Are you a 'shoes on' or a 'shoes off' household?

[chocolatesaltyballs22]

We are strictly shoes off. We walk around in bare feet and I hate the thought of walking in outside dirt all over the house. MIL is coming to stay this weekend. She hates having to take her shoes off and there's this alwau this awkward moment at the front door when I ask her to take her shoes off (even though everyone else is doing so, so she should really just follow suit). She believes that floors should be hoovered/mopped every day anyway so why does it matter.....oh if only I had the time to clean every day - my cleaner does it once a week and that's it!

So I was just wondering if I was a bit OCD or if this is the norm?

[Bunbunbunny]

Shoes off, almost as good as taking your bra off when you get home!

Buy her slippers for Xmas to leave at yours she can wear in the house

[TARSCOUT]

Whatever anyone wants to do, it's a home and shoes on or off are not important, my family and visitors are. Floors and carpets can be washed.

[Cordial11]

Would like to be shoes off but we live in a hot country and lots of in and out from outside floors never clean!

[cakestogo]

I had a new health visitor come round once, she brought a medical student with her.
Even though I said it's fine leave your shoes on, she insisted that they both take them off. I was wearing shoes fgs.
Anyway the student had a big hole in her socks and kept trying to cover it up with her other foot while we were talking. Poor woman must have been so embarrassed and prob not learning anything. I felt really sorry for her.
I wonder why she made her take her shoes off as I was not the first visit of the day, she must have known the student would be uncomfortable.

[isabellerossignol]

Why is it bad manners to take shoes off?

I'm not saying I agree with it necessarily, just that that's what I was taught.

Taking your shoes off was just seen as similar to wandering around in your underwear or whatever. Not something that anyone else should be seeing, especially not strangers, so I was taught that taking your shoes off in someone else's house was one of the rudest things imaginable. Might as well strip to your underwear and put your feet on the furniture whilst you're at it.

I suppose it's similar to how when I was growing up I knew loads of girls who weren't allowed to wear open toed sandals because they weren't 'decent'

[PenelopeFlintstone]

Why is it bad manners to take shoes off?
Genuinely interested. I was always taught it was bad manners not to as you brought in your outside dirt into people’s homes.
It really was. I guess it was the idea that you were making yourself too comfortable, too informal.
When we visited teenage friends, watching tv, etc. We would say, “you can take your shoes off if you like”. Then the person could take them off and get more comfy up on the sofa. But you didn’t take them off until invited to do so.

[bellinisurge]

Generally shoes off but if guests want to keep their shoes on that's ok by me.

[TabbyMumz]

"What do people with young babies do? At the crawling/just walking phase?"
What do you think they do? Hoover or mop of course. Do you think people who are shoes on have houses full of mud and grime?

[stucknoue]

My mum brings slippers, at her house she wears shoes. I've actually relaxed more at home because we are hardwood or stone throughout now but I still tend to take them off

[stucknoue]

@isabellerossignol

I've not been to a house (other than my parents) for years that allows shoes on. All my kids friends take them off without even asking. Maybe it's generational or is it an area thing?

[Micah]

What do you think they do? Hoover or mop of course. Do you think people who are shoes on have houses full of mud and grime?

Obviously. But unless you’re mopping behind yourself as you walk, the baby will be crawling over surfaces your shoes have walked on, and there’s a chance you may have something unpleasant on your shoes from outside.

Plus standing on a small child’s fingers or toes is a lot worse in shoes than without. I’m a shoes off person and get my toes stood on occasionally by the shoe wearers. It hurts!

[Whiteroverbaby]

SHOES OFF every time !! My MIL and FIL was shocked when I asked them to take there shoes off. My would anyone want to transfer all the germs off a toilet floor, outside, work, etc into the house

[fussychica]

Shoes off. Slippers on.
As there are shoes by the door any casual visitor gets the message without being asked, even workmen. All our regular visitors wouldn't dream of leaving their shoes on in their own houses or ours and bring their slippers.

[AhNowTed]

I'll never understand why you would prioritise a floor over the comfort of your visitors.

[Twatwaffles]

We are shoes off and I always take mine off in other people's houses too.

[OverthinkingThis]

Generally shoes off but if guests want to keep their shoes on that's ok by me

Yep same here. If visitors ask/offer I will always say shoes off, but if they don't mention it I won't specifically ask them to remove their shoes.

[GiveHerHellFromUs]

@AhNowTed because my carpet cost £3000 and bits of dirt and god knows what else ingrained in it would make my house look like shite

[Whiteroverbaby]

I would prioritise my baby crawling on a floor or playing on a floor that is then covered in germs from god knows where from other people's shoes. It's manner to take shoes off especially if you have carpet.

[CroissantsAtDawn]

Shoes off. We have wooden floors and rugs and DC who play and roll all over the floor. I do not want to create extra work by mopping and hoovering every day.

This summer I bought a pair of trainers with white soles. I walked the pavements for 20 minutes. The soles were grey and grimy after that time. I do NOT want that in my house.

It's not just the floors, but then anything that has contact with your feet - sofas, rugs, beds...

[isabellerossignol]

Maybe it's generational or is it an area thing?

I'm thinking it's maybe an area thing? Or a combination of the two? I just don't know anyone personally, young or old, who has a shoes off rule, although I'd imagine some people take them off sometimes and sometimes they don't. I know I do, depending on circumstances.

A lot of my friends have tiled floors and it would be uncomfortably cold to walk on them if you didn't have your shoes on, even slippers don't quite cut it. So maybe it's climate as well?

I think if I had underfloor heating I'd probably be happy to take my shoes off!

Just thought of another reason I was always made to wear shoes as a child, it was for safety, to stop me slipping on a tiled floor, or dropping something on my bare foot.

[alreadyinchristmasmood]

Shoes off! I have pairs of slippers just for guests, they're cozy & clean and I expect them to be worn.

[LolaSmiles]

Shoes off, but with laminate floors in the main living space. Although with dogs I'm not really sure why. We wash their paws before they go in carpeted rooms. Shoes indoors feels wrong to me.

I know people who are shoes on in carpeted houses and then complain their carpet is marked. That does make me think "no shit Sherlock" 🙄😂

[isabellerossignol]

It's manner to take shoes off especially if you have carpet.

Not if you visit a house where it's considered bad manners though, is it?

[Polkadotpride]

I don't really fet what's so wrong with wearing shoes in the house? Obv not filthy ones, but they only walk on the floor anyway. I don't eat off the floor or rub my face on the floor so what does it matter?! Is that so much worse than other people's sweaty socks all over the carpets?

I don't wear shoes in the house for comfort but I'm happy for others to as long as they don't traipse mud everywhere. I hoover regularly, my carpets look clean and my little kids are healthy.

[Sittinonthefloor]

I think shoes off is grim and rude. We had some people for Sunday lunch once, she insisted on taking her shoes off even though we were all in shoes in our draughty old rural house with tiles downstairs. She must have had cold feet, and just looked odd in her nice clothes with bare feet. As the host a found it very uncomfortable for her and rather rude as I’d said ‘oh please leave them on’ and she had made such a thing of it - but we were in shoes!
I never encountered shoes off houses till I was about 25, every one in my ‘world’ is shoes on! Maybe it is a class thing or rural/town.