'What is an oddly specific rule you enforce in your own house that makes total sense to you, but would sound ridiculous to a guest?': People share the weird house rules that may seem crazy to everyone else but make total sense to them

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Aug 29, 2026 2:30 PM EDT

It's your house, your rules. Or wasn't that the saying?


Having your own house is a moment to live however you want to. You have the right and the freedom to decorate as you want, have as many pets as you desire, and enforce all the crazy and bizarre rules you can think of. After all, it's your house. It's your time to decide how you want to live and how you want others to behave at your place. It's important that you are fully happy with your way of living, and, unfortunately for others, that can only be achieved by enforcing your house rules onto every visitor that dares to enter your house.

I think that the thread below and I can agree on one thing. This house rule has a meaning for its existence. They were created because they were needed to prevent something. Don't enter the house with shoes started because the floors were always dirty after a few minutes of having them cleaned. The rule of closing the door as soon as you entered the house was created because the dog was always escaping. So I would just encourage you all to create your rules and, more importantly, follow other people's house rules. 

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  • What is an oddly specific rule you enforce in your own house that makes total sense to you, but would sound ridiculous to a guest?

  • 01
    A big house seen from the outside with a green garden.
    via Johnson

    A big house seen from the outside with a green garden. 

  • 02

    Totally understandable. It's a member of the house. Doesn't it serve their own cutlery?

    Excellent-Muffin-750 You can't use that mug, it belongs to the cat, it's his night time sip mug and he doesn't share.
    via Excellent-Muffin-750
  • 03
    kaydeetee86 When my English Bulldog was still here (RIP buddy) there was a picture of him on the bathroom door, at eye level of the toilet. It read: "My name is Benny. My favorite snack is toilet paper. I'm a very sneaky guy. Please close the door behind you." The photo is him looking at the toilet paper. He could eat an entire roll if the door was even slightly open. I miss that dog. In spite of the toilet paper consumption, he was the best little dude ever.
    via kaydeetee86
  • 04

    Yes, sure, super normal house rule to have...

    23 Letters "We do not butter our corn with our feet." My 6 year old told his karate instructor this is the most important rule in our house. We never had this rule, it was from a curious George episode but we have it now and we all recite it when ever there's corn.
    via 23 Letters
  • 05
    hiddenkobolds Always check the fridge before closing the door. (I have a little weirdo of a cat who's obsessed with getting in there.
    via hiddenkobolds
  • 06

    That is disgusting. It's not a rule, it's just obvious!

    anaid_098 No toilet brushes in the dishwasher. The fact that the rule exists is what would be perceived as ridiculous.
    via anaid_098
  • 07
    PocketFullofLace Announce that the dog has been fed. You must check in with the other pet parent to verify the dog has been fed. You must not believe the dog, he lies in order to get a second dinner.
    via PocketFullofLace
  • 08
    Scrabble letters spelling “home sweet home”.
    via Sincerely Media

    Scrabble letters spelling "home sweet home".

  • 09

    I have this rule in my house as well. Totally understandable. It’s just cat behavior.

    Accomplished_Mix7827 The last person to leave the house must visually locate the cat and verify she's not stuck in a closet somewhere before leaving. (You'd think she'd learn to stop going in closets eventually ...)
    via Accomplished_Mix7827
  • 10
    Emergency-Guidance28 We must at least have underwear on for meals. Please use your own underwear. Edit to add- it is for small children. I am horrified at the comments about the grown people not understanding this, !
    via Emergency-Guidance28
  • 11

    Understandable and extremely important rule. I need to have this rule enforced in my own house.

    WSHIII When you hand someone else something sharp, you have to wait until they make eye contact with you and say "got it" before releasing it. Obviously this started as a knife safety thing, but because I have ridiculous children, it has progressed to now include sharp cheddar, sharpies, music sheets with sharp notes, etc. Heck, my son was overjoyed that he found an old Sharp VHS tape the other day so we could expand our repertoire.
    via WSHIII
  • 12
    DefinitelyNotLola No tomatoes in the bathtub. Ever. I'm super strict about this. If somebody stays the night at my house, they will be informed that they cannot put tomatoes in the bathtub. Why? Sometimes you learn things the hard way. I briefly had a roommate. He had a bedroom on the second floor and the kitchen is on the first floor. At some point, he developed mobility issues and became a weird, sneaky mole man who never left his room. He had a microwave in there, and started cooking and stor
    via DefinitelyNotLola
  • 13
    have come downstairs and used the kitchen, but no. Side note Whenever I was home, he would - turn off all his lights, turn off the television, and just sit in his room in complete darkness and silence. He also never had any trash. He was taking it somewhere mysterious. He would even leave his rent check in the bathroom. Mole man. Anyway, since he was doing all the cooking in his room and didn't want to go down the stairs, he started washing his dishes in the bathroom - rinsing in the toilet and
    via DefinitelyNotLola
  • 14
    You can't put tomatoes in the bathtub drain. Those drains aren't for that. It's some kind of normal-person law. I talked to him about it. I argued with him about it. I wrote a formal landlord letter documenting my no-tomatoes-in-the- bathtub policy, but nothing stuck. I eventually had to kick him out because of the tomatoes. ETA punctuation
    via DefinitelyNotLola
  • 15

    YESSS!!!! I thought this was a normal thing in every house...

    kimchijihye TOILET LIDS MUST BE CLOSED UNLESS IN USE. PANTRY DOOR MUST BE CLOSED AT ALL TIMES UNLESS IN USE. (With stool in front of it) I got 3 cats who will drink out of the toilet and will eat me out of the house if im not careful...
    via kimchijihye
  • 16
    dol_amrothian No summoning demons in the house. This sounds ridiculous, but we had a very unhinged roommate years ago, and regardless of whether the demons arrived, the summoning proved detrimental to our deposit. I spent ages cleaning and repairing that apartment and still didn't get the deposit back. Thus, all ritual summonings need to happen off the premises.
    via dol_amrothian
  • 17

    I have this exact rule. But it's more along the lines of be mindful with the door we have an escape specialist cat.

    Lessa22 No dilly dallying by the front door. One of my cats is an escape artist and I don't want to chase her a down two flights of stairs fast because you couldn't move your a enough to cross the threshold and close the door behind you.
    via Lessa22

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house rules rules oddly specific house guest
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