to be fed up with the amounts of shoes everyone needs

[dealer]

Ds - school shoes, football boots, running spikes, nice trainers, scruffy trainers, wellies, flip-flops
Dd1 - school shoes, PE trainers, home trainers, white lace-up plimsols, black lace-up plimsols, dressy shoes, beachy shoes, wellies
Dd2 - trainers, sandals, wellies, white lace-up plimsols, black lace-up plimsols, nursery indoor shoes

That's an obscene amount! Various rants involved. We need so many pairs of plimsols for dance shows. They must be lace-up, so they can put different colour laces in. Dd1 has co-ordination problems and dd2 is too young, so they can't use these for PE or nursery because they have to do them themselves. Therefore need velcro ones too

Wellies, not particularly well used, but you can guarantee that as soon as someone doesn't have a pair that fits, they will immediately have a trip come up with wellies essential, despite the fact the ground is bone-dry and no rain forecast.

Dressy shoes, again the minute they don't fit (but haven't been worn for 6 months) you get an invite to a wedding. Dd1 can't use school shoes, because the only school shoes we could get supportive enough are like black trainers.

Running spikes, ds is very talented at long jump, but rarely gets the opportunity to do it, but on the odd occasion he does spikes are the difference between 1st and 10th place.

And of course all this stuff gets grown out of continuously. Do the rest of you have the same constant demand for shoes? I personally own 2 pairs of shoes.

My DP had one pair of shoes for 12 years. He was gutted to have to buy another pair!!

I have: pair sandals that double as slippers. 2 pairs boots (ankle). That's it!!

I have in excess of 70 pair, not counting trainers, but I admit that's far too many. Although I do use them all, as I have a system by which if I haven't worn a pair in one particular season, it goes to charity. DS7 has about 10 pairs.

I am a female!!

And yes I do wear reefs to weddings....including my own wedding!!

Anyway, I knew all the shoe fanatics would come out of the woodwork, I quite clearly know that lots of my friends have more than 7 pairs of shoes, all of whom express horror at my shoelessness.

I'm chuffed however that I'm not the only one on this thread with only a couple of pairs of shoes. I can't be as weird as I thought.

And of course I'm not genuinely annoyed at having to get the specialist stuff for dcs, it's just irritating that they keep growing!

Now lets see if I get such a reaction to admitting to never having been to a hairdressers, never worn make-up, not owning a skirt/dress.

Oh, and one of the reasons I have so few shoes is because I spend most of my non-working time barefoot (even in the snow once).

QuackQuack For me personally, my feet are really screwed up due to years of hours spent in insane dance shoes, starting at too young an age (one of many issues from uber-ambitious-living-through-my-kids parents). So, I became picky about shoes and refuse to wear anything anymore that will be uncomfortable no matter how pretty. I found my dream shoes a couple years ago - lovely looking and neutral boots that were both incredibly soft and wonderfully flat and actually made my feet feel good. So I just wear those and they work for pretty much everything that I do so I don't feel the need for more - though now considering a new insole for them.

My husband is similar in that he wears a one pair to death (and then possibly resoled if it's cheaper) and the kids don't do anything where they need anything other than a good pair of smart trainers (though my eldest is only 6).

Sorry if you're hoping for a flaming OP I'm afraid you won't get one from me. I haven't expressed horror, just amazement and curiosity.

You are obviously proud of these facts though so... you obviously feel yo have point to make. Not sure what it is though tbh

Oh no, really not, that's just the way I am, it just always makes me laugh how people react (not all people)

Not sure why I'd be flamed though, I wouldn't have expected that.

"surely most of you don't own 7 pairs...."

You meant, ONLY seven pairs, right?

I didn't even know what Reefs were (am not into shoes, I find any high-heeled item Fugly).

What do you wear to mow the lawn in if not wellies or Crocs? Everything else gets yucky grass stain marks on it. Or to garden in & go for muddy or snowy walks if you've no boots, wellies or extra pair of "old trainers"? I presume you drive a lot.

I love inventorying... so here goes

DH: 8 prs, including slippers, 2 prs trainers, wellies & cycling shoes

Me: min. 18 prs, I am a hoarder, mind. Includes summer & winter cycling shoes. In the last two years... I only purchased Flipflops (to wear in swimpool showers), Crocs (outdoor slippers on rainy days) & a pair of smart black winter ankle boots that double as warm winter dress shoes.

DC11: 7, includes cycling shoes, school trainers, DocMarten style boots (Dad indulged )

DC10: 10, including jodphurs, school plimsols, winter school shoes, summer school shoes

DC6: 6

DC3: 4

That's about 7 on average for DH+DC, too :). Just me as the family outlier!

Trainers for all that stuff surely.
Sometimes I have an old pair of trainers around, but not at the mo.
Aren't jodhpurs trousers?

DS1 (aged 13) has gone from an adult size 6 in january to an adult size...................................................10 FFS in May. i'm sick fo buying hims shoes. But ina nswer to OP, he ahs
black school shoes
black trainers
blue canvas things
another pair of trainers
football/rugby boots
trainers for pe at school

Thats it, he's getting no more

DS2 has gone through about 12 pairs of trainers (not grown out of but worn out) since september
He's 11 and an adult size 7! FFS [groin]

He has
schools hoes
black trainers for pe at school
football boots
trainers.

