To ban the wearing of shoes in our house?

[EagleRay]

I've just spent the last 3 nights up until the early hours repainting the living room floor (it's white and because it's a basement room and lacking in light, I painted it white a few years ago - this was when I was single, idealistic and didn't have a DP and DD!). It hadn't been painted for a few years and looked really grubby plus had suffered a few knocks and scrapes.

It looks really good now and much cleaner than it was, but it opens out onto the garden and so won't be long now before dirt starts being traipsed back in along with DP's bikes as apparently the lounge is a really good place to take them apart

Just been thinking about how nice it would be if we went shoeless in the house - think the rest of the house would benefit too as it's mostly wood floors. Has anyone else started leaving shoes off and noticed a difference?

I had to drink a fair bit of wine to get all that painting done - perhaps I will go off the idea by tomorrow when I've sobered up

We are shoes off house too but I wouldn't ask guests. If they offer, great: if they don't, never mind.

We don't allow shoes on any carpeted areas. The problem with this is we had someone with a discussing fungle nail infection and no socks over and now I don't think my carpet will ever be clean again!!!

Shoes don't make it past my entrance hall here for me and the DC.
Vast majority of family do the same at their houses so automatically take shoes off when entering someone else's home.
There are 1 or 2 elder members of extended family who don't habitually so this and I don't enforce it.

I do this for hygiene. Shoes are dirty and I don't want the outside world traipsed through my home. Plus wear and tear on floors which were bloody expensive
My DC take their shoes off wherever we go.

Dd (2.7) gets very confused at grandpas as they wear shoes through out despite owning slippers and I have to tell her to keep her shoes on and she cries cos she feels naughty. I must remember to take slippers with me!!

We are shoes off house too, and especially strict on carpet. It's dirty if you allow shoes on carpet.

Damn it Norks, I'm too late to tell my artisanal slippers anecdote

We are shoes off, but purely because neither of us like wearing shoes indoors! I vacuum regularly (two cats, so necessary), and don't care if guests wear shoes or not. It's totally upto them, so long as they wipe at the door first!

It's normal in my house to take your shoes off as soon as you get in - more from comfort than anything else! I would never ask a first to take their shoes off though - unless they had obviously muddy / dirty shoes - but then I'd hope they would have the sense to take them off themselves anyway?

We're shoes off in our house, but we've got carpets. Problem with not having indoor shoes/slippers in your house would be the danger of slipping, I think?
Not a problem if they aren't wearing socks.
I wouldn't dictate to guests, but most remove their shoes anyway.

We all wear slippers indoors, kids take off their shoes on the mat by the back door or in the porch. Their friends do too ( 3 & 4) if playing out in the back garden, I do ask them but would never ask an adult.

We are a shoes off house. The DC's friends always take them off anyway.
Adult guests I don't ask them to, some do, some don't.

I always take my shoes off when visiting. I have a volunteer job which involves visiting people in their homes, and I just ask.

I don't really like it when I am barefoot in other people's houses and they have wooden floors. Dirt and bits.

I just tried to lick my foot. Youngest son staggered out if bed & thought he'd stumbled onto something very unpleasant.

Well I had a friend once who let her 2 young children run into the house after stepping in dog poo out on the pavement. It was simply revolting, she was mortified, and I spent ages cleaning the hall carpet. Ever since then, all children take shoes off once through the door. I find most people (with kids, anyway) do this, and expect it in their own homes.
Adults, not necessarily so. Some offer to, but mostly they are going straight thro to the kitchen so I don't mind, and most of our downstairs now is either tiles or wooden floors (do find myself taking sneaky looks at their shoes tho sometimes!).
So to answer the question - depends on circumstances! Kids won't mind taking shoes off. Adults, more difficult. (Have a washable doormat inside the front door).

YABU. Both to paint your floor white and to ask people to take their shoes off. It's rude because it causes other people hassle and can make them feel uncomfortable.

Just have a floor that's fit for purpose for goodness sake!

As for people who are worried about germs and crawling babies. Major eye roll.

We have a no shoes upstairs policy. We have wood floor and tiles downstairs which is easy to keep clean so I don't mind shoes downstairs unless they're muddy.

