid. One square for pee. Two squares for poo. I did not follow that rule.