Camping Discounters

Men’s Jewlery Rings

Pads usually go inside the tent. Outside the tent you can lay down a tarp to keep the moisture and mud off the bottom of the tent, it`ll also make the tent last longer since there is extra protection from sticks and rocks etc.

Nitro-Pak

Soft Padding for sleeping comfortably goes under your sleeping bag INSIDE the tent.

Under your tent you place a plastic tarp. This protects the bottom of your tent from abrasion and also helps keep any ground moisture away from the tent.

Mountain House Freeze Dried Food

It’s called a footprint. It protects the tent floor from any sharp stones or plants.
Many tents have a footprint sold as an accessory. But they’re expensive and heavy.
I made a cheap, light weight one for my Marmot EOS 1P out of a blue tarp. I cut it down (using pinking shears to minimize shredding edges) to the size of the bottom of the tent minus 1 inch all around. The footprint needs to be smaller than the tent bottom so water doesn’t collect between.
When you choose the spot to set up the tent (hopefully a flat spot), lay down the footprint and pitch the tent on top.
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Nitro-Pak

I generally put a tarp down first, so the tent bottom isn’t so dirty when I get ready to pack up. also offers some protection from whatever little rocks & sticks I didn’t pick up.

Sterling Silver Boxes

This will make some camper’s eyes roll up and back into their head, but on my last backpacking trip, my wife and I hauled up sections of a plastic coated card board box to plant under the tent since we knew we would be on rocky hard ground. We still had our sleeping pads, but it was so nice on our knees to have that cardboard under the tent floor when we needed to crawl in and out of the tent. Your question implies that there is some RULE to follow about what goes under the tent. You make your own rules out there. If it suits your needs, you can put a photo of your mother-in-law under the tent.