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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think wearing shoes indoors is disgusting?

542 replies

CJ2010 · 07/03/2011 20:24

I have a 'No shoes worn in the home' rule at my own house but I have noticed that a lot of people are not fussed if peps walk into their houses with their shoes on. Why do they allow this?

Last night when I arrived at my mum's, she ordered me not to enter the living room, as she had accidentially trod dog poo through the room and was busy scrubbing the floor. All because she bizzrely wears her shoes in her home. How hard is it to take your shoes off in the hallway, once you get home?

I tried to hide my annoyance as it is her home, but I wouldn't allow DD to crawl about on the floor. The room stunk of poo and i felt sick.

AIBU?

OP posts:
morfamawddach · 07/03/2011 22:21

Same here, Gaelic and Moist. Trouble is, DP is a shoe remover. I compromise with slippers but when he asks guests to take shoes off, I Blush

ShavingGodfreysPrivates · 07/03/2011 22:22

Perhaps someone right-minded person will invent antiseptic arse mats for cats and dogs. Or nappies even

like this you mean

They do sanitary towels for bitches in season too

< wanders off shaking head at the level of madness in this world >

morfamawddach · 07/03/2011 22:26

Shaving! That's just wrong

expatinscotland · 07/03/2011 22:27

This is like all those people who run around naked at home: where the fuck are you all living that it's so warm you can run about naked and barefoot all year round? Or, alternatively, you must be really minted to be able to heat your home so well you can pretend like you live in Bermuda.

It's fucking cold in the UK. We all wear shoes/slippers/house shoes.

smilerwile · 07/03/2011 22:31

YANBU.
How many times I have had to avoid lots of bird poo? sometimes it has been impossible as there is so much. Or does no-one else have trees for birds to litter the ground from? How many times have you trodden where a dog has peed? Did you know? How many times have you trodden where someone has been spitting, what have they spat out? Did you know you trod in it? Imagine that and more rubbing nicely onto your floor hard floor or carpets makes no odds.

Oblomov · 07/03/2011 22:32

Orm, it must be just you and me that 'pop-in-and-out' , then ?
Assume all other non-shoes-mn'ers, don't have gardens that they enjoy/kids play in !! Hmm

gaelicsheep · 07/03/2011 22:34

Oh dear smilerwile, OP and others - you must be in constant therapy if you find just living so stressful. Poor dears.

ShavingGodfreysPrivates · 07/03/2011 22:35

Shaving! That's just wrong

Shock I didn't bloody invent them!

< hides Dragons Den application behind back >

They are for elderly dogs with continence issues, poor things.

exoticfruits · 07/03/2011 22:40

Protect floors at all costs-don't have people in!

SeeJaneKick · 07/03/2011 22:40

Oblomov...we keep Uggs or wellies by the door...a mat inside and a mat outside. They are put on and taken off again. It's not hard.

KiwiKat · 07/03/2011 22:43

The main reasons we remove our shoes inside are the dog poo in the area - there's a lot - and the number of people in the area who spit - there are more than a lot. Nowt to do with carpets etc.

FunnysInTheGarden · 07/03/2011 22:46

Disgusting? Maybe being a tad over the top there? Its normal to wear your shoes in the house, and weird to ask folk to take them off. Too anal.

As for dog poo, check your shoes before you come in, non?

A1980 · 07/03/2011 22:47

I never wear shoes at home. It's uncomfortable. But then again there are hardly any carpets where I live. Carpets are pretty fucking disgusting if you think about it. They are very difficult to clean adequately.

If people want m to take my shoes off in there house so be it but be warned I got veruccas from the gym a couple of years ago that I cannot get rid of. I've been trying for 2 years to get rid of them. Freeze them, burn them, gel, plasters, etc, they just come back. So in the summer if you'd rather me walking around your house in bare feet, putting the verrucas all over your floor instead of wearing my sandals that your choice Grin

LemonDifficult · 07/03/2011 22:50

Like Oblomov and Orm, we live in and out oif our house. And all our visitors do too, unless it's pissing down. Coming an and out with washing and so on, just wouldn't work to keep lacing up my boots.

And, yes, the cold is a factor too.

LoopyLoopsHulaHoops · 07/03/2011 22:52

DD (20 months) is so used to taking her shoes off when she takes her coat off, that she gets upset in a cafe if I take her coat off without doing her shoes!
I don't like shoes on in the house, but I also don't like the tone of the OP.

