To want guests to remove their shoes when walking through my house?

[MummyLizH]

Not sure if I'm particularly bothered by this because it's mainly the in-laws who do it, but most people know I expect shoes off as you walk through the front door.

I've mentioned it to dh a few times, I think he thinks I'm just picking at his parents behaviour, but it makes my blood boil... I clean and hoover my home, invite you round and you tread your dirty shoes all over the floor which me and my kids sit and play on (and my little girl crawls around on) . My parents have the decency to bring their slippers!

I wipe my dogs feet with kitchen roll sprayed with dettol but never thought about cats. They do clean themselves a lot though don't they so maybe the cat takes care of itself?

I have a cat but she doesn't go outside.

If you come into my house your shoes will bring snow and gravel in, and if you have decent treads on your shoes (as is necessary this time of the year) a scrape on the doormat won't get it all off. But I do have a chair for people to sit on to take their shoes off

My floors are all wood and laminate but I still don't want gravel and snow (or in the summer dust and stuff) on those floors even if they are easier to clean because I don't want to clean them every bloody day! And I have rugs down everywhere.

Is Dettol not toxic to dogs?

I'm pretty much 'meh, your house, do what you want' but there is something very alarming at potentially harming an animal in the pursuit of cleanliness.

Well it's aldi anti bac spray and I use it on the kitchen worktop, cupboards, table, hob etc so I hope it's not toxic to anyone or animals. I don't think a bit of anti-bac spray on the bottom of his paws will be that harmful but I'm sure I'll be corrected here if it does.

OMG this! My MiL never takes her shoes off and she's always come straight from the farm so is treading cow poo into my carpet! Always uses the upstairs toilet rather than the downstairs (laminate floor, not so bad!) so treads it further round the place. I've always asked since having babies that guests take their shoes off as they're still crawling on the floor.

Yes, I always ask people to take off shoes and I always do so automatically when I go visiting. Gone are the days of the stay at home housewife. No-one has the time or energy to wash floors and vacuum two or three times a day. Sorry but fecal matter doesn't have to be visible to be present. If you're visiting someone who has a crawling baby it's doubly important and downright rude and self-entitled to refuse or object if it's requested of you.

I'm glad to see we have graduated from the inevitability of dog poo covered shoes to farmers walking in cow poo on a daily basis.

I don't think whether pets go inside or out is the issue, it's the uncovered nature of their pooing and peeing mechanisms.

I don't think I've read a theory yet as to why, if it's so normal and respectful to remove shoes, no tv programmes feature people who do. Well that's not true - the only time I've seen it on tv is in Keeping Up Appearances.

Hasn't anyone seen the episode of SATC when Carrie is asked to take her Manolos off at a friend's house and they get pinched? I love that episode ...and the shoes in it

Not sure people should be basing their house rules on what happens on TV...

I was interviewed at home recently by a certain UK newspaper and they wanted me to put shoes on inside my house for the pictures, told them not a chance but wonder how many people are wearing shoes indoors in professional pictures who wouldn't normally - they made my mum put shoes on and she was the one that installed the habit of taking them off in me.

"why, if it's so normal and respectful to remove shoes, no tv programmes feature people who do."

Oh yes, that is indeed a mystery worth agonizing over.

I would imagine that is due to the same reason why you never see women with unshaven legs and children with snot. Or dirty floors. Or dishes in the kitchen sink:

Because TV shows are not real life.

Cote you could say that about the whole thread, not sure why you'd single my comment out
I see plenty of people washing dishes on TV. I also see them coming into houses and taking coats off, settings handbags down, but not taking their shoes off
There is a strong sense from some shoes off people that it is completely the done thing and anyone who doesn't do it is being rude and gross akin to picking their nose on the sofa. That simply isn't the case, and the example of the portrayal of people in the media (from a variety of classes) backs this up. We have thought of two tv examples so far where it's mentioned, and in neither was it portrayed in a positive light.

I would always offer to take my shoes off if someone has a baby / small child playing on their floors. That said, I've never asked anyone to take their shoes off at my house and in 25 years of house ownership I've never had anything unpleasant brought in on people's shoes.

