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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think some people are a bit precious about shoes in house

214 replies

VikkiStMichael1 · 04/12/2018 16:26

I visit someone weekly with work and use a room which is literally 6 foot steps from the front door yet I have to take my shoes off.

AIBU to feel this is a tad annoying?

OP posts:
Palfrey1 · 04/12/2018 20:00

Yes in the circumstances very precious.

A few steps from the front door on laminate floor and expected to take your shoes off is ridiculous. Unless of course shoes are obviously dirty or muddy

SheCameFromGreeceSheHadaThirst · 04/12/2018 20:03

Isn't there a 5-billion-post thread on this already?

TabbyMumz · 04/12/2018 20:03

Belindabellender....we are a shoes off family and I can honestly say I've never had chewing gum come in on someone's shoes. If any of us stand in dog poo, the shoes get thoroughly cleaned and as for mud, we have a very good mat outside that you can rub your shoes on. If by some chance mud does come in, we leave it to dry, then Hoover it up, problem solved.

Cherries101 · 04/12/2018 20:05

Shoes off family for religious reasons. I have noticed my house is a lot cleaner with a lot less effort than friends who don’t have the same policy.

ginghamstarfish · 04/12/2018 20:09

OP this comes up very regularly and has been discussed ad nauseam. If you want mud, dirt, bugs, dog shit etc trodden into your carpets, then well done you, your choice. Others make different choices.

Narya · 04/12/2018 20:12

We have beige carpets and we don't wear shoes in the house. If a visitor offers to remove their shoes I will always say yes please, but if they don't, I personally wouldn't make a point of asking them to. Tbh nearly everyone offers or just takes them off.

Howhot · 04/12/2018 20:16

I moved out 5 years ago. I've finally been able to afford a new carpet!! Do I hell want people walking in with their muddy, dirty shoes on. I have no shame in politely asking people to remove their shoes although I've never really had to. People just do it or they always offer. Even the guys who came to sort my internet out put shoe covers on without a word. It's not hard.

WinterfellWench · 04/12/2018 20:17

I am on the fence when it comes to this.

I don't mind being asked to remove my shoes in people houses. But I don't ask people to take them off in mine. I come from a dogs/cats/horses/farming background, and brothers and cousins who played footie, and our (large) house was a free-for all; often muddy and with sports gear lying around, and sometimes leaves and bits of twigs all over the back kitchen/utility area. And my folks were pretty cool about it, and not fussed. Not dirty, but 'lived-in,' and chilled and hippy-like, and they didn't care if stuff got on the floor or carpets, as they knew it could be cleaned/wiped.... So I am a bit the same.

I will happily take my shoes off though. For others.

Though I do scoff at this one couple I know who make me and DH take our shoes off, and their house is a massive shithole. Dirty carpets, stinking of ciggies, and beer, and dogs, and some smells I dread to think what they are, grotty walls, stinky house altogether. I actually resent taking my shoes off because I have to wash my socks and bleach my feet when I get home. (We don't go there often BTW!)

Popc0rn · 04/12/2018 20:20

It's habit for me to take my shoes off as soon as I walk in to a house...even if the house owner says "oh don't worry about taking your shoes off!" I physically can't leave them on, I think it's rude and it's comfier to take them off anyway Confused.

Thurmanmurman · 04/12/2018 20:22

I automatically take my shoes off when going into somebody else’s house, or wear overshoes if working as my job involves visiting people’s homes as I think it’s polite. Weirdly though I don’t insist on it in my own house when people visit!

Poloshot · 04/12/2018 20:22

Take your shoes off or stay outside

abacucat · 04/12/2018 20:25

I am happy for people to wear shoes on in the house and have never had dog shit or chewing gum on the floors.

User12879923378 · 04/12/2018 23:14

God. Is it really that much effort to take your shoes off? Why would that annoy you? I mean, I think shoes off houses are cleaner than non and always take my shoes off when I come in, but I grew up in a house where everyone wore shoes inside and I really did not mind being asked to remove my shoes.

Racecardriver · 04/12/2018 23:18

You don’t wear shoes inside your own house do you? Envy

User12879923378 · 05/12/2018 00:02

Me? Absolutely not

abacucat · 05/12/2018 01:04

I do. And for some people it is a big deal to take shoes off. My mother won't visit relatives at home that demand this as she struggles due to arthritis and is too embarrassed to tell them this. So she just does not go.

AGHHHH · 05/12/2018 01:24

Why does it matter whether its 6 foot steps or 65...?

ImNotReallyAWaitress · 05/12/2018 01:56

I don’t mind shoes in house but I now live in Sweden where it’s not the done thjng, whenever you visit anyone you take your shoes off at the door when you take your jacket off.

Makes it difficult to know what shoes to wear in summer sometimes as it would feel weird to me to go barefoot in someone else’s house, resorted to taking spare socks in my bag everywhere.

BadLad · 05/12/2018 05:54

Shoes off here - everybody who comes in, without exception, takes them off or fucks off.

It's not even a battle I myself have to fight. Being Japanese my wife is absolutely insistent that you don't wear shoes in any of our houses.

CaptainsYuleLog · 05/12/2018 06:37

Shoes off here - everybody who comes in, without exception, takes them off or fucks off.

Try telling that to Her Majesty or a police raid. :)

HarrySnotter · 05/12/2018 06:37

Well it never used to bother me too much until we had new hard flooring and I was amazed and horrified by the dirt and crap brought it. Previously it would all have been trodden into the carpets. Minging.

Ski4130 · 05/12/2018 06:45

There’s no middle ground here - you’re either a shoes off, or shoes on person, and never the Twain shall meet Smile Perdonally we’re a shoes off family, and so are most people we know. Keeping your shoes on is a bit grim. We’ve got wood flooring downstairs, cream carpets upstairs, as well as a dog and three kids, so shoes off and paws wiped is just second nature. I’d be pissed off if someone kept their shoes on to be honest, it’s not a big deal to take them off. I’ll

HerSymphonyAndSong · 05/12/2018 06:51

We are a shoes on house. I know some people think this is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING but I don’t care, this is how we like it. I always respect people’s shoes off rule in their house. I just don’t understand people who go on and on about it.

HerSymphonyAndSong · 05/12/2018 06:54

And I have never known anyone with properly muddy shoes not to take them off

BadLad · 05/12/2018 06:59

Try telling that to Her Majesty or a police raid.

Her Majesty would have to lump it.

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