Do you have any 'house rules'? If so, what are they?

[skyscraper101]

I started pissing with seat down when I lived with four women at Uni. Now I do it out of choice as I find it more comfortable and less messy

I do it all the time out of choice too. And I put the lid down too after use. A closed toilet lid looks so much better.

 

[scifisam]

I do it all the time out of choice too. And I put the lid down too after use. A closed toilet lid looks so much better.

Also much healthier if your toothbrushes are in the same room.

 

[Dystopiary]

No AnnO'Neemus you are not the arsehole. And tbh your mate was being dickish bringing that up, especially since it was years ago.

I ask people to leave their shoes by the door, don't smoke in the house, do share your drugs.

 

[Epona]

...and how easy or difficult do you find it to enforce them?

I'm wondering because I'm feeling a bit gaslighted at the moment. A friend is a house guest. He's previously stayed here when I wasn't living in my flat. Mostly we get on okay, he's good company, but over the weekend, we'd had a nice meal (he cooked), we'd both drunk a fair bit, when all of a sudden, out of the blue, he raises the subject of Person X, who was a friend of a friend who was very briefly a lodger of mine several years ago, who I chucked out for smoking in my flat.

I think him and Person X have some mutual friends, and suspect maybe he's mentioned to one of them that he's staying at mine and they've told/reminded him about this ancient history.

He was really having a go at me for being unreasonable for chucking someone out for breaking house rules.

Basically, I have two house rules: smoking isn't allowed inside my flat, only on the balcony, and I don't allow pig meat in my flat. (I also used to be no outdoor shoes indoors, but my carpets are knackered and flooring needs replacing, which I'm planning to do soon.)

I actually ended up getting a bit upset, because he was acting like I was really outrageous and unreasonable for kicking someone out of my home for breaking house rules.

Person X was told about house rules before moving in and agreed to them. I subsequently smelled smoke and asked her if she'd been smoking in her room, and she said Yes, but only a bit. (It took about six weeks of air freshener and leaving windows open when it wasn't raining to get rid of all the smell.)

I'm now questioning myself again and wondering am I the arsehole in this scenario?

I do have a lot of emotional baggage, I've been treated like shit a lot over the years, so I'm really shocked that a friend seems to effectively be saying that I shouldn't have boundaries and house rules in my own home. Or that if I do have house rules, random lodgers or house guests should be able to just break them with no consequences and I'm somehow being a terrible person for not wanting people to smoke in my home, and for kicking out people who do.

(Also bearing in mind that years ago I let an acquaintance stay on a similar basis, ie you can crash in the spare room, but no smoking indoors, it's only allowed on the balcony, and she not only smoked in her bedroom but dozed off while smoking in bed and there were burn holes in sheets and I was upset and furious because she could've set my flat on fire.

There was a house fire when I was 13-years-old in which I lost everything but the clothes I was standing up in.

So it's not just about the smell, which I really dislike, it's about fire safety.)

What house rules do other people have, and do you just turn a blind eye if friends or houseguests break them?

It's making me question how much I can trust people. I mean, I've learned I can't really trust randoms who smoke, because in my experience when they agree not to smoke indoors, many of them are lying, but it's upsetting to think a friend thinks I'm in the wrong for banishing someone who broke a house rule that they were aware of and agreed to.

Now I'm thinking like he doesn't respect me and my house rules so I'm feeling like maybe I can't trust him to respect them - or me - either.

My husband is not allowed to smoke in our flat.

Absolutely not unreasonable of you to have that rule whatsoever.

 

[kittyP]

I'm a smoker but would never smoke in someone's house unless I was given express permission, and I'd check each time I visited its still the case.
I would never smoke in my parents house, although there is the garage I smoke in if the weather is bad.
But if I'm at my sisters and weather is shitty, if it can't be braved with a brolly, then I don't smoke.

 

[Epona]

I do it all the time out of choice too. And I put the lid down too after use. A closed toilet lid looks so much better.

Also much healthier if your toothbrushes are in the same room.

