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.

I am enjoying the banter here. Hope it stays fun and doesn't grow legs geddit?

We don't have guests often but close friends bring their slippers. We have a stock, however, of those free slippers you are given in hotels, etc for anyone who turns up without (guest keeps or chucks away after use).

So what about when you go somewhere for the first time - do you always carry slippers in your bag just in case?

i wear slippers in my own home because they are more cosy but if I need to go outside (to the bin/washing line) and I'm in my slippers then I go outside in them!!! I'm fairly old and have lived most of my life among people who are OK woth shoes indoors and guess what....we know tonwipe our feet on the doormat and none of us have gone down with horrible shoe borne illnesses! Our crawling kids survived too.

And while I wouldn't be rude enough to march in wearing shoes if I have been asked to remove them, I would think they were rude for demanding that a visitor does.

Ooh, not often you see 'faux pas' used so literally.

Sorry. Carry on...

Errrrrrrm…that would really weird me out. Someone else’s toes would have been in there. Their toes. And their foot sweat would have soaked into the fabric 🤢.

I’ll just walk about in my socks tyvm. Guest slippers. shudders

Their toes will also have touched the bedsheets. And your fork will have been inside someone's mouth. Your towel will have dried someone else's genitals.

Ooh, at last! I move exclusively amongst the 1% and I am one of them!

I knew this day would come.

Im genuinely interested, would you walk in your house in shoes if there was torrential rain and mud running down the road? Just cant see how that would be nice to bring into a home. Mine is my fave place, love it cosy and clean. Its a daily grind keeping on top of housework as it is without bringing the dirt from the street in. Not a rude reply, just personally wouldn’t like it or to take it into someone elses home.

We get it. You wash your “guest slippers”. This doesn’t mean everyone does.

Our road’s never had mud running down it. On wet days we just use the doormat more enthusiastically than usual. A bit of rain never hurt anyone.

This is why the Good Lord, in his infinite mercy, gave us doormats.

Mm. Maybe they don't wash their sheets either. Or their cutlery. Or their towels. Maybe at dinner they'll put you in a booby trapped chair so you'll drop down a chute and they can turn you into pies.

Better stay home forever just in case.

Weird idea. I only wear slippers myself in winter, DH hardly ever does. We've got carpets, it's only the kitchen floor that gets chilly.

I’d be freezing walking round on hard floors without shoes or slippers unless there’s underfloor heating.

what on earth are you talking about?

Thats why the good lord gave us shoes…for going outside 😀

If I had hard floors, I wouldn't expect guests to take their shoes off.

It's winter. Surely you're in socks anyway.

He gave us shoes to wear when and where we chose. Mine are currently resting on a leather footstool.

Why'd He give us doormats then?

Incidentally, it's worth noting that there's very little point in using 'doormat' figuratively here - as in 'don't be a doormat, hun' - as apparently most Mumsnetters have never seen one and don't know what they're for.

Making the point that if you trust someone enough to eat, drink and sleep at their house, there's really no reason to come over all terrified about the house slippers.

It's fine not to want to wear them. It's fine to bring your own. In my house, it's fine to go in socks or barefoot, I don't care.

But it's just daft to imagine that the kitchen's clean, the cutlery's clean, the bedsheets are clean, the towels are clean, but the house slippers will be a health hazard because they must be left festering guest after guest after guest.

We don't do this, guys. If we wash the sheets and the cutlery and everything else, we wash the slippers too.

(And now of course some smartarse is going to pop up to tell me her MIL runs a house that has its own hazmat suit but they got beriberi from the house slippers or whatever.)

I have arthritis and struggle to walk without slippers or shoes supporting my feet so I tend to take my own slippers with if I’m going somewhere I know, or suspect, will be shoeless.

Why'd He give us doormats then?

Outside doormat to get the worst off. Inside doormat for more. You don't want bits of mud dropping off under your shoe rack especially not if it's multi layer.

And big Turtle mats for dog paws, obviously.

Doormats are for wiping your shoes so you don't make a mess while you sit down and take your shoes off.

You've lost me here sorry.