Shoes off policy in the home

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I was just wondering if anyone has this policy in their home. If so, when people come to visit do you ask them to remove their shoes too? And if you visit other people's homes, do you take off your shoes or wait to be asked?

Motherinferior, Flylady would disapprove of you. I signed up for that site after reading the how to become an organised person thread, and she keeps sending me e-mails asking me where my bloody lace up shoes are. Not on my feet in my home!

Meanbean, I suspect Flylady would disapprove of me on more counts than that

We didnt choose the colour of carpets or laminate - they were there new when we moved. I've never considered asking people to remove shoes would be offensive! I do admit to being anal about this though! Although maybe cos dh is asian and we always have to take shoes off when visitng his family. Maybe it's rubbed off on me then.

Ahem, typo - dd1 doesn't think it's off, she thinks it's odd. In that high-decibel way that three year olds do.

Can't see the point in no shoes policy with a moulting hairy muddy pawed pooch.

Only enforce a no wellies/ boots policy.Especially if the cows are out on the riverbank where we walk the dog (lovely green patch on cream carpet once!!)

I have had a friend on more than one occasion come into the house and traipse dog shit all through the house. And it wasn't Spacemonkey ,before I upset her!

I think those of you who think it is naff and precious are missing the point that for lots of us esp with Asian/Chinese connection it is a cultural thing - not that we'd try and impose our cultural preferences on you Europeans, which is exactly why I don't ask visitors to do it. But I do find it weird when people put on shoes the moment they get up and wander round the house (as guests have been known to do). When do you let your feet breath?

Interestingly, Philly, when I went to school (in NZ), in the summer it was a point of pride to remove your shoes as soon as you got to school and run around barefoot. Once your feet had toughened up so you could walk on gravel without flinching you'd made it...

dh and I both remove shoes indoors - not for hygiene reasons but because we live in a flat and it's much less noisy walking around in socks/slippers/bare feet (well - seems that way anyway!). Sadly our neighbours downstairs clearly don't do the same and the house shakes like the great western pogo competition is going on... and it always wakes up dd if she's sleeping .

wouldn't insist on an adult removing shoes but do get grim faced when muddy footprints tracked through flat. Most of our childless friends won't remove their shoes coz they want to nip out for a smoke every five minutes (strict no smoking policy)

For those of you who don't ask for shoes to be removed, do you always wear shoes in the house?

I never wear shoes inside, always putting them on in the hallway just before I leave. I would hate to wear shoes all day.

All the posts from people who dislike shoes on from a cultural perspective have made me realise, the one house where I do take my shoes off is my best friend's ? she's Chinese. I'd never really noticed it before, consciously. But now I think about it, she does have soft-soled house shoes ? not bedroom slippers, but slip-ons she just wears in the house.

Another reason I don't like it as general rule, though, is that I'm addicted to high-heeled boots. And if you usually wear trousers at the right length for boots, it just doesn't work with bare feet.

Think I posted below, I don't wear shoes in my own house but I wouldn't dream of asking a guest to take their shoes off. I don't wear shoes at home because it's less comfortable and it is better for your feet. But once I'm dressed for the world outside my own home, I like to stay that way until I come home again!

We have a dog and cream carpets - whats the point in telling people to take off their shoes when I've got half the park on my floor!

Always feel a little odd when people ask me if they should take off their shoes, it's like they're asking me if they can undress.

I'm terrible when I go to other peoples homes as I never think to take off my shoes - after this thread I will.

We all take shoes off at home but I don't ask visitors to take theirs off. Carpets do get dirty, whatever the colour, and the grit damages them so the less grit that gets indoors the better. I'd take my shoes off in someone else's home if I was asked - got used to that in Indonesia! But I always wear slippers, never bare feet, because you never know when you might meet a spider and have to whack it to death with your footwear.

The only problem with everyone taking shoes off is that we have a monumental pile of shoes in the hall and it has to be said, they pong esp in summer! Anyone else with this problem and what do you about it?? How do you store the shoes? Atm there are 22prs of shoes and they look so untidy, even on a rack.

Yes we have an absolutely no shoe policy in our house - My rule though.

I have enough clearing up to do without worrying about what comes in on peoples shoes. Where I live there is dog poo all over the pavements, and I do not want that in my house!!

My carpets, upstairs are in a great condition because they haven't seen an outdoor shoe in 5 years!

My kids automatically take their shoes off in all peoples houses.

What I'm tired of though, is going to friends and family's houses and getting dirtier socks than we would outside!

I dont wear shoes but would not ask a adult to - especially in evening clothes - or well smarter clothes thaan usual.

