Wearing Shoes in the House

[AltaRed]

Speaking as another Canadian, walking in the house past the mat at the door with shoes on is verboten. It simply doesn't happen in Canada. This custom probably took root in rural Canada and carried over to urban life. It's interesting to go to RE Open Houses and see upwards of 20 pairs of shoes/boots at the front entrance as people walk through the house.

Though I have been in Texas 2 years, my spouse and I still have the habit of taking off our street shoes at the entrance closet, or by walking through to the bedroom closet. And we only do that because we have tile floors everywhere except the bedrooms (carpet). We put on slippers or house shoes after street shoes have been taken off. It does keep the floors cleaner and that is what keeps my better half happey.

[nafddur]

you probably can't let the dogs on the bed either??

Yikes - this no-shoe thing has taken an absolutely KINKY turn!

[BUM]

Quote:

The reasons?? *Aside from plain old habit, the hardwood floors are the main reason along with a US$3000 Persian Silk rug!!!

Simon says "Keep your filthy feet of my floors." As a woodworker I agree. I recently had hardwood flooring installed troughout the first floor. Being a DIYer and a micromanager I drove the installer nuts by insisting that I select which planks go where... Jobs done, looks great, SHOES OFF!

Unsolicited advice: Take that silk rug and make it a tapestry...hard to spill stuff on a tapestry.

BUM

Some other reasons I am more casual than some others,
in spite of being a "neat freak" at heart.

1. Four (4) dogs
2. No paved driveway and no good sidewalk to the
entrance.
3. My wife is very relaxed about the dogs.
4. All of our carpeting/flooring was bought as closeouts
or imperfects, or picked up at garage sales. I'm
talking the entire house. No $3,000 rugs here.

John Galt

Hey Jarhead, all is forgiven for steering us off into
rural eating habits. My, you were a big fella!
(sounds like a line from 'FARGO')

Although raised in the country and familiar with the extra meals/calories, I am
lucky in being able to lose weight quite easily. My wife
says I have no self control (at the table). This is true
in a sense, but if I see the scale creeping up I can take it off quickly. Mostly I go on Slimfast and maybe add a
mile or 2 to my dog walking. To be honest, I actually
kind of enjoy dieting. A lot of times I will go all day on
liquids only and suffer no particular cravings or angst.
Just lucky I guess.

John Galt

[Bob_Smith]

Quote:

Bob: Realize this is off topic. (Re: shoes off), but maybe the posters will forgive me. *Your eating schedule caught my eye. My dad was a logger, and a big time calorie burner. My 4 brothers and I pretty much followed his lead. *(My 3 sisters were consistently worried about their gaining weight, *and thought we were to put it mildly, pretty disgusting. *(We were also calorie burners, and none of us were overweight. *Drove my sisters crazy.) I pretty much carried that pattern of eating all my life. My weight had always stayed at about 240lbs. I'm just shy of 6'6, and pretty big-boned, so I felt good at that weight. However, it finally caught up to me about 6 years ago, Even with my stretchy trousers, I could tell that I had gained weight. *I weighed myself one morning, and the scale was begging me to get off. *I had gained almost 50 lbs. and was just shy of 290. *It took me about a year, but with a helluva lot of effort got back to 240 lbs. I have held that weight pretty steady since that time, mostly by skipping my wifes pies, and cakes. Old habits are hard to break, but finally had to realize that I'm no longer much of a "calorie burner". *(Helluva note). By the way, your eating schedule reinforced my feeling that Iowa is a pretty nice place Regards, Jarhead

Hey Jarhead,

Right now I'm about 6' 5"+ and 205 lbs. When I left the farm at age 18 I was about 160 lbs - skinny as a rail. I can recall force feeding myself even higher calorie meals to add on some pounds.

Your comment about your sisters brought back memories. My sisters didn't participate in the heavy physical labor involved in farm-work. So they had to be careful about what they ate. We, on the other hand, wolfed down whatever was put in front of us - which was a lot.

Burning calories is an Age thing. - I'm convinced! -

When I was 18-19 years old, I tried to gain weight and could not. I weighed about 125 lbs. at 5' 8". I could go to Burger King and eat 3 Whoppers and fries with no problem. (In those days we did not know what Cholestreal (sp) and High Fat or Low Carb meant.)

Today at 53 I struggle to keep the weight at 145. (still 5' 8") .Eat like bird and visit the health club 4 times a week.

[BUM]

Quote:

As a matter of fact, let's see, you weigh 145, I could use you for my bench presses

Would that be with or without shoes in the house?

[LEX]

I grew up in Texas, so we wore boots in the house. :-/
I married a gal from Eastern Europe and the use of "street" shoes in the house was immediately ceased. We leave them at the foyer, and don house slippers, (which are lined up at the door like some fairy tale bears are going to arrive at any minute, as there are pappa slippers, moma slippers ect.), which actually is very comfortable once you get in the habit. We recently got a new dachsund puppy, so we often have to engage in a slipper hunt. Fortunately for me the dog has the good sense to avoid mine in favor of the less toxic spousal slippers.

[Nords]

If it hasn't been said yet, then welcome to the board, Lex!

LEX, as in "De minimus non curat LEX"

Surely you're not referring to:

There was a young lawyer named Rex
Who was very deficient in sex
When charged with exposure
He replied with composure
"De minimus non curat lex!"

* * ... are you?

finem respice?

JG

[LEX]

Nords:

Thanks. I am fortunate to have found this great group of ER's.

