Shoes on around the house

[ByGentleFatball]

So another poster said that shoes on vs shoes off in the house isn't an issue that people feel strongly about. Not my experience at all!

When my partner took me to his parent's house, he told me at the door to take off my shoes and he did the same. I'd never been in a shoes off home before that.

One day, much later on, his mum was talking about how disrespectful someone was for just walking in her house with shoes on and how it was her looking down on them.

I explained that I never would have done it either if partner didn't say so as I wasn't raised doing it. Her other kids piped up and said they reminded all their friends to do it if they knew they didn't at their own house or wasn't sure.

Since then, I've seen that some people do feel really strongly about it for respect and/or hygiene reasons. Some equally defend not doing it, and not visiting homes who have that rule.

Are you a shoes on or shoes off home? Have you experienced it as a divisive subject?

Not unreasonable: I know people feel strongly either way

Unreasonable: This isn't an issue anyone really cares about.

If you come to Canada, every house is shoes off!

And every house has a mat by the door. If I pop into someone's house to drop something off, I won't step off the mat without taking shoes off. It's universal here.

Carpets can be hoovered, cleaned, its not rude in all houses in the least

Shoes on or off is a very important matter, in fact it’s a faecal matter.
There is poo on them there streets.
People who wear shoes inside have been watching too many feel good movies with loads of healthy looking people who lie on their beds with shoes on, like Gilmore Girls and such shit.
It’s gross, take yer shoes off inside. Get some slippers for god sake.

I've been known to lie on my bed with my shoes on! So far nothing dire has befallen me.

I think people who want to have a chat on mumsnet about shoes on or off can probably still find time to worry about those other things too.

Not yet….

It's literally a whole thread every few weeks here

This is such a hilarious thread🤭 Perhaps a little box of plastic overshoes should become the social norm by every door, then the fastidious could either dispose of or launder, and the non fastidious can keep their shoes on🤣 Separate ones for the bathroom so that poo poo germs are kept contained.🤣🤣

Shoes on downstairs, wood and tiled floors for that reason. Shoes off upstairs. I'm not obsessed with cleaning floors anymore as the DC aren't crawling about. No guest go in the sitting room. If I've walked over muddy fields and through the woods I change out of muddy boots into clean boots at the door.

I don't ask guests to take off shoes. I don't revisit houses where I'm asked to take off my shoes but can't think of anyone I'm friends with who has this rule. I grew up in a shoes on household.

I feel its all a bit too relaxed and familiar to take shoes off in other people's houses, and I'd be horrified if someone insisted on getting too flipping cosy and relaxed in my home unless they'd been invited to stay.

That's no way to live.

So do the shoes off people who own dogs clean their paws every time they come in from a walk?

(Shoes off here, handknitted guest slippers provided but no dogs)

Why are you vacuuming at your friend's house, and why are you comparing the speed the cannister fills ?

I would never ask a guest to take off their shoes, though I change my shoes on coming in from dog-walking (sand), gardening etc. I'm not sure about this concern with dog shit. Surely you'd know if you'd stood in it? As it happens, I've very rarely seen dog shit on the pavement in my bit of Melbourne but that's by the by. I'm pretty sure my dog is trailing poo-crumbs all over the timber floors in my house, so people in stockinged or bare feet would have shit on them.

As an aside, I'm in Australia, and all tradies without exception take off their boots at the door unless you say otherwise.

It's done to death, revived & done again!! It's the thread that NEVER stop giving!!

I take mine off automatically at someone else's house, if it's carpeted. Or on a hard floor if there's a pile of shoes near the door or they have a baby/young child.

it's definitively a contentious point on here, people with very strong feelings.

And have you excluded all possible confounding factors?

I'm 65 - how long is it going to take?

I’m from a West Indian background and walking in someone’s house with your shoes on is akin to spitting on their floor. So, if you’re someone who’s unfussed but happen to be bringing your elderly Bajan neighbour some soup on a cold day, be sure to take your shoes off at the door!

floor socks

I'm in NZ and find the same about dog shit. In fact in response to yet another thread on this subject I took notice when I went out for my next walk. I was out for around 70 minutes and saw one pile of dog shit on the whole walk.

And yes, tradies offer to take their shoes off here too - I always tell them not to bother. I own a Hoover!

I was raised as a shoes off person and in my home now it's strictly shoes off.

I go into differently people's houses regularly as part of my job. The only homes I go into now that are shoes on, are homes where the floor isn't particularly clean.

My elderly mother had carers that refused to take shoes off which I thought was so rude. Her house was spotless and it was clear she worried about dirt and hygiene, and as she was frail it was hard for her to hoover or wash floors after people left. In the end she stopped letting people in her home if they wouldn't take shoes off, until we bought her shoe covers to hand out!

Unreasonable - so many bloody threads about this on MN recently 🥱

Shoes on when i was a child but we're shoes off at home now. I was very distressed when I was told I need to wear orthotics in ankle boots to support osteoarthritis. It's a huge culture shock.

I've compromised by having inside boots and outside boots but it feels weird to wear shoes indoors.

I chose suitable flooring so I’m happy for guests to wear shoes. However, we tend to walk bare foot as a family… which this week has resulted in 3 of us getting glass in our feet after a large glass pan lid shattered everywhere and despite vacuuming multiple times, clearly we didn’t get it all up. Maybe we should just wear shoes 🤔😂

dm finds it rude to ask guests to remove shoes, mil thinks it’s rude not to remove shoes. Mil is also an introvert who hates people in her house. Dm has guests over all the time - all wearing shoes. Dm had athletes foot and struggled to get rid of it many years ago and she’s paranoid about catching it from someone, or verrucas.

I am in and out of the house, into the garden, all the time, it takes me at least 7 mins to get my boots on and laced up. I have arthritis and cannot wear shoes that slip on and off, or even walk, without my boots on.
It is just not practical for me not to wear shoes in the house.
I have hard floors which I can mop, I think carpets are disgusting, collecting dust and filth which is never properly removed by hoovering.

We are shoes off. We generally take slippers or indoor only flip flops places.

Wearing outdoor shoes inside really spoils your carpets plus i find it odd sitting with shoes on all the time!

But i think posh people always keep shoes on. I think its perceived as being in a slight state of undress to remove them, like your outfit is incomplete.