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Wearing shoes in the house - holiday question

  1. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    no shoes in the house, but maybe for a holiday party I would make an exception (in theory--in reality we live in a small place so we don't have parties, just small get-togethers and people do take off their shoes).

    I grew up in the south in a shoes-on house, but now I live in the NYC area and we don't allow shoes in the house. I think my friend group is evenly mixed between shoes-on and shoes-off, but no one has an issue taking off their shoes at our house.

  2. Becky

    persimmon / 1390 posts

    @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).

  3. jennlin821

    kiwi / 617 posts

    I love how interesting the thread got!!

  4. psw27

    pomelo / 5220 posts

    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.

  5. Beehive

    nectarine / 2054 posts

    We take shoes off, but aren't as strict about it as when we had crawling babies. We're in NYC, so the bottoms of our shoes are probably super gross. But these days I'll keep my shoes on if I need to run to the bedroom to grab something on my way out, things like that. And often the kids are well into the apartment by the time they finally acknowledge our fifth "take your shoes off!". Visitors do take their shoes off when they come in, though.

  6. tysonja

    nectarine / 2217 posts

    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

  7. lady baltimore

    persimmon / 1196 posts

    @Becky: We clean our dog's feet when it is wet, too, but it seems that no-shoes-in-the-house people remove their shoes regardless of the weather. I just don't buy that pets aren't tracking in the same dry-weather germs that shoes would be. I fully support everyone setting whatever policies work for their household, but that reasoning never made sense to me for pet-friendly homes.

  8. Foodnerd81

    wonderful cherry / 21504 posts

    @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.

  9. Fawn

    grape / 87 posts

    This is super interesting. I live in the suburbs outside NYC and its totally normal to keep your shoes on in the house here. When I'm at home I take them off pretty quickly, but it almost seems rude to take them off unprompted at someone else's house. Like you are making yourself a little too comfortable and right at home at their house. I'd be put off if someone I didnt know well came over and took their shoes off right away.

    I actually prefer having my shoes off for comfort, but I know next week when I'm at my parents house and in-laws house on Christmas I will probably be the only one who takes their shoes off!

  10. Mrsbells

    squash / 13199 posts

    @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.

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