Taking shoes off inside your home - are you offended?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the American culture is not as clean as other cultures.

It is shocking to me the number of people in this country who do not wash hands after using restroom and then proceed to touch the doors, etc. Yuck.

It's a way of thinking in other countries. Take good care of our stuff. Be clean.

Here it is about, replacing it when it get ruined. No worries.

PP, you got the idea.
I was so impressed when I arrived here and learned that people just throw shoes in the trash when they get old.
Where I came from we wash our shoes regularly!!!

[Anonymous]

My husband's stepmom is middle-eastern (we're as white as you can get) and I also know many other middle-eastern and asian households that never wear their shoes in their house. I just figured taking shoes off when entering the home was a cultural custom. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I think most people do not wear their shoes in the house mainly to help keep the floors clean. Not even for the sanitary part but just all the extra dirt brought in from the playground, gum (or worse) stuck on the bottom of the shoe, etc. Cuts down on sweeping and vacuuming. I will say that when I have a casual, neighborhood party (such as child's b-day party), everyone just kind of knows to take off their shoes. I usually leave a hint by lining up a couple pairs of shoes by the front door along with a towel for guests to put their shoes on. But if I am hosting a formal party, I do not "enforce" the no shoe rule. For example, when I hosted a surprise retirement party for my dad, I was not about to ask his co-workers to take off their shoes . . . I guess respect for elders as well as kind of looking silly in nice dresses and slacks and walking around in just socks or pantyhose Also, my mom has foot/anlke problems and despite the face that she lives on a farm and walks around in the pastures with the same shoes that hit my floor, I won't ask her to take them off because I know her feet will hurt if she takes them off. Once again, the respect for elders thing.

[Anonymous]

I have tried to enforce no shoes, but DH tends to forget. However, we never (as in neither of us) wear shoes upstairs. I find wood floors easier to clean then carpet, so I am okay if people forget on the main level...but NO shoes upstairs at all. Most people see our shoes on the floor near the stairs and they take theirs off as well.

[Anonymous]

I am offended when people ask me to take off my shoes - if I wasn't told beforehand - so I could wear appropriate socks or bring slippers. I find it very strange to be invited to someone's home, and then told I have to walk around barefoot or in slippery socks. I'm always very uncomfortable. And quite honestly in the summer, my feet are usually dirtier than my shoes (I don't know how it happens, but dirt just seems to work its way into my sandals). I can scrape my shoes on a mat to get off any dirt, I can't do the same with my feet.

I read an article about this, and from what the article said it is rude to ask guests to take off their shoes. According to the article, in cultures where it is customary to take off shoes when entering a house, it is still considered rude to ask a guest to take off shoes (that doesn't mean the guest won't do it on their own). But when it is someone that comes over all the time and is more like "family", than it is fine.

[Anonymous]

Since I have a sexual foot fetish, I love women walking barefoot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since I have a sexual foot fetish, I love women walking barefoot.

That's funny.

[Anonymous]

At my baby's daycare - you are required to take your shoes off before entering any of the rooms. I think it makes so much sense, since there are babies crawling around all day!

The daycare is in my husband's building and he works for a super eco-friendly company and the building is all environmentally/eco certified and they are pretty intense about it. So I think that's why they do it - keeping the toxins low (though obviously it is not required in the rest of building outside of the daycare).

I try to take off my shoes when I come in, in my own home but wouldn't ask guests to, however I would not be offended if someone asked me to. I think it's a good idea.

[Anonymous]

I wear shoes inside because I tend to trip and stubb my toes when not doing so. If I ever encountered a "no-shoes" house I would just ignore the rules or leave.

I'm keeping my shoes on and I don't care If I offend you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wear shoes inside because I tend to trip and stubb my toes when not doing so. If I ever encountered a "no-shoes" house I would just ignore the rules or leave.

I'm keeping my shoes on and I don't care If I offend you.

Considerate and gracious. You sound like a lovely guest.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

My DS is starting to crawl and we have thought about instituting a no shoes policy, since DS loves to find tiny things and put them in his mouth - god knows what disgusting things our shoes have dragged in. That being said, we will probably keep the rule between us and if we are that concerned about dirt, we'll vacuum after we have guests (we don't have guests that often). I have no problem taking off shoes at someone's house, but I would like to know up front because there have been times when I was embarrassed to finally realize I was the only person in the room with shoes on.

[Anonymous]

"I'm keeping my shoes on and I don't care If I offend you."

Do you have parents?

[Anonymous]

My (Korean) neighbors have a cute little sign near the front door (I think it's in a picture frame or something) that says "shoes off please" and no one ever wears shoes in their house.

I have tried to institute a no-shoes rule in my house for years. My husband refuses. He insists he is not going to be forced to take his shoes off inside his own house. Even when his shoes are really dirty, he forgets to take them off and leaves tracks all over the house. He has literally tracked muddy footprints right up the beige carpets on our stairs and into our bedroom.

He also won't support me enforcing this rule with the kids. Hence, our floors are filthy, DH and the kids track in all kinds of crap on a daily basis, and I have given up. I'd have to clean the floors several times a day just to keep up with it. DH won't clean them. If he wants to walk around on filthy floors and stained carpets and have ugly hardwood floors with the finish sanded off by dirt, I apparently can't stop him.

I have cubbies in the laundry room for the kids' shoes and I make them take their shoes off if they're with me, but since it's not a house rule and DH doesn't enforce it, they often walk right in the house with shoes on. I've also tried having "inside shoes" or slippers kept in the laundry room, so when you come in from outside, you take off your shoes and can put on your "indoor shoes" that are only worn in the house and hence not as dirty, but that hasn't worked either.

[Anonymous]

If your husband makes the mess and won't at least work with you -- he can clean the floors. Why be a martyr?

[Anonymous]

We also take our shoes off at the door. We really started doing this when our first child was born and she would crawl all over the place. It just made sense to keep the dirt out of our house as much as possible. Most people ask if we want them to take their shoes off when they see our shoes lined up by the door. Some won't ask and we don't ask them to do it either. I'm Hungarian by the way and many people in Hungary also remove their shoes upon entering their place.