We've always had no shoes in the bedrooms but we've just replaceed the awful stair carpet after having to wait a few years so now have a no shoes on the carpet policy.

Tbh most people ask if it's okay to keep shoes on and don't mind when we say no shoes on the carpet. I also always ask if it's okay to keep shoes on in other people's houses. To me it's manners to ask if it's a shoes off or on house, partly because I hate having to scrub stair carpets and partly because everyone we know are in the same position as us and can't afford to replace carpets every other year when they're beyond saving from shoes being worn.

We have to walk up driveway (gravel) to get to house, where cats frequently poo. So no negotiation shoes off. As most of house is carpet.

So we really dont care about plain dirt.

I've just moved into a new house with light carpets (WHY do landlords have these?!) and have decided no shoes indoors. I'm close enough to my friends to say "oi shoes off" but I wouldn't to another visitor.
This is probably a futile endeavour though as I'm constantly picking up great chunks of cat fur...

An old friend of mine was once visiting. He was lounging on my (cream) sofa with his feet in dirty great boots draped over one arm. The sofa survived, but isn't it just uncomfortable and impossible to relax? It was for me!

ooooooohhh! A dragon! And a star!!! . How exciting!

We are shoes off, we bought our carpets on a finance deal so need them to last as long as possible. We've only known one person to have an issue with it and we compromise by putting down dust sheets in the living room. That probably sounds awful, but it was his idea...

I always kept my shoes on indoors until I met dp who hates shoes in the house. Now I've completely come round to his p.o.v. Our shoes walk over so much shit (literally) it is a bit gross to wear them inside. We take ours off and leave them by the door. So far all our guests have noticed the shoe pile and asked if they should take theirs off, or they've just taken them off without asking. Only people who've kicked up a fuss about it are dp's parents. I think they do that because they think it's my rule, not realising it came from their son. When they have asked to keep theirs on I said yes, but in my head was thinking, why? I think some people get really weird about the whole thing.

I have never considered that guests might consider me rude by asking them to take their shoes off - I'd consider them rude for not doing it...

I don't actually know anyone who wears shoes inside - why would you? They're walked through all sorts, why would you want that walking into your house?

we live in DK and yes, shoes off is standard procedure. Have also been to lots of parties with heaps of shoes piled up in the entrance. DC's school is shoe-free too incidentally.

But back to the OP, yup it makes a difference to the floor cleaning.

we have white too, and use wilko floor wipes, easy peasy two seconds by hand and dirt is gone, assuming your paint has a varnished surface or something shiny and not matt.

i tried banning shoes at one point and it was so much hassle as dc in and out of garden one ended up cutting foot on a random stone, rush to a and e job.

I dont bother now.

floor wipes are your friend.

I wonder by the way - in shoes off households, do you really think allowing visitors, to wear shoes for a few hours, do you think its going to contaminate your house and bring you all down with the plague and really affect you?

I don't get it....even if we had a full time shoe ban, there are some visitors I would never ask to remove shoes. Because I think it would be rude to ask them and also because our house could survive...

can't afford to replace carpets every other year when they're beyond saving from shoes being worn

why choose such incredibly expensive flooring then?

I am currently on a real wool rug, huge covers all room that must be at least 100 year old, and still going strong! not patched or faded ....

My aunt had 6 sons, and again her carpet is still looking plush and going strong, with a shoe on house 40 years later ?

why, if your hard up are you deliberately buying carpet that is so fragile and precious you cant afford one guest to wear shoes on it?

I wonder by the way - in shoes off households, do you really think allowing visitors, to wear shoes for a few hours, do you think its going to contaminate your house and bring you all down with the plague and really affect you?

Yeah that's exactly what I think will happen

As I said it is just a bit disgusting that you're treading the dirt from outdoors (animal poo and spit etc) all over the indoors. Especially in places like the bathroom where typically you walk around bare footed. It isn't dangerous or the end of the world, but it makes sense and is common across the world to take shoes off indoors. It isn't hard to remove your shoes so I really don't see what the issue is. No I don't think we will get the plague or anything... I don't think it's that hard to understand.