I wear bare feet allthe time at home but would not stop a friend from a welcome into our very open home as a result.

I dont care what chinese poeple do - I am not so it affects me not an iota

We all take our shoes off at the front door and I do ask people to take their shoes off if they are going upstairs.Taking your shoes off at the door cuts the amount of lead and heavy metal pollution in the home by something like 60 or 70%.Plus I have a crawling toddler and I don't want him crawling in outside dirt.Plus I have light coloured stair carpet,which I am going to have to clean this weekend despite it only having been down for 5 months, because a friends child went up the stairs with his filthy shoes on and walked mud and red playdough all the way up.
I am northern and not a madly clean/houseproud person.

I never wear shoes in the house.We do have cream carpets,but with a 12month old dd who can remove her own nappy,I'm not precious about marks on the carpets.I just don't like to think of all the horrible stuff you see on the streets being walked all around my house.

I am by no means ultra hygienic-don't believe in wasting good money on anti bacterial wipes ect & don't go around disinfecting eveything,so DD has probably ingested loads of bacteria ect.I was bought up on a farm too,so that may be where the 'no shoes' habit came from.

My reaction on visiting someone else,is to automatically remove my shoes.I like people to do the same when at our house & most people,noticing the shoes in the hall do.If the odd person doesn't it's no big deal & I would never insist upon it.

OK, I can understand someone with children moving to a house where a previous owner installed cream carpet... but why on earth would someone with kids actually choose to install light-coloured carpet which is so delicate you can't even walk over it wearing shoes? Do you not allow any messy play?
Am truly seeking information on this one as I just don't get it...

In my case, sheer idiocy. I didn't realise how light it was until it was put down. It didn't look that light in the shop!

I never wear shoes in the house, none of us do really, but like others have said it's purely for comfort. I'm always trying to stop visitors from taking their shoes off- they see that I'm in socks and seem to think it's a rule but I feel mortified to think that I'm imposing it on them. I guess I wouldn't mind taking my shoes off in someone else's house but would find it a bit odd (and a bit off) to be asked to do so if I was dressed for a party, for example, with trousers that would flop on the floor because I'd had to take my heels off

I had cream carpets put down after I'd been told that I'd never have kids.I thought I'd tempt fate & it worked.

It wasn't a particularly sensible choice considering that my job involves getting very wet & muddy!When it needs replacing I'll be more practical.

As for messy play-I can't wait for that stage.Water,paint sand ect are no problem.It's he thought of the spit,vomit,dogdirt ect on urban streets being tracked into my house that I don't like the thought of.

edam of course I allow messy play! How do you think he ended up with red playdough on the soles of his shoes??!!!

We don't have a no shoes policy in our house. We have no space at the front door to put shoes even if we did.

I usually take my shoes off as soon as I'm in the house anyway as I prefer to be in my bare feet or socks. Dd automatically takes her shoes off when she comes in to our house or anybody elses house for that matter. She prefers being in her socks but doesn't like being in her bare feet, won't even wear shoes with no socks, strange child.
Dh always wears shoes in the house as he doesn't like walking around in his socks.

My friends mum has a no shoe policy and to be honest it doesn't bother me. They have cream carpets and wooden floors and whenever I'm there I just automatically take my shoes off as I always have done when we go to their house.

dh's dad's house has a no shoes policy because last year when it was really hot his wife got tar on her shoes and traipsed it into the house so after that it was no shoes. They have wooden floors throughout their basement flat and they are filthy I don't think they've ever been cleaned since they moved in. So we spent last summer walking around with dirty feet. But it's their house so they make the rules.

If I had cream carpets, which I would love to have but they're jsut not practical at the moment with 2 small kids, I would insist on no shoes in the house but I'm not sure if I'd ask visitors to remove there shoes. We have a mat at the front door so people can wipe their feet when they come in.

But Cod if you were visiting somebody who was Chinese or Japanese would you be mortally offended if they asked you to take off your shoes? Maybe we're not very common round your neck of the woods?? Actually they probably wouldn't - my parents would probably say, no no don't worry if you mentioned it as they would hate to think they were imposing on you. A bit like eating with your left hand I think.

No rules here. I tend to take my shoes off when I get in (ds went one better today & stripped off entirely as soon as we got in the door ), purely because it's more comfortable. We do have light carpets (cunningly designed with speckly bits though, so dirt not as obvious), & a surprising number of people do offer to take their shoes off when they come round but I always say not to bother. Definitely agree that feet are ugly. And with the hygiene hypothesis (hello edam ).