Aye, always shut the lid before flushing especially if there is anything else in the room.
I'm not being alarmist or germ-phobic or anything of the sort, just if you have ever had non-typical and difficult to clean bathroom wall surfaces in a room with a toilet (which I did for a bit due to ill-advised cheap decorating by previous occupants to "do up" the place for selling), you will soon see in just a couple of months how fucking revolting it ends up - if on wall surfaces that cannot easily be wiped down you can see the staining, you would know to always shut the lid before flushing and how far the droplets go when you flush if you don't (and also where they go even with the lid closed, just tile the bottom 3rd of the room really, tiles are easily cleaned). Also no to soft furnishings (carpets etc.) in any room with a loo, boak.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

No smoking, and no fucking vaping either.

 

[NoXion]

• No crack/smack.
• If you make a mess, you're cleaning it up.
• These rules may be revised with immediate effect at any time.

 

[weltweit]

As an ex smoker

I think the no smoking rule indoors is quite acceptable.

Don't smoke in my house .. pretty simple

 

[Sasaferrato]

As an ex smoker

I think the no smoking rule indoors is quite acceptable.

Don't smoke in my house .. pretty simple

Aye, we are both ex-smokers. It isn't that people smoking makes us want to smoke again, it that it smells rank.

 

[danny la rouge]

No Fleewood Mac.

 

[danski]

No Fleewood Mac.

I’d rather Jack. Damn right Danny

 

[Reno]

Bring beer, laugh at my jokes and don't shit in my toilet.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

I'm a smoker, no smoking inside at mine, only on the balcony.
rule 2: no locking the bathroom door

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

Also much healthier if your toothbrushes are in the same room.

true, think of all those lovely pictures of waterfall with all that mist

 

[danny la rouge]

Bring beer, laugh at my jokes and don't shit in my toilet.

Oh, I didn’t realise that had to be a rule. In which case mine is “don’t shit anywhere but the toilet”.

 

[ouirdeaux]

I'm very much a believer in whose gaff it is, their rules apply, however eccentric. But I had been idly wondering about the preferred venue of all these 'don't shit in the toilet' types.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Bring beer, laugh at my jokes and don't shit in my toilet.

So where do guests have a crap? In your sink?

 

[Reno]

So where do guests have a crap? In your sink?

At their own home !

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

At their own home !

Please tell me you’re not serious

 

[Sue]

Bring beer, laugh at my jokes and don't shit in my toilet.

If they bring wine, do you not let them in...?

 

[Reno]

If they bring wine, do you not let them in...?

No ! My house my rules.

 

[dessiato]

We’ve only ever had two rules, no noisy sex, if you’re drunk you’re responsible for cleaning up.

 

[blameless77]

My only house rule is no visitors

I'd hate to live in your house!

 

[scifisam]

We’ve only ever had two rules, no noisy sex, if you’re drunk you’re responsible for cleaning up.

Oh yeah. I did have to instigate some rules that I never thought I'd have to put in place for one particular guest: No sex unless everyone else is out (my only guest space is the living room), no sex in my bedroom, and clean up your used condoms. Oh, actually, also no really loud music after my daughter's bedtime, and yes, play guitar and singing loudly does count - and I don't care if you're writing a song, there's an electric guitar you can use with headphones in. And if you piss or shit on the bathroom floor, you clean it up. And if you're staying here for weeks at a time then, actually, you do have to take a turn doing the washing up in general tidy up after yourself.

(He was between homes. He was fucking lucky he didn't end up on the street).

I also used to have a general rule for parties that I didn't want any illegal drugs taken at them, which I guess is one a lot of Urbs would dislike.

 

[danny la rouge]

We’ve only ever had two rules, no noisy sex, if you’re drunk you’re responsible for cleaning up.

I even make sober guests clean up after noisy sex.

 

[contadino]

I'm not very tolerant nowadays so there are numerous house rules round ours, among them:
1. No racism.
2. No dissing the dogs.
3. No using it as a command center for black ops.
4. No nationalism.
I think unpasteurised French cheeses are banned too but that one isn't formally implemented yet.
Not smoking is just polite.
5 or 6. Be polite or fuck off elsewhere.

 

[platinumsage]

Stop stroking the cat if she gives you that look.

 

[A380]

No Fleewood Mac.

What, everywhere?

 

[Orang Utan]

What, everywhere?

Danny goes his own way