Do you walk barefoot in your house?

[NoIdeasForWittyNickname]

Being a wimp, I always prefer to wear some sort of footwear at home – e.g. slippers in winter, flip-flops in summer (if we’re lucky enough to have a warm one). Ok, we have a fluffy monster of a dog and the indoor-outdoor boundaries get blurred in the room with the garden access, but even when we visit some our friends’ immaculately clean homes, I feel uncomfortable if I have to surrender my shoes.

However, reading many floor-related threads on MN, I see lots of comments about, for example, tiled / bare wood floors being too cold to stand on, etc. Surely, if you wear some sort of home shoes, this isn’t an issue? Or am I a slipper-wearing freak and most people just wander around their houses barefoot or in socks at most?

I'm the same OP, always slippers or flip flops if warm. I even chase my DC demanding they put their slippers on, even though bare (cold!) feet clearly don't bother them!

I put slippers on to go in our tiled floor kitchen if I’m going to be in there more than a couple of minutes, but not in the rest of the flat which is wood-type (laminate?) floor. I grew up running round barefoot in the garden and no one wore slippers, just extra thick socks in the winter if needed.
My parents in law wear slippers inside in all weather and I can’t help feeling they are missing out on one of life’s pleasures, especially walking barefoot on grass. I know they wouldn’t see it that way though!

Walk round in socks; sometimes slippers if it's cold, & sometimes bare feet in the summer.

Totally alien to the in-laws who just walk in immediately with their shoes on, bringing dust/stones in, probably because they have a dog & are used to having a horrible floor. & they think we're weird/precious for asking them to take shoes off at the front door!

Barefoot, except in the kitchen or when cleaning.

I can't stand wearing shoes, slippers or socks indoors and resent having to put socks on if it's so cold my toes are going blue. The most I could handle (back in the days when they were compulsory for work) was a pair of tights.

Cold feet are better than ones stuffed into footwear for 18 hours a day and slippers/flip flops are bloody dangerous.

@Putfireonlass

Completely not the point of your thread but i was more often than not barefooted in my home with hard floors, sometime slippers. I recently damaged my hip and could barely walk. Physio pointed out I’d been shoeless for over a year (wfh) all day when previously I’d worn decent supporting shoes to work, all day. So now my Skechers go on at 7am and come off at 6pm. Not at weekends though

I usually wear supportive ballet slippers all summer but one year bought a pair that were totally flat. Physio thought that set off my plantar fasciitis. Now hard sole arch support slippers indoors.

I once slipped on hardwood floor running to answer phone whilst wearing socks. Bruise the size of a dinner plate

DH barefoot, me slippers on the hard floors, varies in the carpets upstairs

I once stubbed my little toe so hard that it broke off. I was running and accidentally kicked the table leg. I always wear slippers now and make DC wear slippers.

I’m always barefoot unless it’s the depths of winter.

I didn’t know wearing flip flops indoors was a thing - I’ve never seen anyone do it in my entire life. I’m baffled .

I wear slipper socks. It’s too cold barefoot. And in the summer I wear socks because I don’t like how feet get sweaty on the floors.

I am always barefoot, and we don’t have any carpet. I dislike wearing like things on my feet inside my own house, I just feel less comfortable. I appreciate I am not the norm, though.

@Donitta

I once stubbed my little toe so hard that it broke off. I was running and accidentally kicked the table leg. I always wear slippers now and make DC wear slippers.

ouch!

Mostly socks. Sometimes barefoot if weather is really hot.

How are slippers or flipflops especially dangerous? What are people doing in them?

Always barefoot unless it's really cold, then fluffy socks. I hate slippers, I fall down the stairs in them and can't curl my feet up under me to sit down. I don't really get cold feet though, in fact they get too hot if I wear socks in bed. My feet are used to being bare, they have hard skin and are quite happy walking across pavements or rocks on holiday 😁

We don't wear shoes in the house so the floors aren't that dirty. We have cats and a toddler so do a quick hoover most days.

Slippers in the winter, barefoot in the summer.

Yes but then I’m a bit of a hippy at heart and would walk outside barefoot if it was socially acceptable 🤣

@whatswithtodaytoday. I agree about socks and falling downstairs. That's another reason I don't let my little one wear socks around the house...it's either bare feet or slippers with proper grippy soles. And if he's wearing slippers, I'm always shouting to him to be careful down the stairs.

In summer, yes. My feet get cold easily, so it has to be hot before I have nothing on my feet. 99% of the time I wear slippers indoors as just socks means cold feet on hard floors.

TBH I'm struggling with the idea that some people find socks and slippers uncomfortable.

@BooblePlate

How are slippers or flipflops especially dangerous? What are people doing in them?

No fastenings. Poor fit, lack of support, the effort required to keep them on the feet by clawing the toes, slipping off/out of them, no resistance to twisting motions.

All reasons why they're a major cause of accidents, not just in the elderly - the last time I was sat in A&E (hand injury) in early summer, I was literally surrounded by people who had ankle and toe injuries from tripping whilst wearing flipflops. At 2 o clock on a Tuesday afternoon in June, there were seven people under 70 with bolloxed ankles and/or broken toes from just that morning. Any 70+ ones would already have been the other side of the door with their hip fractures/breaks, along with any more serious injuries from younger wearers.

The things are dangerous.

Barefoot indoors & outside... if it's warm enough.
Generally too cold so not barefoot a lot. I needed a hot water bottle last night to warm my feet up, so not barefoot half as much as I'd like.

I wear slippers all year round! Or if it's really hot flip-flops. I love being bare foot in the garden though :)

Barefoot all the way. I can't wear slippers I literally just forget to put them on and I can only manage socks for a certain amount of time before they irritate me and I want them off. We've got kids and big hairy dog but never have issues of stuff being stuck to our feet, but we do hoover and clean plenty but I thought everyone did

Socks in winter, barefoot otherwise. When I was 18, I was nearly always barefoot and could run barefoot on gravel, on hot pavements, on frost. Can't do that now, but I still don't wear shoes inside.

Do people who "can't wear slippers or socks" have sensory issues, and do they never get cold feet?

I grew up in a "slippers must be worn all the time" household. First thing we were told as children when we got in the house was slippers on! If we appeared in socks or bare feet we'd be sent to put our slippers on. So I feel really uncomfortable without slippers on. My parents keep slippers at my house and I have slippers at their house too My DC though are usually socks or barefoot and it makes me feel really uncomfortable but DH didn't grow up in a slipper household so they get it from him (lighthearted grumpy face)