Etiquette of taking shoes off at the door for guests?

[GYoIsReallyHavingABaby]

Hello
I've just got new hall and dining room wood floor (its bamboo so reasonably susceptible to damage) that was a lot of money to us so we'd like to keep nice for as long as possible.

The front door opens onto hall and goes through to dining room so we take our shoes off in the porch the before the front door.

Does anyone else have a "no shoes rule" and how do you deal with it with guests?

I feel awful asking people to take off shoes on way in... I'd always do it in other people's houses out of respect/ politness and I'd make sure I didnt make host feel awkward about it but a few guests over xmas have made me feel really bad for asking!

Hello, Smileyspeople, you namechanged

Must follow suit.

Asking people to take their shoes off is uptight. We usually take ours off but it would never cross my mind to let a guest have a cold feet and I don't usually do it at other people's houses unless there is a v ostentatious pile of shoes by the front door. We were asked to do it on bonfire night by a v prissy architect friend when we came back in from watching fireworks. They had wood floors easily cleaned, people were dressed for a dinner party and in some cases looked plain odd with their shoes off. The windows were wide open to let out cooking smells and everyone froze. Not v hospitable.

The human race faces bigger threats than a few germs being carried in from the street.

Its generally true. I would never employ a British cleaner because they would clean like a British person.

Wow, I'm normally against throwing around the word racism, but you really are coming very close here Fairymum. If you were actually recruiting a cleaner and turned someone down for being British, you'd be breaking the law, you know.

Oh come on Fairymum now you're just taking the piss. You can't be serious. Or you really are a big fat racist.

Try exchanging the word British for "black" or "asian" and see how long you last on here.

Yes, I suppose I am a hygiene-racist, but I am not fat. Afterall, I am not British remember

I have a huge doormat-it is much bigger than normal-people wipe their feet (without being asked).

Hey Juju!! yeah I namechanged, but not to avoid you or anything, honest.

In fact I just threw off all my previous name changes and reverted to the true me (with an extra L) as I'd outed myself anyway.

I am going again soon though, I'm just waiting for Ladywaffle to appear, apparently she is Quootie, we are long lost lovers, stick around it could be emotinal when we are finally reunited (if anyone sees her tell her I am looking).

This shoe off thread is interesting in contrast to my 'what to wear on your feet when poele come to your house' thread, as many siad shoes. So complex.

Seriously those of you who are terrified of dirt, or exreme dirt avoiders, why is this? Small amounts of dirt and germs will harm no one and are unavoidable. Yes a filthyhouse can become a health hazard, but I don't think we're talking weeks of accumulated filth are we?? Your house will get dirty, you will survive and then clean it.

Reasonable attitudes to dirt and cleanliness, no extremes either way, are best for both physical and mental health oh and your relationships.

Well I'd rather be dirty and fat than a racist.

I think

anyway...I am neiher, dirty, fat nor racist, so I win and fairymum is a big fat loser.

Same here Smiley.

What's with the wink? Is being a racist something to make an arch wink about?

Madness.

Don't ask folk to take their shoes off as a rule but I did ask the assembled inlaws to check their shoes when ther were muddy footprints all over the lounge, kitchen and bathroom on xmas eve - and they haven't dried and hoovered up as FIL (who had the muddy shoes told me they would) not precious about the floor in particular but I think this was going a bit far!

I was just about to post 'what are you winking about?????'

I don't think she understands what we are saying. That is because she is dim not foreign of course, you understand.

I'm actually really interested in what fairymum has to say about british hygiene to see if there is anything we can do better.

I've heard that we are considered to be unhealthy/unhygienic in our preference for carpet over hard floors.

Carpets probably are unhygienic in hot climates, but in Britain they are probably the best bet, particularly if wool as warm and natural fibres (although they would have to be vacuumed naturally, and people walking on them in bare feet is probably unhygienic).

Although I have to say that carpets in bathrooms are revolting.

I have flagstones in the kitchen and hall, lino in the bathroom and carpet everywhere else. It is dark cream/biege. We wear shoes. It isn't dirty.

But even vaccuming doesn't get all the dirt/germs out.

Well no, but why would you want to? I don't want to live in a sterile environment and I don't think it would be good for DS's immune development.

We have two dogs, a clean and tidy (but not overly clean IYSWIM) house and touch wood, DS is never ever ill. Never has colds, have has chest infections, never has vomiting bugs. I was brought up the same and I was never ill as a child either.

A sterile environment is very bad for you!
I think people should think of their guests-I have to take my shoes off at my brother's house and then walk over quarry tiles-I can't get warm for the rest of the visit.

I don't mean sterile but the dust that carpets attract and contain even after vaccuming aggravates conditions such as asthma.

OK so I work hard 6 days a week to have the nice home that I want but in doing that I should think of my guests rather than spending my hard earned money the way I want to and not ask guests to remove their shoes but instead spend what little time I have cleaning instead?

Or I could ask guests to remove their shoes and when the baby crawls across the hard floor their clothes get less dirty than if I let people walk over it in shoes.

Or you could just get less uptight about cleaning. No one is going to die if someone has walked outside, walked in, wiped their feet on the mat, and then walked across your floor. Honestly, they won't.

LOL at taking your shoes off inside your house must equal sterile environment. You should see my house then. I don't think
anyone would use the word "sterile" and with 4 children I sometimes feel like I live in Legoland. I don't think anyone is going to die either, just find it a disgusting habit.

By the way, another filthy British habit is not rinsing the soap off when doing the dishes and carpets in bathrooms.

Of course when visiting British homes I prefer to keep my shoes on because who knows what lives in their carpets!

That's right, no British person rinses the dishes when washing up. You have clearly observed all British people washing up and they all wash up like that. Well done.

Or you could have no guests, or friends, as they just create more work and are an inconvenience, and hermetically seal your house so no germ can ever invade and live inside just maintaining the perefect atmosphere forever without any outside intrusion.

Guests, poele, LIFE creates work, you can make it harder if you want, but you are making it hard for yourself.

You spend 6 days a week working hard to have a nice home, why should you have to think about your guets?? Priorites warped imo.

Live a little, let go a little, you'll survive you know, and your home can still be nice. Nicer in fact.

I would have to provide slippers. The foor in our kitchen is freezing and its the through route. We also have a dog so I suspect you'll be cleaner keeping them on.

Carpets are needed in this country for our our warmth and comfort as well as helping save the environment (in a roundabout kind of way)

I hate carpets in bathrooms too. Its an ongoing dispute in this house.