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!

Maybe someone has said this already but, what if the person have smelly feet?? I wouldn't like them all over my floor

so I brought home a box of shoe covers from work & she will now endure sitting with those bright blue condom like creations over her scruffy boots until she feels well enough to take them off at the door!!

I get the impression that you think this move makes you sound smart but it actually sounds like you don't want her in your home and relish the idea that you can make her uncomfortable. Is this the undertone that makes shoes off sound cold and unwelcoming?

Horatio I'd be very impressed indeed if I arrived at your house and you had monogrammed slippers waiting for me! I'd coo a bit (and at the antique basket, love them) but I'd probably just stay in my socks 😊

Oh gosh, poor MIL. warl

Why not just bring her a chair? Or offer her the apparently dreaded slippers ;)? Or give her her own personalized slippers?

If you asked me to remove my shoes I wouldn't be back.

We don't wear shoes inside, but I would never, ever ask or expect guests to remove theirs. That's plain rude.

We vacuum and mop every day, anyway, so it makes no difference to us if guests wear shoes in our house.

Also, no one has ever brought dog poo in with them. The dogs themselves cart more crap in with them, but, again, not exactly taxing to whip out the vacuum or mop.

Handing out those blue shoe cover things is beyond rude. I'd never be back.

Sorry, squosh, only frequent visitors (and every reasonably close family member) gets those personalised ones (just the first name, btw). But I'm at least semi relieved that hopefully guests don't think it's gross...

It's really cute, kids love them. These are the slippers of our niece.

And no, adult slippers don't look like this.

(I mean, her slippers don't look that new anymore, obviously)

Oh they're very cute. And posh. I get the impression the slippers you offer guests aren't cheap white towelling ones purloined from hotels!

I don't much care in RL whether I take my shoes off but I love these threads - they are the absolute socio-economic litmus test. (Far more than money, job, holidays).

FWIW, taking shoes off is considered a bit common - as is any of that lower-middle class obsession with, e.g. cleanliness of carpet.

The idea of a shoes off dinner party is pretty odd. (I don't think that's just me. I mean, in all the food/clothes/lifestyle adverts the outfits are generally completed with footwear even indoors...). Do all you shoes-off types think we should take our shoes off at work?

Oh yes, all those shoes off dinner parties I've seen in tv programmes - er, nope. Not normal at all.
Issues with feet (medical or otherwise) are incredibly common and it's very lacking in empathy to not realise there are many things that would make it uncomfortable for a person to sit minus footwear.

sqoosh
They're really not. Normal rewashable slippers, nothing fancy.

But as I said, as long as you aren't going upstairs you can keep your shoes on.

So... according to this litmus test we're apparently common ;) (although, no carpets)

Oh well, that's fine. I'm foreign anyway.

But maybe that's why MIL isn't too happy about the slippers. Interesting, thanks, basket.

I've noticed both my MIL and DPs have started to become hit and miss in regards to taking shoes off (my Dad recently trod clumps of mud into the carpet as well then tried to blame my DC even though there was a goddamned trail leading up to him!) despite having a baby at crawling stage not long ago.

I always take shoes off unless the host insists, even at a relative's house whose dog pisses all over your socks as soon as you're in, but don't worry - he doesn't do it to anyone else

So in the summer when people take their sandals off you're are all quite happy to see fungal toenails, verrucas, dirty feet etc walking on these white carpets and leaving dead skin all over the place? I think I'd take my chance on the dog shit.

Taking your shoes off inside? Very hyacinth bucket!! I absolutely can't picture these dinner parties with everyone sitting around j socks tights or bare feet.

Being the unsociable buggers that we are, we don't have many guests apart from family and we very rarely have parties (if we do have one it's certainly not the type where people get dolled up as if they were going somewhere special). The guests we do have automatically take off their shoes when coming in and don't ever mention it or say they feel uncomfortable. Tbh I'm not really bothered if they feel uncomfortable or not though; they don't live here, they don't have to sweep the floor or Hoover the carpets and they don't have to visit again if they don't like it.

Also, our garden path is quite muddy, especially when it has been raining, and our kitchen floor is a pita to clean. It also does my head in when my dc forget to remove their shoes and inadvertently tread mud onto the carpet which then has to be cleaned up. I don't want guests doing the same.

