I don’t wear pants inside my own home.
I don’t wear shoes in the house just because I’m more comfortable without them, but there’s certainly no rule about it. When I’m at other people’s houses where it is a rule to remove shoes I do so, but I’m uncomfortable because I feel like I’m partially disrobing. As a matter of fact, I will put shoes on when visitors come into my home. My husband always wears shoes in the house, so he feels even more uncomfortable about it elsewhere.
I find it amusing when my kids run in the front door and up the steps without pausing, while their guests stop to remove their shoes. No matter how many times I tell them it’s OK not to, they still take them off. I’ve become used to the little pile of foreign shoes in the front entryway. Different strokes.
I wear shoes in my house. Why shouldn’t I? The only people I know that don’t is my sister and her husband and family. My brother now makes sure he wears shoes in his house, he slipped while not wearing shoes and severely broke him little toe on his staircase last year.
err… HIS little toe, not him little toe…
I will remove my shoes in someone else’s home if they have the audacity to ask me to, but I’m telling you here and now…it is freeking rude to ask someone to take their shoes off unless they’ve been traipsing through mud. If they are merely wet, they can wipe them dry and leave them on.
(shakes head) the nerve of some people.
I prefer to keep my shoes on, thank you.
I have a bone spur my on my left foot that does not allow me to go barefoot. (well, I could–and you could watch a grown woman cry with pain in about 20 minutes). I have to wear my orthotics.
I used to (pre-spur) go barefoot in the house, but not so as to keep the floors pristine (it’s a floor-it’s supposed to get dirty-then you clean it), but b/c I felt more comfortable that way.
Kids when they come over tend to lose the shoes-perhaps parental training? Either way is fine with me. I only insist on removal if there is visible mud.
There are “shoe families” and “non-shoe families”. I fall in the former. We wear our shoes in our home. Granted, our carpets may not be as clean as some, but I can’t imagine having to take off your shoes every time you come into the house. Unless you wear slip-ons, shoes can be a real PITA to remove every whipstitch.
My son spent a year in Germany as an exchange student where he became a big fan of house shoes. They’re more sturdy than what I call house slippers in that they have a rubber sole and can be worn outside for short jaunts. I haven’t been able to find a similar thing in the US yet.
Yep, I leave them on. I tend to go in and out a couple times after I come home (walk the dogs, take out the trash).
Also, unless I’m just laying on the couch watching TV, I’m more comfortable in shoes or even my boots. I think the little bit of extra dirt is a non-issue.
There was a thread about this a couple of months ago. It got kinda ugly.
Yes! Especially when roads are muddy. Just to keep the Missus busy when I watch TV peacefully. 
That has carried over to Hawaii, too. My family picked up the custom there, and we never wear shoes in the house. We’ve got a big rack of everyone’s shoes (excluding things like dress shoes) by the door where we always enter.
However, it’s not a rule with visitors as it would be in Hawaii; some people remove their shoes, and some don’t. When I’m a visitor to someone’s house, I generally do as they do.
It’s a Thai culture thing, too. While growing up, we always removed our shoes just inside the door. Some Thai families I know take it one step further and leave their shoes outside (under cover, of course). But once I moved out, I quickly abandoned the shoe thing. Then I moved in with my mother, and reacquainted myself with the habit.
The funny thing was when I went to Thailand last month. Especially in a hotel, taking my shoes off never occurs to me, and I wore my shoes inside all the time. We were there one day as a repairman and a cleaning lady showed up at our cottage - and they immediately took their shoes off outside of the room. For some reason, it struck me as amusing.
I don’t wear shoes but I dont’ take them off at the door. I walk to the bedroom and change back into the pair of slippers I left next to the mirror when I was trying to figure out what pair to wear in the morning.
At my dorm, shoes off ASAP, socks on or off, depending on the temperature and if I’ll be leaving soon. At my parents, no one cares, but we usually take our shoes off. It disturbs the hell out of some of my friends that I cook barefoot. It’s just the way I was raised. Granted I also go outside barefoot in almost any weather to get the mail or root through the car.
Oh, and the other topic that seemed to spawn way, WAY too many replies was the drier lint debaucle last summer.
In general, no. Bare feet / socks / slippers are more comfortable to me. I’m not finicky about other people wearing shoes in my house, so long as there’s no visible dirt.
I would never dream of asking anyone to take off their shoes to enter my house, not even during the 5 years when we had white carpeting. Perhaps they should wear rubber gloves so they don’t leave smudges on the doorknobs. Oh, and make sure you have your face mask on so you don’t cough and leave germs on my countertop. And it is probably a good idea to wear this hairnet so stray folicles don’t get in the air - second hand air pollution.
Get over it. Unless you have sludge from the sewer plant where you work on your boots, come on in and make yourself at home. That is why god created vacuum cleaners and mops.
Funny thing is - one very anal couple who always made visitors take their shoes off - (outside the house, on the front porch!) - was the first couple to visit our new house and the f**kers didn’t even pause as they walked straight into our house with their shoes on. As I said, that is the way it should be, but I thought they had a lot of balls to not even ask, considering they treat their visitors like terrorist suspects at the airport.
I wouldn’t wear shoes OUT of the house if it weren’t for the risk of injury and weird looks you get when you show up at the office with nekkid feets.
My shoes are the first thing I take off when I walk in my house - before my coat, before my purse, before my hat (in the winter). I can rarely even handle wearing socks (or slippers) for any length of time.
I generally don’t even bother to put them back on unless I’m planning to either a) drive (because it’s apparently against the law to drive with nekkid feets), b) be out of the house for in excess of 15 minutes or c) there is moderate or greater risk of frostbite.
At other people’s houses, I do whatever it is they do, on the principle so aptly described by my mother as “their house, their rules”.
Didn’t the last thread about this prove some kind of north/south, east/west cultural divide thing?
My family and my husband’s family- and practically every other family whose house I visit- has an uspoken shoes off rule. You just take your shoes off at the door. There’s always a mat, and usually a chair. Is this a Canadian thing? My family’s half-Japanese, too, and my Dad (the Japanese half) would pratically disembowel shoe wearers. If they were me or my friends, not adults.
I don’t fuss about it, and if someone leaves their shoes on it’s okay, but I don’t personally like the idea of tracking dirt all over someone’s home. I take my shoes off for that reason.
Don’t everyone jump me for suggesting that shoes worn outside may carry dirt. I think they probably do. And I personally would feel disrespectful if I refused to take my shoes off in someone else’s home. YMMV.
No shoes worn inside my place for two reasons:
- I live on the second floor of a duplex so I want to be considerate of my downstairs neighbors.
and - Slippers are much more comfy.
You know Hyacinth Boo-kay?
I don’t wear shoes at home. I like going barefoot or just wearing socks. I don’t insist that others do the same however.
Ah yes, Mrs. Bucket…oops, Boo-Kay.
I forgot to ask - what if you shoe-less people get a guest who is wearing loafers and no socks?
You would seriously rather have those fungus toes/athlete’s feet pitter patter on your carpet than the leather soles of their loafers?