To expect no-outdoor-shoe households to provide slippers?

[pairofrollerskates]

Just that - slides, or foot covers of some kind. Of course, if you know in advance it's different, but when you turn up for the first time at someone's house to be told "please take off outdoor shoes" at the door (which is reasonable, we all get to decide what happens in our own homes), surely something should be provided rather than expect visitors to pad about in bare feet, or socks.

So what happens if it is wet weather and someone traipses in with muddy shoes?
I certainly don’t want mud,shit or grass stains over my carpets!

Can't be dealing with this Cynthia Bucket bovine. The only rule we have is no riding boots or muddy sportswear in the house other than that you wear what you like.

I live in a large Victorian property with the original polished wood and patterned tiled floors, all of which are cleaned ( not by me ) twice a week - there are no crawling babies or carpets downstairs, just three teenagers, a husband, cleaners, two large dogs and numerous cats. All carpeted areas upstairs ( no animals are allowed upstairs ) are vacuumed once a week and cleaned every quarter year, again, not by me.

The kitchens, laundry, and other below-stairs areas all have stone-flagged floors, these are mopped once a week.

We still have the original boot scrapers which were and are still used to scrape mud and horse shit off your boots before ringing the doorbell.

If friends wish me to take my shoes off at their house then they better tell me beforehand and I'll come prepared coz I'm not walking around in bare or stocking feet.

Genuine answer - we don’t remove our own shoes and would refer others not to. There doesn’t need to be a reason. It’s our house so please respect us by keeping your shoes on.

@WalkingOnTheCracks But what if a dog shit has been mostly washed away by rain you wouldn’t even notice if you had a very small amount of it on your shoes that you’re walking all through someone else’s house.

The reason I don’t mind other people wearing shoes in my house is because I want them to be comfortable. That’s what being a good host is about. If they’re desperate to take them off then fine. But we have wooden floors and a hairy dog so they’re probably better keeping them on. We mop - no issue.

I take my own shoes off in my own house but I don’t describe us as a shoes on/shoes off household because I don’t care - I just want people to have a nice time here.

People may offer to take them off - I say no or do what you prefer. Asking people to take their shoes off or announcing you are a shoes off household and thrusting ‘house slippers’ at them is rude. You should just hope they see your cream carpets and offer/take them off.

In the winter with mud and snow I put out a basket of microfibre cleaning shoe covers. You can wear them over socks like slippers or they stretch over shoes. It’s a bit of a joke that I’m just getting some free cleaning.

It's a bit strange that in the 70s and 80s people used to wear outdoor shoes indoors and have carpet everywhere! Why bother with carpet if you're going to keep your shoes on anyway?

Although we are a shoes-off house, DH popped in from outside the other week to get something from the bedroom without taking his shoes off. Later on I found him Vaxing the bedroom carpet - he had walked dog poo through the house. Nice. So I hope the shoes-on brigade check their shoes very carefully. still not worth it, imo. Better just to take them off

I mean, this is quite a remote possibility. You might as well ask what if someone sat in chewing gum on the bus as a reason for all visitors to remove their trousers.

Stop being silly.

I don't have a terror of germs that others seem to have but of course if people have obvious mud or shit on their shoes they should take them off. And if they're my friend and they're more comfy being shoeless then they're also welcome to do as they please. But if someone turned up at my door for the first time and automatically took their shoes off I'd think they were very presumptuous.

I'm more than happy to go along with whatever the rules are in other people's homes. And I suggest other people do the same. But boasting that you take your shoes off in someone else's home, whether you're asked or not, seems crass to me. And the very opposite of polite. .

Well thats the rules we have and you obviously do something different. Polite and respectful in my eyes is not taking dirt into someones home (that most people work hard to look after).

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and we took our shoes off indoors. We wore slippers

Exactly.

Don’t get why this concept is so difficult when it is constantly said on here “your home, your rules” yet somehow the owner telling you to please keep your shoes on or someone choosing to ask before they do especially if they’ve never been to your home needs to be a debate.

Hyacinth

I'd think you were weird @WalkingOnTheCracks but would respect your choice

Why bother with carpet if you're going to keep your shoes on anyway?

Because we live in a draughty 400 year old house and carpet’s warmer. Next?

It always amuses me how often these threads show up in the world of MN. In my 53 years of frequenting many homes I have yet to be asked to remove normal outdoor shoes (not walking shoes or wellies) when visiting someone and have never heard of anyone in RL doing this. Even dh who is a tradesman and in and out of many homes says he has never been asked to remove shoes.

What do you say if your guest replies "I'd rather not if you don't mind, my athletes foot is playing up and the inside of my socks/feet are covered in antifungal powder" - do you really instruct them to leave? 🤣 Or what do you do if everyone takes them off someone's feet are a bit ripe but you can't work out who? Are people with medical reasons needing to keep shoes on for support or protection exempt? Or are they all asked to leave too?

Lucky escape for them I guess, I don't think I could comfortably spend an evening, shoeless, in the home of someone so neurotic.

polite and respectful is abiding by the rules of the household you're in.

it's not rocket science.

How filthy would someones home have to be to insist you dont take your shoes off-i’d be worried if anyone ever insisted that 🤢 Not sure i’d be stopping for a cuppa there!

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and we took our shoes off indoors. We wore slippers
Same. And we had special indoor sandals for school that never got worn outside. Had to change on arrival, before and after morning break, before and after lunch break, before and after afternoon break and to go home!

We have a slipper basket aka a plastic box filled with the free hotel slippers. Most people who come round have socks on but when the occasional person doesnt, then they take a pair of slippers. We have loads of slippers, most unworn. I suppose it depends how often you have people over but we dont have that many people round who dont have socks on.

I dont know a single friend that likes dirt from outside in their home.

Well obviously nobody actively likes dirt on their floor, but some people recognise that it can sometimes be almost inevitable, especially if you have pets, as I do. I don't 'live in dirt and mess from the streets' though - what an OTT description! When my floors begin to get a bit less clean, I clean them. It's not rocket science!

I assumed all houses are no shoe houses?!

You are obviously new to MN. There's a thread about it every couple of weeks, with the antibac-wielding germphobes and house-proud Hinchers battling the slatterns and the middle-class laissez-faire hosts every time

No filthier than yours. I don’t make tea on the floor. I make it with boiling water on the kitchen counter that’s wiped at least one a day with anti bac spray in a cup that’s been sterilised in the dishwasher. I won’t ask you to suck it out of the carpet.

@StephanieSuperpowers but there’s also chewing gum, litter , mud and teenagers spit it’s all pretty disgusting and no one wants it on their carpets especially if they have young children who play on the floor. If someone asked me to keep my shoes on I would but bar my MIL everyone I know removes theirs when visiting / asks visitors to remove theirs while home. I think it’s quite an old fashioned thing to keep them on.

Apologies, my bad.