Shoes off in house?

[Pea-n-Me]

Another northeast family here! We also live near the beach and have kids and dogs so sometimes it feels like a losing battle.

How do people deal with the pet issue? Mine are in/out all day active puppies!

Lest you get the wrong idea I will preface this by saying I like a very clean house. However, when I tiled my kitchen and dining area, I kid you not, I brought home several samples of tile and placed a pile of sand, dirt and doghair on each, and went with the color that showed them the least (dark grey, LOL). In the meantime I vacum frequently and sweep daily, and try to keep the dog brushed as much as I can. I do keep small carpets by the doors and ask the kids to take off their shoes if they're muddy or wet, but for the most part we have carpet in the whole house and we just clean them a lot. We are thinking about re-doing all the hardwood underneath the carpet so we may have to re-think things one of these days. Bottom line, though, is that I'm not going to stress about it.

 

[raammartin]

We built a new house almost 2 years ago and started the "no shoes" rule. We want to keep our new carpet and floors looking new for as long as possible. I have a sign on the side door that most everyone comes to. It's done in a cute font and just says "Please remove your shoes before coming in. Thanks, Housekeeping." Even painters, etc. have followed the rule. DH, DS, DD, and I have slip-on inside shoes we wear inside if we want to. We aren't sticklers about it with guests and don't always enforce it. I'm definitely not going to ask or make my 70 and 80-something year old Grandmothers remove their shoes.

 

[disykat]

No shoe rule for us (oops! I just realized that's not clear at all. We do not have shoe rules at our house). Generally we wear them, but take them off sometimes for comfort. I don't really like when guests take their shoes off and leave them in a pile by my door, but I tolerate it.

I always wear shoes because of bad feet. I have a pair of Crocs I use as house shoes so I can slip them on anytime I get up. We're going to Hawaii this summer and that's the one part I'm not looking forward to. Since the only private home we're going to is my brother's, maybe they'll make an exception for me.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm definitely not going to ask or make my 70 and 80-something year old Grandmothers remove their shoes.

Thank you for this, seriously. It stresses my elderly, bunion-footed mother out a great deal to go to my brother's girlfriend's apartment because no matter what, she insists that all shoes come off. She has come to dread going there because she is extremely embarrassed about her "ugly" feet.

 

[hentob]

Thank you for this, seriously. It stresses my elderly, bunion-footed mother out a great deal to go to my brother's girlfriend's apartment because no matter what, she insists that all shoes come off. She has come to dread going there because she is extremely embarrassed about her "ugly" feet.

Your poor mom Your brother's girlfriend seems downright mean!

 

[raammartin]

Thank you for this, seriously. It stresses my elderly, bunion-footed mother out a great deal to go to my brother's girlfriend's apartment because no matter what, she insists that all shoes come off. She has come to dread going there because she is extremely embarrassed about her "ugly" feet.

Well, that and to have an older person walking around in slippery socks on tiled floors or wood is dangerous. If they slipped and fell they could easily break a bone. I would never want that to happen to either of my Grandmothers just because I wanted my floors to stay nice. There is definitely a greater chance of that happening than with our usual guests. We even take up the large area rug in our living room when we know they are coming over to reduce the risk of them catching their foot on it and tripping.

 

[sunlver]

We do not have any shoe rules here. We have 2 dogs, plus dog customers who come and go(I do in home petsitting). So it would be pretty senseless to have a no shoe rule here. My kids tend to take theirs off when they get home, but we do not tell them too.
I hate going to peoples houses who have the no shoe rule. I have a friend(she since moved)who had this rule. When we would spend a couple of hours there I had no problem taking my shoes off. One night we were doing a moms night out, and I was to pick her up. So I went into her house, but she wasnt quite ready yet. So I just stood by the door. She said "Why dont you go sit down?" so I told her "Well I dont feel like taking my shoes on and off just for a couple of minutes".. Then I was giving the OK that I did not have to take them off LOL

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Well, that and to have an older person walking around in slippery socks on tiled floors or wood is dangerous. If they slipped and fell they could easily break a bone. I would never want that to happen to either of my Grandmothers just because I wanted my floors to stay nice. There is definitely a greater chance of that happening than with our usual guests. We even take up the large area rug in our living room when we know they are coming over to reduce the risk of them catching their foot on it and tripping.

Excellent point. You are a very considerate person.

Your brother's girlfriend seems downright mean!

I wouldn't say she's mean, but she very rarely takes others' needs into consideration, just her own. It's been a pattern.

 

[kidzmom3]

"I even made a sign that we put on our front door that says "Please remove your shoes before entering our house. Thank you!"

i live in the Northwest and even with the heat on, walking around in socks can make your feet cold. What about the elderly, do you make them take off their shoes. Pregnant women? Do you get down their and help them, and help them put them back on?

