Every household has them; the things that “everybody knows” are the rules, even though they can’t be found anywhere in the charter, the bylaws, or the Official Rule Book[sup]TM[/sup].
They are not the generic rules of civilized living, such as “Wipe your feet before you come in the house” or “No eating in the living room (unless Mom isn’t home).”
They aren’t assigned chores such as Dad always taking the garbage out, or Little Suzy doing the dishes every night.
They’re just the Way Things Are.
For me and Mrs. Dave-Guy, the rule is whoever gets out of bed last makes the bed. It was never discussed, it’s just understood. If I linger in bed longer than she does, I make the bed. If my feet hit the floor before hers, she makes the bed.
All dishes put in the sink must be rinsed off, and silverware must be placed in the container in the sink that is there for silverware.
We don’t have a dishwasher, and glasses left with an eighth-inch of dried milk or soda are just gross. Plates with sticky or greasy food film are nasty. It’s mush easier to wash the dishes if they’ve been rinsed.
Silverware that falls down the drain tends to get eaten by the Disposal Monster.
Rinse the dishes, even if you are not going to immediately wash them. After washing, they must be dried with the kitchen towel. Hands must be washed after using the bathroom.
Guests have priority. If a guest stays and there is only one bed, bed is given to said guest and I sleep on the cot.
No shoes after the hall. The rest of the house is carpeted, much better if there are no dirty shoes touching it.
You have no idea how many adults have difficulty grasping these simple rules. I have resorted to threatening violence to 2 renters and actually evicting 2 others over these simple rules.
Oh, and if you could spread the word that I’ve got a room for rent, I’d appreciate it.
If I took the garbage out last time, next time it’s your turn. We’ve never discussed it. It just works that way.
When you leave, turn off all the lights and always lock the door.
At my mom’s house, there is an invisble line–much like a rope at a museum that lets you know what’s off-limits–across the front living room. That room is for decorative purposes only. Only the dog is exempt from this rule.
my ex husband and I had one: whoever first sees the cat puke has to clean it up.
Yeah. Right. I saw it first many many times, even if he was up for hours before me. “No, really. I never saw it! (out in the middle of the floor right in front of the television)”
I used to have a similar one, which caused major upheaval during my most recent bout of cohabitation:
If you take the last of anything, or the last one of anything, do not, upon pain of death, put the empty wrapper/pot/bag/jar/etc back in the cupboard/fridge/freezer.
Our rule is that I always clean up the cat puke and the kitty litter box. My SO is unable to see cat vomit or smell the kitty litter when it needs to be scooped.
That is okay with me because another unwritten rule is that I am allowed to use all the hot water any time I want. If he wants hot water for his shower he had better take it before mine.
He is in charge of all things relating to heating and cooling the house. This includes opening windows, adjust the thermostat, and lighting fires. When he is out of town I just live with what ever temperature the house is until he comes back. It usually never occurs to me to even check the thermostat.
I always unload the dishwasher.
None of these things have ever been really discussed. It is just “the way things are”.
If you find a way too make this happen curly chick, could you please let me know? My three kids drive me to madness with this. I often think my fridge is full. Yea, it’s full all right. Of empty %&@!@ containers. Grrrrrr.
You can solve the hot water problem by getting a 50-gallon water heater. It’s nice to be able to do laundry, wash dishes and know someone can shower at the same time.
• Cats are not allowed outside. Do not let them go out, no matter how hard they try to bribe you.
•_Dogs are only allowed outside in the backyard. Dogs are not to be outside anywhere else without a leash.
•_The Four-Butt Rule: When there are four butts in the ashtray, it gets emptied.
I live alone, so the majority of my rules are, “This is the way I do things.” There’s nobody to argue about it so the rest of the list is somewhat pointless.
Now there are only 2 of us living here.