I own 20+ pairs of shoes, not sure how many exactly. When I lived at home my mum was horrified at how many I have. My grandmas motto however, is -'You Can NEVER have too many shoes' :o, hence why she has well over 150 pairs of shoes, quite a lot have never even been worn. And they are all good quality ones, £80+.

You said that people would "come out of the woodwork" to "express Horror" and you expected the same reaction when you said you had never been to a hairdressers, never worn make-up, and don't own a skirt or dress

And no I'm not going ask you why you have never been to a hairdressers, never worn make-up, and don't own a skirt or dress so if you're aching to tell us all why, tough! :o :o :o

My DP has a fair few aswell though, mostly trainers. He has -
1 pair of smart shoes
1 pair of flip flops
2 pairs of slippers
6-ish pairs of trainers because he never throws them away
1 pair of wellies
2 pairs of work boots.

I may go and count my shoes soon. Then again, I may not.

Dealer, jodphurs = jodphur boots.

And also yes, they are trousers

I live in trainers or flip-flops. I have size 3.5 feet that are wide so buying shoes is a nightmare and I can never find any that fit comfortably. I do have heals for when I attend posh functions but once the meal is over they are off my feet and flip-flops are on. I would LOVE more shoes but they are just so damn hard to find in my size.

Oooh, Dealer, I assume you meant me when you said "trainers for all that stuff".
I am quite enjoying thinking about it... I love being minimalist, but I love my shoes being just right for the activity, too.

Trainers are awful for walking in snow and impossible in mud. Too slippy, soles too soft & flexible, get too wet, too slow to dry. Even Flipflops are better than trainers in snow.

Trainers get grass stains if you mow lawn whilst wearing them. They are much harder to clean than wellies if you're doing muddy gardening. Wellies are easier to slip on and off, too, if you need to dash inside to go answer the phone/whinging indoor offspring.

Yes I meant jodphur boots (she has jodphurs, too). They need a little heel for riding & sitting in stirrup, trainers don't have the right heel. Jod. boots also have very smooth soles, unlike ridged wellies (advised against for riding in, anyway). You don't want to muck out the ponies in trainers, either! Wellies are good for mucking out. So good case for both.

Cycling in trainers is inefficient/uncomfy with SPD pedals. I hate getting hot feet so I have SPD sandals for summer, too (comfort concession).

DD's winter shoes are waterproof boots, they were brill in a downpour. Recently bought her sandal style school shoes for the hot weather. Her feet never grow so I expect to get great value out of the purchases.

I have 3 prs of trainers: one is perfect for town walking or footie, one is perfect for running on mud & roads, one is perfect for my bike with toeclip pedals. None is great at all those activities :).

A load of our shoes were gifts, like I bought DD sandals then her mate gave her some old flipflops which DD loves (they are tatty as all heck) so since then the sandals are barely touched .

Dunno about skirts and hairdressers dodging...although I admit to avoiding the latter myself in recent years.

I admire minimalism, just not for me! Friend casually mentioned that his 4 children age 7-13 only have 3 daytime outfits right now. That put me into hysterical giggles....

I guess it helps that my trainers are black.

My kids have insane amounts of clothes, but that's because next door give us all their hand-me-downs. I say hand-me-downs, but most appears unworn, they only have 1 daughter ffs and I swear they've given me at least 50 binbags in 5 years. I've given about half straight to the charity shop because they're too tarty. There is still far more than they'll ever wear, but I've now got to the point where dd1 is so skinny that most doesn't fit and I still have to go hunting for trousers. Dd2 is chunkier, but am I really going to hang onto it all for another 5 years.

Actually, I have no idea why I don't do any of that other stuff, it just all seemed to bypass my life somewhere.

have smart work shoes and boots
and knockabout shoes and converse
have never counted,but both run to the 10's mark

I told DH about the 'only 2 pairs of shoes' thing and he thinks that is sensible and that I am the crazy one.

He wears Converse - when they are worn out, he replaces them with another pair. Sometimes he varies the colour (he is a creative director so Converse fine for work). He has a pair of 'wedding / interview' shoes, 1 x slippers and beach sandals. And that's it. So DS (2.5) has more pairs than him.

For myself - I need variety but I like your style OP - it would be much simpler.

I've never thought about how many pairs of shoes we all have.

3yo ds has
School sandals
Twainers for wunning faster
Twainers for bein cool
Flip-flops
2 prs Crocs
Slippers

5yo dd has
School pumps
Trainers
Smart shoes
Sparkly flip-flops
Beach flip-flops
2 prs Crocs
Ballet shoes
Slippers

I was planning on buying them both some sandals for the summer but now I see it written down perhaps I won't.

I have about 20 pairs I'd guess - heels of all heights and colours, 6 pairs of flip-flops, and some sandals and flats. Maybe more than 20. I used to have many many more but my feet changed size when pg ad never changed back so I had to give about 40 pairs of gorgeous shoes away.

I have 2 pairs of trainers,
1 pair of knackered wellies
3 pairs of slippers (all different styles depending on which season we are in)
1 pair of riding boots
1 pair of ice skates (do they count as shoes??)
2-3 pairs of flat ballet pumps
6-ish pairs of flip flops
1 pair of ugg boots
1 pair of small heeled boots (I like to call them my pirate boots)
and numerous pairs of heels. At least 10. . . . . :o

Oh and 1 pair of work shoes

I have oodles of shoes but that's ok because DH has more!!

I assume op that if you never went to the hairdressers as a kid, you wouldn't think to go as an adult. Do you cut your own?