AIBU to think wearing shoes indoors is a bit odd?

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For thinking it’s weird to wear shoes inside the house?! Had a couple over last week for lunch and they never took shoes off- even if it’s not bad weather the bottom of shoes are filthy!! So would they go round their house all day in shoes? So weird to me!!
now I’m cleaning my floors as they are so dirty!

My occasional guests tend to take one look at my bare feet (I do not wear shoes at home; I find them uncomfortable, and used to take them off at school, but I suppose that school shoes are not always built with comfort in mind!) and either take their shoes off, or ask if they should remove them. I do not tend to mind, because I have wooden flooring to make it easier to clean up, as I have dogs. I certainly wouldn't mention it to them, but I would wonder if perhaps they felt uncomfortable, or worried about the cleanliness of my home!

I take my shoes off if I visit anyone else, unless told otherwise.

I completely agree.

When i do go to someone's house and they tell me to leave my shoes on i feel really uncomfortable walking around, almost like I need to tip toe😂.

I also think the preference might come from how you grew up. Whether it was a shoes on or not house. My mum was always so strict on shoes off and still is. She keeps a box of those shoe covers near the door for tradespeople😂

Well, precisely

This. My little boy is a full time wheelchair user, he doesn't have the option of leaving his wheels at the door although there are times I tempted to leave him at the door. I wear slippers in the house but I don't expect visitors to take their shoes off.

I still don't want dirty germy shoes inside my home.

I don’t like it. I don’t do it in others. I think it’s insanely rude and dirty. I wouldn’t accept anyone doing it in my home either.

What do you mean???! 😭

Of course you take your shoes off in someone else's house!!!

How bloody rude. And how weird the OP didn't ask them to remove their shoes!

I always prewarn people - bring indoor shoes (slippers) if you want to because there are no outdoor shoes allowed in my house.

(As if that even needs saying!)

Shoes off inside. We don’t have animals in the house either. Just don’t want mud a grit and stuff in the house and I imagine it’s quite uncomfortable. All of our families and friends are shoes off too. I can’t think of a home I go to where they keep shoes on. Only when one friend was having house re-done and it was dusty and floorboards did we keep on.

I would only keep mine on if the house I was going to was filthy and gross and I didn’t want that on my socks/feet!

We lived overseas for 25 years and shoes off was the norm. Anyone working in your home would either remove shoes or wear shoe covers.
we are a shoes off household and will remain so.

Very true, my working class friends all take their shoes off while my middle and upper class friends all keep theirs on.

I tell people to leave their shoes on in my house. I don't want them padding about in socks, it's weird.

Don't you have a Hoover (or equivalent)?

Oh, same here! I have two pairs of "indoor shoes" that have never been worn outside. They're both slide-style sandals. One is Birkenstock Florida and the other is a similar style (and cheaper!) from Rohde.
I hate walking around in just my socks, so if I'm going to visit the home of a friend or a family member, I always take a pair of my indoor shoes with me. Always take a pair on holidays too.

To me, wearing shoes indoors in my house would feel as odd as keeping an umbrella up indoors, but I’ve no strong feelings either way about guests doing it when they come around — they’re welcome to do whatever they like.

I don’t know a single household that wear shoes in the house, all classes, income groups, types of housing. I think there is a regional element. Most people have slippers don’t they? Or thick socks even.

The world is not sterile, and I'm not about to get bothered by that. Sure, I'll make an effort not to trek in tonnes of mud if it's wet, but some of the general grime and dust of outside will come inside and that's fine. I have a hoover and a map.

If I am a guest I'll do as asked, but I'm often more comfortable in shoes if I need to stand a lot.

If someone comes to my house I want them to feel at home and wouldn't dream of insisting they take their shoes off. Where I live we don't find occasionally hoovering, or mopping, the floors the huge task some of the rest of you seem to. I don't actually know anyone who is a shoes-off household - thank goodness! However I do live in NZ, and we wander in and out barefoot in summer - the horror 😆

Reading MN it sometimes feels as though I have been transported to a time, many decades ago, where women had nothing to think about other than how obsessively clean their houses were (note the use of "houses" rather than homes - a home is where you can relax and not have to worry about silly rules).

It’s disgusting OP

Ha ha! I think that was me. Downstairs we have hardsoled slippers and hard/stone floors and also potter out to do bins, collect the post, etc. We change them when going upstairs where there are pale carpets.

I don't care if visitors wear shoes or not. Their choice, but they tend not to go upstairs.

This is both a cultural and a British class issue. I wear Birkenstocks or slippers (or just bare feet) around my home. We have old flagstones and wooden floors throughout the ground floor, so I wouldn’t dream of asking visitors to remove their shoes. In the unlikely situation they need to go upstairs (eg to retrieve their reluctant child from a play date) then I’d probably ask them to remove their shoes, but otherwise no. If they want to remove them at the threshold when they arrive, that’s fine, but I’m certainly not asking them to or demanding it and I think it’s quite crass to do so actually. That said, I am mindful that others don’t feel the same and I would remove my shoes in another persons home.

Recently went to a dinner party at some new friends and we all had to dutifully remove our shoes at the threshold - fine but looks a bit weird being semi dressed up with bare feet/tights/mismatched socks on show. Can you imagine our forebears asking their visitors to remove their shoes! White tie and no shoes!

Same. It really pisses me off when people try to take their shoes off. I don’t want my tiny hall cluttered up with shoes where I’ll fall over them.

Ground floors should be hard floors and ok for shoes (and guests) upstairs should be shoe less.

I can't remember the last time a workman/deliverer came to the hiuse without shoe covers.

Can I ask if the shoes on crowd still do so in the winter when shoes are muddy/wet/smelly leaves etc?? Ours are filthy and soggy sometimes if it’s tipping it down. Yes we have a doormat for those who will ask - but it’s not a magic dryer/cleaner.

id feel really uncomfortable with wet shoes and tramping mud through. Especially as it starts to dry and crumble.