Do you ask people to take off their shoes in your house?

[avocadoincident]

I almost always take my shoes off in other people's houses.

I'd like people to take their shoes off in my house but I don't want to sound like a precious knobhead.

How ( if you do) do you ask people nicely to take their shoes off?

Or should I just not be a precious knobhead?

I wouldn’t ask unless their shoes were really wet or muddy. However when visiting I would offer, if they had pale carpet, unless I had bare feet as I think it’s a bit weird and would worry they might smell! If someone has hard floors I wouldn’t offer to take my shoes off. And if they had a dog I wouldn’t either.

Wood or laminate would be better then carpet. At least you can clean that properly.

Yes I do. I just say is it OK if you take off your shoes please? I don't want my carpets covered in filth.

For those of you who are paranoid about 'outside germs' do you all have a separate mop for the bathroom and special bathroom slippers like some of the more batshit people on this thread: Mop for loo.

And what do you do at work, and your DC at school? I went to a school where we had to wear plimsoles inside, thought that was quite sensible actually. Far better for growing feet than being in rigid shoes all day.

It’s also a charming German peculiarity to take your slippers with you when going to visit friends.

See that is perfectly reasonable, it's part of the culture and everyone knows what to expect and everyone is covering their feet and socks. But it is not part of the common culture in the UK as can be seen by the split in this thread.

You can get socks with rubber bobbles on the soles. They are warm and non slip. Chucked in the washing machine after use.

Downstairs we don't as everywhere is tiled. However if someone has to go upstairs for some reason I say "Please can you take your shoes off first? thanks".

I’ve got wooden floors, so it wouldn’t occur to me to ask. I think it would be revolting in the summer, people sitting in their bare feet. Communal slippers not very hygienic.

@chloechloe haha this is so true! I found myself reading your post and nodding my head like, "yes, of course that's the best way to do things".

There's also going to the gym where you wear your outdoor shoes when you arrive, but carry your indoor gym shoes with you to wear once you're inside. Who would want dirty shoes on the gym equipment?? 😂 My now DH thought I was crazy when we first went training together and I had 2 pairs of sports shoes with me.

If you walk on the street, you inadvertently walk through dog muck, people's spit, sick, mud etc. So if you wear shoes in the house you're just spreading all of that crap on all of your nice things. Not to mention that stones etc will scratch your floor or age your carpet plus ruin your hoover.

I have no problem telling people to take their shoes off. I usually follow it with "the baby is starting to crawl" because frankly, I don't want my baby putting his hands where your mucky shoes have been.

In other people's homes I always do it.

In my home I don't ask but 90% of the time they'll ask me and I just politely say "yes please if u wouldn't mind".

If they do keep shoes on I'm not really fussed.

That made me smile AllesAusLiebe, having two pairs of sports shoes for the gym! I forgot that, in addition to slippers, the kids also have to have clean indoor trainers for “Turntag” (sport).

And when dropping the kids off at nursery the parents have to take their shoes off inside the door!

i do it from habit - guests often do the same.

Ugh! I always expect shoes to be removed.

We have a box of slippers by the door

Or should I just not be a precious knobhead?

Sounds like a good plan.

I've actually just ordered some signs one for outside by the doorbell and one for inside... Expecting new carpet at the end of the month!

I don't. I also don't wear socks so if you did ask me I'd be walking around barefoot - feet have oil on them and that will attract dirt.

Your feet must stink then?

I think it depends. A really good friend would take their shoes off automatically to feel more at home.
General visitors I'm not too bothered as long as they wipe their feet.

I always hated it when asked to take my shoes off when visiting other people, felt unwelcoming and for some reason I felt uncomfortable being shoeless! growing up my mum never asked visitors to remove shoes so it wasn't normal to me, I kept this up for my first two houses until I moved to a mainly carpeted house, which is next open countryside with muddy byways and lanes nearby, so shoes get muddy easily, so with DC ,DH and close family I will often yell at them to take their shoes off ! But for guests I never ask and if people offer to take shoes off I will say please dont worry as I think it sounds a bit precious to ask ( unless it's DC friends running in and out of garden!) However I now usually take my shoes off when visiting others now and feel fine about it, so I suppose it's what you're used to and also the environment you're in.

How do outside germ phobes deal with pets

I'm not an 'outside germ phobe', it just seems common sense to me that you don't walk all that muck around your house.

We don't have pets, so that's a non issue.

We have carpet throughout (except kitchen and bathrooms), and small children. When I open the door, I stand in the doorway, whilst the visitor is in the porch, until they take their shoes off 🤣 before letting them through.
Most people automatically take them off anyway, and some ask, and I always say yes please. I don't want outside shoes on my nice fluffy carpet where my children are playing.

We didn't at all until recently. Now we have a baby and we ask people who are entering carpeted rooms to take shoes off - just because baby is crawling and I don't want it to pick up all sorts of nasty stuff that people may carry on their outdoor shoes. I don't ask people to take shoes off if they're only going into tiled/wood floor area of our home as it is easy to disinfect afterwards.

I'm more scared of feet than shoes so I'd rather people kept them on tbh. I'd rather not have Varucca juice and foot fungus everywhere.