Hellobee Boards

@lady baltimore: Everyone I know with dogs wipes their feet if it’s rainy/snowy/muddy out. Plus animals lick their feet and stuff to clean them (I’m not in the habit of washing the soles of my shoes).

We are a shoes off house. If someone is just coming over for a party, I don't ask them to take off their shoes even though it is very obvious we are shoe free (hence the rack of shoes by the door). If someone is staying with us for any length of time, we do try to enforce the no shoes policy. No one ignores it except my in laws, of course. I cringe internally when someone wears shoes in my house.

we are in canada too, and also asian, so that's a double whammy of non-shoe wearing indoors :).

my older asian relatives will request slippers or bring their own (mostly for warmth and foot support), but myself and everyone else just goes barefoot or socks :).

i think it's neat how this is one of those north american things that can be so different depending on where you live. also, i would find it super confusing if i lived in one those locations where both shoes on/shoes off are common! lol

@lady baltimore: I usually think about the grossest places shoes go- public restrooms. Dogs generally aren’t in them, though I agree they are certainly tracking dirt in.

I grew up in NJ and my parents kept shoes on. As kids we would start off with shoes on then remove them somewhere in the house and spent ten minutes scrambling looking for them in the morning before school. My parents still wear shoes in the house and my dad is constantly tracking dirt onto the carpet and my mom is always complaining about it (but that’s also a symptom of my dad being oblivious and not wiping his feet).

As an adult I’ve generally preferred shoes off, because it’s cleaner, and then my shoes remain in one neat place by the door instead of searching in the morning. But once we had babies we got a lot more diligent about it because the kids are on the floor, crawling, putting hands in mouth. I live in MA and yes, we also have a lot of bad weather, so it’s extra necessary for 6 months out of the year but we generally do it year round. Our wood floors are super scratched up from the previous owners wearing shoes too.

But during nicer weather I don’t get upset about shoes, now that my kids are older and not putting things in their mouth and stuff. My friend who is always cold always brings slippers but most people just wear socks. She has foot problems now so purchased an extra pair of supportive sneakers to be indoor sneakers.

@jennlin821: we supply the spa slippers for our guests. You can get them relatively cheap on Amazon.
I specifically ask people to take off the shoes because that's the rule in our home otherwise you track so much dirt in.