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!

My floors are proper wood - no laminate or fake blocks - and quarry tiles.

Cream carpets would not get across the threshold.

lol how did this thread get so nasty. Calling people "common" or "rude" because they follow slightly different rules to you.

I think it's fine to have a no shoe rule in your house, just politely ask them to take off their shoes. If people take issue with this they're assholes. If you don't ask though you can't expect them to know.

I love a good Shoes On V Shoes Off thread. People’s opinions on this subject are more entrenched than Brexit!

Which faction is the ‘metropolitan elite’ in this scenario?

Awwwwwwwwwwww

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I want people to take shoes off as I just moved into a new build and have just shelled out over £3 grand for flooring. I also live on a very muddy building site so I do not want muck on my carpets as it cost me so much. If someone asks you to do it nicely why would you be annoyed about it.

This is really welcoming:
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All this talk of dirt. Does nobody understand how the immune system works and develops? We are seeing an enormous increase in childhood allergies because of this inane pursuit of cleanliness. The dirt from the street that you track into your house is essential for your children to develop their immune system fully. Sure if you trod in faeces you don't want to be tracking that into the house but keeping your house as free as possible from general dirt is a really, really good way to damage your children's long term health.

Cara that ‘Warning!’ Sign should actually read ‘heed all ye who cast this threshold, germ loonies dwell here’.

Solution to the odour issue?
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I wonder if this is in part a car user/vs walker/cyclist thing, as well as maybe an urban vs rural one.

We lived in London for years, and only bought a car once we moved to the country a few years ago, though I don't drive - and it's made me very aware of how differently drivers dress to leave the house compared to people walking or using public transport to get where they're going. If you know the most you'll be doing is skipping fifty feet from a carpark into your workplace, then you can nip in wearing a light coat and kitten heels, don't need the waterproof, warm, outdoor clothing and walking shoes you need if you have my journey to work which consists of a walk, a bus and another substantial walk.

My winter footwear defaults to sturdy, often muddy, and very much 'outdoor' things, and it would feel as odd to wear them in the house as it would to sit around in a hat and coat indoors - but I wonder whether people who drive almost everywhere feel differently about their footwear because it's lighter and more indoor and likely to be cleaner?

When you get invited to Buckingham Palace you don't leave you shoes at the front door. Neither do the royals come in with their slippers on.

Springer - they don't need dirt in the house to get an immunity. When I dress them for outside and they go out in dirt and eat worms they get sufficient immunity. Indoors when they are clean after bath and ready for bed I don't want them sitting in shoe grime

I remember taking my eldest to a friends who allowed shoes indoors when he was crawling age. He was wearing a white babygrow that he wore every day fine at ours, yet after an hour crawling around there his babygrow was grey with dirt.

And yes we live in London, but all in the parks all winter. Our winter footwear is usually filthy in mud

I have always taken my shoes off in peoples houses and people have always taken them off in mine. Nobody ever needed to ask me as its the norm where I'm from (London)
I take it you mean London, Canada. Never been asked to take shoes off in anyone's house in the London I live in.

We are seeing an enormous increase in childhood allergies because of this inane pursuit of cleanliness

100% this.

My In laws ARE FREAKS when it comes to their carpets. Mil has made it very clear its her lifes work to protect them, above all else, even her relationships.

They defend those carpets to the absolute death - disabled visitor comes - no greeting just " can he get his shoes off" as he hobbles in. People banned from the house because they don't respect the carpets.

BUT Fil is very happy to feed his small GC off HIS OWN FORK WHEN HE IS RECOVERING FROM A very nasty VIRUS.

Its disgusts me.

As for the metropolitan elite - I suspect its shoes on.

I don't want them sitting in shoe grime

Mine sit on sofas

To the people who take their shoes off.. what do you do if you need the toilet?! The thought of my bare feet touching the floor around the toilet in someone else's house makes me heave tbh.

My inlaws are a shoes off household, even though they have dogs. Mind you there have been occasions when we've queued up outside the front door waiting to be let in while they wipe each paw of each dog thoroughly on a towel before entering.

"We are seeing an enormous increase in childhood allergies because of this inane pursuit of cleanliness"

Wanting one's home free of street filth including dog poo/pee is not "insane cleanliness", and I say that as some one with allergies who grew up in a 2nd-world country with only soap (no antibacterial wipes, no disinfectant detergents) for company.

Do what you want in your own home but it is incredibly rude to insist on walking around with street shoes in the home of someone who doesn't do it herself.

Ah im so on the fence about this one, so much as to say I haven't settled on what I actually think lol
My ex partner had a false leg, it would be awkward to remove his shoe to be honest as he was a bit paranoid about how different his false foot looked from his real foot. Also, my FIL has extremely smelly feet. Im pretty sure that I would rather a little mud than the stench of his feet in my carpet. I have laminate downstairs and only ask people to remove their shoes if they go upstairs where theres carpets. I don't think theres a right and wrong answer, just people are different.

You can always tell which houses have the shoes on vs shoes off rule. The carpets are generally filthier and worn out where shoes stay on.

I don't understand the sentiment at all but I'm from a culture where outside shoes are not used indoors. My home is my sanctuary and I like to keep it as nice and clean as possible.

Presumably visitors who are ordered to remove their shoes, do so with their hands. What happens next, are they asked to dip them into a finger bowl full of Zoflora?

'You can always tell which houses have the shoes on vs shoes off rule. The carpets are generally filthier and worn out where shoes stay on.'

Carpets?

Yuck. No thanks.

Do what you want in your own home but it is incredibly rude to insist on walking around with street shoes in the home of someone who doesn't do it herself.

I agree with that. It is good manners to go with the flow of the house you're in.