Recently, my sister had new carpets fitted so has started asking people to remove their shoes at her house - they didn't spend a fortune on brand new carpets for them to get dirty and stained within a few weeks.

My mum has just had her whole house redecorated, including new flooring and furniture, and for the first time ever has started to ask people to remove their shoes.

I really don't see it as rude; I see it as people wanting to keep their homes, homes that they have spent a lot of time and money on, clean and tidy. I see it as people wanting to look after the environment in which they live.

I never saw it as a class or common thing either but I suppose I am a common, working class girl who lives on a council estate in a fairly deprived ex-mining village.

It would be breathtakingly rude to make people put blue condoms over shoes (and did you steal them from work warl? )

Shoes off is non u but there must be a middle ground surely

We have a no shoes policy in our home but it's not really considered "strict"
Instead, we clearly walk around the home with no shoes on and leave shoes by the front door. Although we don't ask, and not everyone takes their shoes off - most actually make the assumption and decide for themselves. I find 90% of people probably come into our home and remove their shoes without being asked and the others I just let be. What's a tiny little bit of dirt?

I spent many years in the Middle East where it was the norm to take shoes off upon entering a house.

I now live in Canada and it seems to be the done thing here too, so much so that many houses, ours included, have a 'mud room' by which you enter the house and remove coats and shoes.
I always remove my shoes when I enter somebody's house and nearly everybody removes theirs when they enter ours. I would really prefer people don't wear outside shoes in my house, especially in the winter, but wouldn't ask them to remove them I just do a secret cat's bum mouth instead

I am from a Scandinavian country and there everyone take their shoes off even workmen. I have lived in the UK for 20 years, but never been able to get my head around wearing shoes inside. I do not have carpets, but find it incredibly rude and unhygenic when people walk in with shoes on in my house. I agree with Hyacinth Bucket that shoes are off and would probably admire her clean floors.

I was sneered at on a previous thread for saying this and told it couldn't possibly be so. But I was brought up to believe it was the height of bad manners to remove your shoes in someone else's house. If someone came to my parents house and removed their shoes at the door, or changed into indoor shoes or slippers, they would be horrified. So for all those people who are bemoaning the lack of manners of people who don't take their shoes off, it's worth bearing in mind that there are other people who think you are the ones with no manners, if you remove your shoes when you come into their house.

I wouldn't care, one way or the other, shoes on, shoes off, either would be OK with me. But in reality, I'm in my 40s and I've never been in a house where I've been asked to remove my shoes, or where the people I'm visiting aren't wearing shoes. I had one friend at primary school whose parents made us take off our shoes if we went into 'the good living room' at her house, but that's the only time I've been asked. Likewise I've never had someone remove their shoes when they've come to my house. Never had anyone tread mud or dog poo onto my floors either, thankfully.

How many of the "shoes off" camp remove their shoes when they get to work, go to a shop, bank, cafe etc? If not, why not?

Tbh I'm not really bothered if they feel uncomfortable or not though;

Why bother opening the door to someone if you don't care if they're comfortable in your home?

I'm also a bit nonplussed about the cleaning thing. You know you probably need to do it more than once? It's really not the case that once you've cleaned the floor it's done forever barring a rogue shoe.

MrsDustyBusty

Tbh I'm not really bothered if they feel uncomfortable or not though

Why bother opening the door to someone if you don't care if they're comfortable in your home?

If you read further up my post you'll see that we rarely invite people into our home. It's a place where we should feel uncomfortable. If other people don't like it then they don't have to visit.

I'm also a bit nonplussed about the cleaning thing. You know you probably need to do it more than once? It's really not the case that once you've cleaned the floor it's done forever barring a rogue shoe.

Really?! Gosh I thought that one deep clean that I did 5 years ago would lay at least another 5 years Seriously though I'd really rather not have to clean up unnecessary mess because someone didn't want to take off their muddy shoes and trod dirt all over the floor. We have a kitchen floor that should be wipe clean but is in reality a pita to clean and a cream carpet in the living room. I spend enough of my life cleaning.