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.

How could they have slippers in every size (possibly multiple pairs per size, in case guests share a size)?

If it's carpeted, just wear socks like plenty of people do at home. If it's not carpeted, then they should let you wear your shoes.

another one.

Australian (in the UK): shoes off, always. That’s how I grew up.

My Australian MIL whinges at length about having to take her shoes off indoors as she wants to tread mud through the house, but equally she also brings deeply inappropriate (heeled pumps) shoes to walk around our rural, muddy lanes.

I don't sift through anything and I still keep on top of it by bunging everything in together. What's that qualify as? A haphazard system?

If she notices they are used,and pops them in basket to be washed ready for next guest…that’s a system

Did anyone take off their shoes in their own or other peoples houses in the UK in the 1970s and 80s.

No. And if anyone had asked you to you’d have thought they’d taken leave of their senses. I honestly can’t remember when it started. I just know nobody of my advanced age expects or wants it.

I mean by that measure literally everything anyone does to survive is a system. Which is arguable. But weird.

What if you’ve stepped in a dog poo earlier that day, would you still say to keep them on? @MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake

The solution for many must surely be the disinfectant shoe mat

Win for both sides?

Keep your own footwear on AND no dirt/germs indoors.

www.amazon.co.uk/HOCHSTE-Sanitizing-Disinfecting-Sanitising-Disinfectant/dp/B08HN89M1Z/ref=sr_1_13?crid=363P3P9XA8995&keywords=disinfecting%2Bdoor%2Bmats&qid=1670342442&refinements=p_72%3A419153031&rnid=419152031&s=kitchen&sprefix=disinfecting%2Bdoor%2Bmats%2Ckitchen%2C79&sr=1-13&th=1

(TBH, I just want people visiting me to feel welcome and relaxed, so shoes on/shoes off is entirely their choice).

I absolutely hate people wearing shoes in my house and request they take them off and I always take mine off at other peoples houses too. I regularly mop my floors and shampoo my carpets I don’t want filthy shoes in my house where my kids sit on the floor and play thanks. There is one family member who doesn’t like to take theirs off and has tracked mud in a few times, she insists there are more germs inside than out like there’s no dog poo and litter on the street 🙄 I think it’s just plain bad manners.

keeping on top of your laundry, hanging it up. Yup that’s a system whereby you regularly “keep on top of it” . You have a routine, a system that works for you.

I agree, mumsnet is so odd for this. Maybe it's because I live rurally, but I can't think of any occasion where someone hasn't automatically taken their shoes off at the door in my house. I've never had to ask anyone, and I'd certainly remember if they left them on! The vicar, tradesmen, literally everyone.

I can't think of anyone I know who would want me to wear shoes in their house 🤷‍♀️

Thanks, but my kids are polite, respectful kids so i’ll teach them to not take dirt and mud from the street into peoples homes. And getting at people who choose to look after the home they work hard for is abit sad. Ive never been to any friends house and thought the floor is too dirty to take shoes off. If it was, i’d be wondering if there are other issues (struggling with keeping on top of things) if it was. Perhaps that is your issue so you get at others who choose to keep a nice home.

My house, my rules. If people aren’t comfortable taking their dirty shoes off then that’s ok, you just can’t come in. People mention dirty floors but my floors are clean. And that’s because people don’t walk around with dirty shoes on that have stepped in god knows what outside.

Have lived in France, Italy, Germany, the Middle East and Holland. As well as UK and the US. I have never been asked to take off my shoes nor have taken off my shoes when arriving at someone's house, unless they were flip floppy type things and we have all then hung around in bare feet before diving into a swimming pool. This thread is brilliantly informative and quite random.

I assumed all houses are no shoe houses?! I always take mine off automatically when I go to anyone's house. And I will take socks to put on if meeddd

I have some slippers from a hotel, still in their plastic bag, never used. I offer them to people if they're a bit hesitant but no-one has been worried enough about my floors to accept them. My guests pad about in their socks or bring slippers, and our floors are quite warm. Almost all visitors take their shoes off when they see my slippers and shoe rack in the hall. I think it's the height of rudeness to keep outdoor shoes on if you can see your host isn't wearing outdoor shoes. I take mine off anyway in people's houses because I hate wearing outdoor shoes!

the polite and respectful thing would be for them to ask 'would you like me to take my shoes off?'. It's pretty simple.

Genuine question, probably for @MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake but why would you not want people to remove dirty shoes before entering your house? You would rather they walked dirt in than have their socks touch the floor?

My kids do take off their shoes to go upstairs to their rooms and the other carpeted floors. My son has sensory issues so when the neighbours have their washing machine going, it upsets him and he runs off to the stairwell in distress sometimes with the food he has where it is quieter despite ear defenders but please tell me how you would handle this without spending money you don’t have on soundproofing. I respect my home and it is not as filthy as you want to make it seem because I dare allow things from outside on the ground floor only. It takes me under ten minutes to give the floors a clean, not exactly a hardship.

Lots of cultures outside of the UK consider outdoor shoes inside to be a faux-pas.

99.9% of visitors to my house remove shoes but I have hard floors on the ground floor of the house anyway, so anyone preferring to keep theirs on can do. If that’s the case, I just keep them out of the room with the wood floor that can be scratched by rogue stones in shoe tread or dented by pointy heels.

I'd expect them to say, "I think I stepped in some dog poo on the way here, so I probably should."

But in six decades on the planet, and living in the London suburbs, I can count on the fingers of one horribly-mutilated hand the times anyone has shown up to my house with dogshit on their shoes - and never without realising it. I'm not about to make every person who enters my home take their shoes off because of one unpleasant incident in 1991. I mean, this is not a bomb in the heel of an airline passenger.

😂😂

I have a strict shoes off policy. I do have covers and single use slippers that I always offer.

I don't ask guests to take shoes off unless they are going into bedrooms, as my house is mostly laminate flooring but the bedrooms have light coloured carpets. I think that's reasonable. And I've asked to borrow a pair of my sisters socks when I was barefoot at my parents house in the summer after taking my sandals off, but really wouldn't have wanted her slippers!