Great limmerik. Translated: "The law does not concern itself with trifles" ...which is what many of my clients stated as their defense when I was an active lawyer, in the context of, "why is the (fill in the _____ federal or state authority) picking on me, I never did anything to anyone. *Why don't "they" go after the real criminals?!?"" *I hope I have not made a statement against my own interest, albiet in latin .

By the way, I have hung up my "legal briefs" and earn what passes as cash flow from a few teaching stints and advising small companies once in a while. *

Once I hit my $ target I thought it was time for my money to get busy and work for me. *Now I have time to recall how much latin I have never used except to figure out the tough words reading medical texts. It was easy to pick up survival Spanish and Italian though.

I like to concept of being able to wear comfortable slippers while listening to the monday Am traffic reports, knowing full well I am not out there stuck in traffic. No amount of money can induce me to wear wingtips ever again, either in or outside my home. I always had a secret disgust with suits, ties and wingtips...the prison uniform of corporate life.
*

[Nords]

Quote:

By the way, I have hung up my "legal briefs"...

Good one! I'm going to have to bow out of this and let a real pro sustain the volley.

"Considering" your last reply, John Galt, I hope it's not the "end". Your turn!

"The end" is when I am dead. Right now, I am glad LEX
has joined us.

JG

[cute fuzzy bunny]

What are these "shoes" you all refer to?

[bf6067]

The first thing I do when I go home at night is kick off my shoes and take off my socks. It is more comfortable for me and I remove the socks because I hate getting my socks dirty or worn from walking around in them with out shoes.

Because I associate no shoes with being comfortable and I figure most people kick off their shoes when at home, I tend to like my guests to do the same thing. I want people in my home being comfortable. If people don't kick off their shoes, I feel as though they are not relaxed or comfortable.

As for foot smell. I can only remember two occassions when foot smell ever became an issue and it wasn't an issue with me. On one occassion, both go back about 20 years or more ago, a friend and his wife were over my house watching a movie with me. I was single at the time. A few minutes into the movie, the guy's wife hollered at him to put his shoes back on that his feet smelled. I hadn't been aware of his feet smelling until she said something and then I was more annoyed that she made an issue out of it instead of just being quiet about it. Even when I realized I could smell his feet, it didn't seem to bother me. Perhaps it was because it was such a short encounter.

The other time, I wa playing a video game and I was laying on the floor, as it happened near a friend's husband's feet. It was one of those times where a situation just kind of happened but all of the sudden his wife complained that his feet were too close to me. While I never smelled any foot odor, I felt embarrassed when I suddenly realized how close I was laying to his feet.

In both instances, it seemed as if the idea of foot odor bothered the wives more than it did me. And to be honest, I would much rather have someone comfortable in my house than for them to be worried about foot odor.

While each person has their different views on the wearing and removing of shoes, I don't think anyone can say that one feeling is more right than another. To me, it is all about comfort. And I find that in my circle of life, women are more comfortable removing their shoes in public or when around family and friends then men.

My wife would prefer people remove their shoes in our house so they don't get the carpets dirty. Our carpets are on the light side so dirt shows up on them easily. I have only known my wife to ever ask workmen to remove their shoes. While I would want workmen to remove their shoes for comfort, I think if I asked them to remove their shoes, they would look at me like I have 6 heads.

And one more thought on foot odor. The smell of burning leaves makes me nautious, sick to my stomach and gives me a headache. Many people enjoy the smell of burning leaves. I would much rather have people comfortable in my house and smell their stinky feet then to smell burning leaves. Foot odor doesn't make me sick or give me a headache.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bf6067 *In both instances, it seemed as if the idea of foot odor bothered the wives more than it did me.

I believe women are much more physiologically attuned to smells, both pleasant and unpleasant, than are most men. I think it is built in.

Mikey

[unclemick]

Don't know about eastern Europe but an old lab director((Austria?) told the story back in his youth about the house watchdogs - could tell who was who in the household by their foot oder.

Me - I'm still intigued by'you don't know my name's' thoughts on the creative uses of a leaf blower - fish camp with plywood/epoxy deck paint and all. Deck shoes inside - fisherman's boots in the mud room area outside. Shop vac for fine cleaning.

[MRGALT2U]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclemick2 Don't know about eastern Europe but an old lab director((Austria?) told the story back in his youth about the house watchdogs - could tell who was who in the household by their foot oder. Me - I'm still intigued by'you don't know my name's' thoughts on the creative uses of a leaf blower - fish camp with plywood/epoxy deck paint and all. Deck shoes inside - fisherman's boots in the mud room area outside. Shop vac for fine cleaning.

As many of you know, we have 4 dogs. Last night, DW opened the back
door let 2 of them in, muddy as pigs. She says "it will clean up" and
she does have state of the art equipment. Anyway, she is way more relaxed about the floors than I am. To her credit, she usually ends
up vacuuming and mopping while I loaf.

JG

[lazyday]

Maybe I'm Asian at heart. I don't wear "outside clothes" in bed, at least not pants. Even used to harass my girlfriend when she used to work at jewlery shop (manufacturing) and clothes smelled bad when came home. Tried to get her to change before even sitting on the bed. (I'm the one with sensitive nose.)

Our shoes stay by front door, we don't bother guests about it, and maybe 1/3 of other houses/apt's I visit have shoes off at door.
Even one house with a dog. Yes, paws get wiped. And something else, too, but lets not discuss that.