 

[ChrisnSteph]

We try and not wear our shoes in the house, but I don't expect my guests to do the same. Our carpet is pretty crappy and I'm hoping to replace it with hard flooring soon, so we haven't been as strict about enforcing the rule in our family!

 

[grlpwrd]

We don't use shoes in the house either because of cultural and cleanliness reasons..

When I have service people over I lay out old sheets or dropcloths on the floor.

I don't mind if people walk a bit into our home with their shoes on, though, because we have Pergo floors from the front room to our kitchen so if they step in with their shoes I can clean up right afterwards. Not all of us are militant about it.

 

[Planogirl]

I have never seen anyone take their shoes off when they visit someone. As a matter of fact, I always put shoes on before we get company because being barefoot seems kind of naked to me.

It must be a Texas thing I guess and based on my experiences here, I would go home if someone local asked me to remove my shoes. I guess that it would be different if I lived in other areas though.

Everyone seems to worry about carpet. Mine deals with spills, animals, dust and so on so I don't worry about it. I just shampoo it from time to time and I'm satisfied.

 

[paigevz]

Not really a rule, but is usually done by the kids in our house. Most of the kids in this neighborhood have it as a rule in their own houses, and so they generally do it automatically when they come in, and we have a "line up" of shoes in our entry way. The area is carpeted though.

The last rainy day we had, when we got back from the store there was a friend of DS waiting for us on the porch. He was very polite and offered to help carry in the groceries. He didn't notice how muddy his feet were from walking over, and did track mud all the way into the kitchen. He was so sweet........he said, "OH! I'm afraid that was me." Then he said, "If there's a way to clean it up, I'll be happy to take care of it." I told him no, we'd worry about it later, but just to put his shoes on the porch until he went home.

Since then, he always takes his shoes off on the porch now, and ds has started doing it as well.

Adults keep their shoes on. I've never had any ask me if they should or not, but since I usually wear mine in the house, I guess they figure it's fine...........and it is.

 

[caitycaity]

dh and i always take our shoes off when we come in. where i grew up this was the norm - even at other people's houses. it was considered rude to just walk into someone's house and not at least ask if they would like you to take off your shoes.

however, dh's family leaves their shoes on at their houses, i have noticed.

it's not a big deal to me if someone wears tehir shoes in our apartment, but they will get staticky and get shocked the next time they touch something metal (we have really cheap carpet).

 

[simba928]

We don't have a rule, but as soon as I get into the house, shoes come off purely because I hate shoes. Its pretty much the same for everybody in the house.

 

[lw49033]

I have never seen anyone take their shoes off when they visit someone. As a matter of fact, I always put shoes on before we get company because being barefoot seems kind of naked to me.

When I was a kid my older brother went through a phase of being very modest about showing his bare feet-- I would say ages about 10 to 14. Mom had to actually make him take his socks off in the summer, since we had no A/C and the smell of his socks would be totally noxious if he wore them around the house. He got over it though.

 

[azgal81]

Well I go barefoot in my home just because I have no desire to wear my shoes all day long. Yikes!! I hate wearing them enough. I don't ask people to take there shoes off when they come over, I don't really care my carpet is a mess anywayse. So I"ll just clean it from time to time.

 

[MamaLema]

Shoes off at the door.

DH and kids used to complain until I told them they can mop the floor and see how it feels when someone walks all over it with dirty shoes.

No one has taken me up on my offer

 

[THE HAT]

i grew up in a no shoe rule home. dh and i have always had that rule for ourselves in our house, and if we go to someones house that have that rule we take ours off always.
we make ds and all of ds's friends remove their shoes, but adults that come over (family, friends) we don't ask them to. ( we did when ds was a baby and crawling/eating off the floor etc). we are not sticklers to the rule though, even dh and i will on occasion run through the house real quick if needed with shoes on(as long as they aren't muddy)

 

[cruisnfamily]

And, a slipper basket??????? So people are expected to wear slippers that other people have worn? No thanks...I'll go somewhere else.

I thought this too. It seems kind of weird to me.

We (DD, DS & I) always take our shoes off when we come in just because we prefer to be barefoot. DH leaves his on a little while after coming in but eventually removes them.

There's no rule in our house about shoe removal. I don't care either way, whatever is more comfortable. I've noticed most children seem to automatically take theirs off, they must have that rule at home or something. Some adults will take theirs off but most won't.

When I go to someone's house I'd prefer to remove my shoes if I'll be there a while but I only do so at close friend's houses because to me it seems kind of rude to take my shoes off and walk around their house barefoot if I don't know them well.