Shoes off house rule

[BettyBi0]

So we have a shoes off rule in our house. Mainly because of the grubby London streets and dog poo everywhere locally plus a floor licking toddler.

Every time my parents visit I have to ask them to take their shoes off. EVERY Fing TIME! They act like its such a massive imposition.

AIBU or would you just shut up and put up?

What do strict no shoe people do in Summer? Flip flopped feet get filthy. Do you insist folk wash their feet before entering?

If someone offered me 'guest slippers' I would find it hard not to fall around laughing.

all you shoes off people, do you have pets? Cats? Dogs? Do your cats walk along the kitchen worksurfaces? Do your dogs sit down on your lounge carpet after doing their business in the garden? Do they sleep on your bed or the sofa? I find that far more revolting than a pair of shoes in a house.

FWIW when I'm home all day I wear slippers I'm just an old gimmer but popping to someone's house I've never been asked to take my shoes off. I'm going to my friend's today, I might ask if she wants me to take my shoes off and test her reaction - she'll think I've been drinking--

Shoes off here. We live in Hong Kong, it's just the done thing. Most people take them off because, well, they live here and everyone just does. Visitors from overseas spy the shoe rack and ask if they should take them off and I tell them only if you want to. I honestly don't mind.

Seeing dogs being walked with little shoes on (or indeed, in prams) is a very common sight, here.

I don't have pets and I don't want any.

I grew up in a house with a few pets, dogs and a cat. The house was dirty and you couldn't walk around without getting black feet. It was more down to parents not cleaning. I was so embarrassed of my parents house. No one took their shoes off and carpets were ruined by muddy works boots being walked in. I survived, but I couldn't wait to move out and have a clean house.

That's probably why I'm a bit germ phobic. Although I'm not strictly shoes off I just secretly much prefer it so I probably don't count.

Shoes wouldn't bother me on tiled or wooden floors as they're cleaned so easily.

what if you have a dinner party or have friends round for drinks and the women turn up in lovely shoes that complement their outfits? I wouldn't expect them t otake off their shoes.

exConstance totally agree. Hopefully shoes off people would realise these sort of shoes for outfits tend to be not outdoor shoes and allow them on.

I'm at a do at someone's house tomorrow. I'm wearing high heels to go with the dress I'm wearing, I won't be taking them off and know I won't be asked to as I know the couple well and have been going there for years with a group of friends. We will all dress up and have our shoes on all night.

If we were having a party etc I wouldn't expect people to but I don't like it when people are around during the day with shoes on with my little one crawling around!

EastMidsMummy your post made cry actual tears of mirth. Thank you.

In case of dinner parties, I don't expect people to take their shoes off. As pp said, shoes you would use when dressed up are not usually used for trekking through mud and dog shit.
Also, dinner parties are generally late enough, so the floor licking baby can be passed around, admired and I will then put her to bed. And wash the floors (I have no carpets) before she wakes up in the morning to resume floor licking.

I always take my shoes off when I visit anyone. I don't wait to be asked. I think it is good manners. I don't ask visitors but I usually find they do it voluntarily.

If you got these beauties at least you would always have nice socks on.

Picture taken from my favourite thread at the moment.

Years ago I worked in a job where I saw the conditions of some people's bare feet on a daily basis, and gave up the 'shoes off' rule after that.

Bare feet in summer is where I'm rather hypocritical really as DD goes barefoot most of the summer and I don't wash her feet the moment she comes in though I wipe off sand etc. Maybe I should stick a footbath outside the front door like at my primary school swimming pool? Her feet get absolutely black by the end of the day though, urgh. She probably licks them too.

And I've never had a dinner party where people dress up all fancy, I guess if I did then I wouldn't make the shoes come off as I doubt they'd walk all through town in shoes like that, but I don't have fancy friends so no fancy dinner parties for me.

And I have a cat (who doesn't go outside) and she does walk on the worktops because I have no found a way to stop her. I do clean the worktops thoroughly before cooking usually

A quick Google will tell you that there was been loads of studies and shoes do carry all kind of nasties and harmful bacteria. It will also tell you that in loads of countries removing shoes is completely normal.

Shoes are dirty and if you swabbed them you would find traces of all kinds of things.

You could say that about loads of things though. Money is filthy, door handles, escalators, your keyboard at work, things we touch all the time without thinking about it. People who wear shoes at home aren't dirty, sickly people.

But then I've seen loads of people walk straight from using a toilet and not wash their hands, and they're fine too.

Innermagic I came here to post a link to the amazing shoe thread.

Total genius, Clarks. Peace in the Middle East next?

I do wash my feet after wearing flip flops They get really dirty!

I have also always washed my feet before bed and have done since I was a child (if I can't have a full shower). It's one of those things I thought everyone did until my first sleepover when everyone was I don't want dirty feet in my bed!

How do people feel about clothes on the bed? I don't let the kids get on my bed in clothes they have been wearing to school/outside.

I also wouldn't get into bed or sit on my bed (under duvet) with my clothes on.

You wouldn't sit on the edge of your bed if you were wearing clothes?? But what about your bare bum? Even the most scrubbed bum is a hive of bacteria.

Maybe it's wisest to learn to levitate thus eliminating any hazardous bodily contact with any household surfaces.

I have no issue with clothes on or in the bed.

I did know someone who did want their clean clothes put on the sofa because people's bums had been on there.

Didn't want

I don't like outdoor clothes or bags on the bed either - I don't use public loos that don't have hooks but even so there is probably grunge in my car, for example, that I wouldn't want to sleep on.

We're moving into our first home in two weeks and having cream carpets throughout. Shoes will be off and no food or drinks in the living room!

See I don't like shoes but I think it's really unwelcoming to not let visitors eat and drink in the living room.

We eat at the table but when guests come we get the drinks and biscuits out, they don't want to be ushered to the kitchen/dining room to eat a biscuit.

I might change my mind after a week lol.