Wearing Shoes in the House

[Hyperborea]

Take your shoes off when you come in the house and your floors will stay a lot cleaner.

This comes out from the discussions on mikey's house cleaning habits and I as a non-US citizen wonder about US habits. Do most people wear shoes in the house? Why?

[windedhare]

I have gone full circle.

Growing up, we were not allowed to wear shoes in house. Cultural thing. As a kid I hated it and all the other rules we had to live with that were different than my friends from school. :-/

As soon as I had my own place, yeah, I wore shoes in the house because I COULD. hahahahahaha :P

Now, shoes stay outside. Is it because I have gone back to my roots. Nahhhh -- the carpet cleaners are expensive, and it really does help keep the floors cleaner.

[Martha]

I grew up on a farm in a very rural area. Everyone wore shoes in the house. The back door to our house had a metal scraper inbedded into the cement step. You scraped the manure off your shoes and went inside. No big deal.

I made city friends when I went to college and discovered many new things, like broccoli, controlled substances, radical politics, and taking shoes off when you went into a home.

We do both. We have indoor shoes (moccasins or slippers) and outdoor shoes.

It's to cold here in Minnesota in the winter, just to wear socks (cold air sinks the floor.)

[BigMoneyJim]

I'm a very utilitarian person. Floors are for walking on. They get dirty. They wear out. They can be replaced.

I usually kick my shoes off for comfort when I'm lounging around the house or just home from work, but I never give the carpet any consideration in the decision process unless my shoes are muddy and/or clumped with snow and it's easier to let them sit before cleaning them than cleaning them now. (Dried mud falls off nicely when shoes are banged together.)

Sure I could make things last longer by taking better care of them, but it's just not worth it to me. I buy for durability, not for fashion. When it wears out or breaks, I either fix it or replace it.

Yeah, I'm single.

We don't wear shoes in Hawaii, we wear 'slippers', aka flip-flops. They always stay outside or at the door, at all hawaiian homes.

[ESRBob]

Grew up in a wasp household -- never thought much about a little dirt.

Moved to Japan, where every house has a little entry way for leaving your shoes, and wearing them inside would be akin to sitting on the chairs in a museum exhibit.

Married a Chinese woman and the anti-shoe thing was set for life. House stays very clean. We all have slippers or mocassins.

She won't even let me sit on the bed in 'outside clothes' so this obsession with Dirt can be taken a bit far, but about a few billion people agree with her.

Oh, and yeah, the varnish on our hardwood floors holds up really well.

ESRBob

[Calgary_Girl]

We don't wear shoes in the house in Canada. It was quite an adjustment when I lived in the States for two years. I did manage to convert my American husband however...he never wears his shoes in the house anymore either!

I never understood why people would want to wear shoes in the house anyway...it's not very comfortable if you ask me.

[brewer12345]

I never understood why people would want to wear shoes in the house anyway...it's not very comfortable if you ask me.

Well, those of us with a rather, um, casual approach to housekeeping tend to wear shoes in the house because stepping on small, hard things in your socks hurts. Personally, I am pretty clumsy, and when I walk into the furniture, steps, etc., it is a lot less painful if you are wearing shoes.

[Hyperborea]

Well, growing up in Canada myself with Scottish parents we weren't allowed shoes in the house. Neither did any of my relatives living on and owning farms in Scotland so it's not just a city vs. country thing. My Japanese wife will not allow shoes in the house either. It is a lot cleaner, your floor coverings last longer (a lot longer), and it is more comfortable. I also have a pair of slippers for the winter because it can be chilly.

It just seems odd to me to wear shoes in the house and it was a bit of a shock when I came to the US. I still find it difficult to wear shoes in somebody's house even if they tell you that it's ok.

[sgeeeee]

If you take your shoes off before you walk on your floors, do you take your pants off before you sit in your chairs too?

Actually, although my wife and I do not take our shoes off in the house, our dog and both cats never wear shoes in the house.

[Jane]

I don't wear shoes in my home either. I have a shoe rack by the door where I leave my shoes. Inside the house I wear socks (if it is cold) or barefoot. I seem to always get a pair of slipper for Christmas but I can't stand wearing them for a long time. It's either socks or barefoot!

ESRBob: I can't understand why people want to wear their "outside clothes" on the bed too! Growing up with chinese parents, we had to change into pajamas before we can lie down on our beds, took off our shoes everytime we entered the house and never, ever play "drum" with your chopsticks. Btw, did your wife mentioned about not using left hand to receive/give anything from people? That's what my parents taught me.

Old habits die hard...

Jane

[samclem]

So, just how serious is this "no shoes in the house" thing? Are you guys storing all your shoes in a closet by the entry door, or do you allow yourselves to wear your shoes to the bedroom closet when you come in? Or do you store them outside in an autoclave and don tyvek booties as you pass through the airlock?

samclem

[Bob_Smith]

I grew up on a farm in a very rural area. Everyone wore shoes in the house. The back door to our house had a metal scraper inbedded into the cement step. You scraped the manure off your shoes and went inside. No big deal.

Martha, I grew up with one of those too! I can recall standing in line with my brothers, father, and neighbors. It strikes me as very gross now. We had a hydrant there too - to hose off the 5 buckle overshoes (remember those?). Then we'd all troop in and eat. On the farm we had 5 meals per day in this order:

6:00 AM "breakfast" (large meal with bacon eggs, etc.)
9:00 AM "coffee" (coffee, sandwiches, cake, etc.)
12:00 "dinner" (roasts, potatoes, gravy, hot veg.)
3:00 PM "lunch" (sandwiches, cookies, lemonade, etc.)
7:00 PM "supper" (same fare as dinner)

And I was never overweight! Anyway, getting back to the topic, coming from a background with a manure scraper at the back door, we never wear shoes in the house now. I think someone who experienced a manure scraper just views shoes differently.

[Skylark]

We regularly rub out any toe jam before entering the inner sanctuary here in the industrial wilderness.

[Bob_Smith]

So, just how serious is this "no shoes in the house" thing? *Are you guys storing all your shoes in a closet by the entry door, or do you allow yourselves to wear your shoes to the bedroom closet when you come in? * *Or do you store them outside in an autoclave and don tyvek booties as you pass through the airlock?samclem

LOL! Where I came from an airlock wouldn't be sterile enough. We just throw the shoes in the trash on the way into the house (see manure scraper post).

[Calgary_Girl]

[quote]So, just how serious is this "no shoes in the house" thing? *Are you guys storing all your shoes in a closet by the entry door, or do you allow yourselves to wear your shoes to the bedroom closet when you come in? * *Or do you store them outside in an autoclave and don tyvek booties as you pass through the airlock?

Pretty serious. No shoes allowed past the front closet (which is two feet from the front door) or past the laundry/mudroom. Most of our shoes are in the closet in the laundry room since we usually go in and out through the garage rather than the front door. Absolutely, and I mean absolutely, no shoes allowed on the carpet.

[KB]

We wear our shoes in the house and would never ask anyone to remove their shoes. I have all hardwood flooring in the main house, tile in the baths and laundry room and carpet in the bedrooms.

I sweep, vacuum or dust the hardwood which gets most of the traffic. It's pretty easy to keep clean even with shoes on it.

[Zipper]

Ontarians don't wear shoes in the house.

I guess it's a custom that has been passed down through generations.

You automatically take your shoes off when entering someone else's house.

Canadian etiquette says, take 'em off!

[charlie]

How do you cope with stinky feet people?