Brown carpet is the way forward. Our carpet is the same colour as garden soil (brought in by the dog) and rat poop (excreted by the pet rats). Brown carpet has kept me sane. It's so good I only know the rats have pooped when I hear the dried poos rattle up the hoover pipe! They like to poop behind the sofa.

Hangs head in shame and waits for hoots of derision!

I go into people's homes as part of my job. To make life easier, I wear slip on shoes and always take them off as a matter of course. From the 100s of people whose houses I visit, the majority have this preference. Cleaning floors is boring and tedious. It is just good manners to take off our shoes.

Perhaps we can all agree on a slight rewording of Clank's statement:
It is good manners to offer to take off your shoes

It is just good manners to take off our shoes

Even in people's houses who consider it very rude?

If a guest took their shoes off in my parents house they would consider it as rude as taking their trousers off and sitting in their underwear

I think this problem will rage on and on. I don't expect visitors to remove their shoes at my house unless they've just walked through a ploughed field or they know that their shoes are particularly dirty (having trodden in dog poo for instance).

I feel slightly annoyed when asked to remove shoes but politely do as asked. One of my friends has pale dirty carpets and dusty floorboards so she's got a cheek - I take slippers so I don't pick anything up on my socks. Other friends with cleaner houses don't expect shoes to be removed. she dances around for ages trying to remove her shoes (without undoing laces) at my house - I tell her not to but she insists so I grit my teeth politely. All ridiculous.

I take the view - your house your rules.

It's shoes off in my house too. I don't insist on it, but most people take them off because I do.

If you come into my house your shoes will bring snow and gravel in, and if you have decent treads on your shoes (as is necessary this time of the year) a scrape on the doormat won't get it all off

Normally a polite shoe wearer would take shoes off if conditions outside are particularly wet and nasty. Never have we had shoes off - growing up or now and never had anything nasty on our floors at all. So many people coming in and out - into the garden and back out.

Growing up the nastiest thing that got on our carpets was my dad making the fire up and getting coal everywhere.

Maybe the ardent shoes off people cant trust their friends and family?

BTW if in twenty years of shoes on , once some one walked mud in, would that really be such a big issue? Really!

Why can't you enjoy a dinner party without shoes on? What difference do shoes make to the food, wine, conversation and atmosphere? Why would you even be conscious of your feet when sitting around a table eating and chatting? Some of the shoes-on brigade seem very obsessed with feet

We don't have a chair or bench in our hall, there isn't room. I have hip pain and stiffness (after effects of SPD) so I usually wear slip on shoes or pull on boots. I'd expect someone who also struggled in this way to wear easy to get on and off footwear when visiting a shoes-off household. Failing that you could always ask the host to bring you a chair, I'd happily do that.

As for walking sticks, my great aunt carries a fold-up one for indoor use and leaves her outdoor one in the hall (her household is strictly shoes off too, she has several walking sticks at home).

I can think of nothing more Hyacinth Bucket-ish than calling a 10 foot by 10 foot paved area in the back garden a 'terrace'. To me a terrace is an area that spans the length of a stately home and leads on to acres of manicured grounds. To which the groundsmen tend.

If you live in a semi detached, 'patio' is just fine

PMSL that one should say terrace! You have terraces when the land is stepped eg a terrace outside your Ibiza villa built into the hillside. or a terrace outside your hillside Peak house. You don't have terraces outside your Croydon semi or your Leeds through terrace.

You have a yard when there is no grass.

You have a patio when you have laid some paving slabs outside your back door and that then backs onto grass or planting.

You have decking when you have, well, decking.

Simples.

What about veranda? What one is that and what class says it?

I trust my family and friends elf why would it indicate not trusting them that I have a shoes off house? I know and they know that they'd be bringing in snow and gravel in winter, mud in spring and autumn and dusty dirt/leftover gravel in summer because we have eyes and can see what the ground is like. And its the cultural norm in my country.

I expect TV over here would have people with their shoes off in houses, not that I've ever thought to check.

We have a terrace it's on the roof. It's listed as 'roof terrace' not roof patio.