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 07/03/2011 23:08

"Would you let someone bring a bicycle into your home? "

Yep = the only way to get the DS's bikes to the shed (only place big enough to keep them) is through the front door, along the hallway, down the step into the kitchen and out of the back door. Thankfully we have wooden floors throughout so they can go straight through no problems - however if it's been wet/muddy then they have to stay in the hallway until it's dried before they're taken through - 'tis a pita when that happens as they do rather get in the way.

I do have a general kind of rule (that hardly gets adhered to as I often forget myself Blush) that shoes are off when the DS's come in.........I don't really remember to enforce it until we've been home and hour or so.

When we do remember I can't say our socks really get dirty - so obviously not that mucky.

If I go to someone elses house and it's a "do what you you're comfortable with" system - then if it's wet/muddy then I'll take them off, otherwise they stay on.

I often run out in my socks to put the bin out, I often wear my slippers to put the washing out/put the bin out.

My friends all extend the same common decency to me - if their shoes are wet or muddy - they take them o - otherwise they stay on.

My DS's used to be found sucking on shoes Hmm Envy (that's sick not envy)

I also now have a cat that goes out in the day - can't really make him take his paws off when he comes in and out during the day Grin

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 07/03/2011 23:11

My DS's also used to crawl around the garden shoving god knows what in their mouths when they were younger (I'm pleased to say now that they're older they no longer do this Wink). and the state of their clothes after we'd been to toddler groups in some halls Shock!

Also used to crawl around in the park..........

QueenofDreams · 07/03/2011 23:20

OP- you say you were annoyed with the smell of poo in your mum's home? Judging by the fact that she adked you to hang back while she scrubbed the floors I'm guessing she was too. THis wasn't all because she wears her shoes in the house, it's because someone didn't clean up after their dog.

I tend to be barefoot or in socks round the house. BUT I don't remove my shoes in the hallway, I make sure I wipe them thoroughly on the doormat. And I personally think that asking someone to take their shoes off before coming into your home is really unwelcoming. It always makes me feel like I have to be careful not to touch anything etc. And when someone's feet really smell it's absolutely abominable being stuck in the room with them (and I can't help thinking they must be embarrassed having to take their shoes off and stink other guests out).

It's not 'disgusting' to wear shoes in the house at all

YABU

smilerwile · 07/03/2011 23:22

Actually I leave people to make up their own minds because I know some people have ugly feet and are embarrassed by them (two friends in particular spring to mind who hate their bunions). No need for therapy in my case but it's like most things hygenic eg washing your hands after using the loo and I can't understand people who use public loos and then leave without even turning to glance at the sinks.

gaelicsheep · 07/03/2011 23:29

I do think that is slightly different from wearing shoes indoors.

What on earth do you do when your children are outside? Are they allowed to touch anything? YOu too OP?

IAmTheCookieMonster · 07/03/2011 23:50

We live in a flat so we have to be careful with what type of shoes we wear. In reverse to most we ONLY wear shoes on the carpets!

My mum has a shoes on house, MIL has a shoes off house. I don't mind either way. I'm not offended when asked to take my shoes off.

My only fear with a shoes off rule is that a guest might have a veruca but be uncomfortable to say and spread it everywhere.

CointreauVersial · 08/03/2011 00:06

It depends how you were brought up.

When I was young, hardly anyone I knew had a "shoes off" rule - I remember going to a schoolfriend's house once and being asked to take my shoes off, and thinking "how weird". I then fell down her slippery wooden staircase in my socks.

I tend to take a lead from the host whenever I visit someone, and take my shoes off if they do. My DCs always do, which is fair enough, as they are more likely to bring mud in. On the other hand, my mum refuses to!

But disgusting? No. I don't lick my carpets. I was also designed very well, as we all were, with an immune system to ward off any nasty things I might pick up from the environment. As my mum says "you can eat a peck of dirt before you die". I keep my hands clean, and that's far and away the most important thing.

Goodynuff · 08/03/2011 00:26

I live in an apartment building, rented, with wall to wall carpets. I hate it. Our family wear slippers, or house shoes, and we take off our outdoor shoes the moment we enter. We have a chair beside the door to sit on if you need to, right next to the boot rack. We have snow 6 months of the year, which I really don't like having tracked through the house. That said, the minute I have my own house, there will be narry a spec of carpet, and people will be allowed to wear what ever they like on their feet Grin

lesley33 · 08/03/2011 00:32

I wear shoes indoors as do all my guests. Some people have disgusting feet - bunions, corns, etc that I really don't want to see.

I was also brought up to think that taking shoes off before going in the house is a bit common. I was told that people with class would never do this or treat guests like this. I secretly agree with this as those who insist guersts take shoes off are putting possessions above their guests.

Bumblequeen · 08/03/2011 00:39

This reply has been deleted

Withdrawn at poster's request.