HeadOn, apply directly to the forehead... HeadOn, apply directly to the forehead...

igloochic - I live in central Alberta whihc probably shares more weather wise with Alaska than most of the other states, LOL. Shoes off is also the custom here. We don't *ask* people to remove their shoes, they mostly just do so automatically.

If we are having a party or gathering outdoors, I often tell people that they are welcome to leave their shoes on when they come into the house for quick trips - we have laminate and tile floors throughout most of the house that aren't damageable by most shoe traffic. However, it has been my experience that many people take them off (or act very sheepish, like they are doing something wrong!) anyway. It is just custom in this neck of the woods.

Exceptions are always made for the very young or the elderly, but most of the time their shoes are immaculate since they don't spend a lot of time outdoors.

Carrie

We take our shoes off when we step inside the door. And we do that at everyone else's house too. I would never ask anyone to remove their shoes when coming in my house though. They all do it automatically just out of courtesy.

Yep, we take off shoes when we're by ourselves. And I take off shoes at other people's houses. One exception I can think of is for a party, when everyone has their shoes on.

Yes, we take off our shoes but it's more of a habit than a rule.

We leave our shoes on for entertaining.

I never ask guests to take off their shoes.

My home before retirement home had white carpet all the way through. A no shoes house. A no animal house.

Here , hardwood all through , still no shoes but precious animals.

Most people just don't wear shoes in the house around here.
It would be like coming in and keeping your winter coat on.

Brother, SIL and children from Boston ALL wear shoes all day long in the house.
When they visit here I want them to get comfortable and take their shoes off! They look like they are on stand by to go somewhere at all times lol.

This is a no shoes zone for us. Just footies .

I don't take off my shoes in my home and I never ask guests to either. I have a home office, so I feel it would be rude to ask clients to take off their shoes. But after reading all these posts, if one day I am ever able to move that is bigger than where I live now and I have the money to put hardwood floors throughout my home, I would like a separate closet just for shoes & sneaks so my clothes do not have to be in the same closet as my shoes. I also would like an area near the entrance door where clean shoes or slippers or sneaks or kept to only where in the house. I do not do this now but it is a great idea for keeping the floors clean with less germs.

We usually wear slippers or socks in the house in the evenings, but don't take shoes off when we come in the door, unless muddy or snowy. Both my kids had to wear othopedic corrective shoes 23 hours a day as infants and toddlers - my DS until he was 6- so they never took off their shoes so they were not barefoot kind of kids until they were older. It never occurred to me to ask guests to take off their shoes. I would feel weird if someone asked me- not offended, I would of course comply, but would feel weird. And not sure i like the idea of non-family bare feet in my house.
I grew up in AZ and no one took off their shoes to enter.Of course that was long long ago!
It is only within the last few years that I have noticed teens taking their shoes off at the door.
Different strokes for different folks.

I grew up in a family that never took off their shoes and would NEVER ask a guest to do so. When I started dating my husband (who is Asian) it was really wierd when he took off his shoes upon entering our house. In his culture it is a sign of respect for the home. Where as in our home, it was seen as almost the opposite. My parents where thinking "Jeesh, make yourself comfortable, why don't ya?" until I explained why he did it.

In our house, we always take off our shoes now, but I never ask guests to do so. But most everybody does anyway.

beth in bend - your quote "make yourself comfortable, why don't cha?" made me LOL :-) I could def. see people seeing it that way. Some people's feet can often be "whiffy"

We always take our shoes off when we come home (me, DH, and preschoolers), but I would never ask guests to do so, esp if they are dressed up. I have hardwood floors and area rugs. I'll take off my shoes when visiting someone else's home, but not if I am dressed up.

At our house outdoor shoes are off at the door in the mud room and exchanged for indoor shoes or stocking feet. This is farm country, so everybody around here does it, automatically.

Outdoor shoes around here mean riding boot, barn boots, pac-boots, muck shoes, garden shoes, sneakers or sandals. Indoor shoes for me are something cozy like Merrill Chill slides or summer sandals, depending on the season. When we return from the city in dress footwear, it's such a relief to take them off as soon as we come home. For parties here in the winter everyone takes their party shoes and wears their mud/snow/pac boots, even with party dresses. It's considered polite to have a room near the door wear guests can quickly go and change footwear and re-emerge to be greeted when properly shod. No one expects to be asked to be shoeless for parties unless it's very casual, the sort of things where you're just hanging out eating take-out pizza after helping with the animals or stripping wall-paper.

I personally like the change-over from outdoor to inside mode, but I would never ask anyone to take thier shoes off. We have all wood floors and old oriental rugs that can take anything, so that's not the reason. Plus our animals are in and out all the time so it's not for cleanliness, more just for the sense of homeiness of doing it.

I think the tenor of this discussion (at least so far) is interesting. The last time this came up there seemed to a lot of dudgeon flying over it and now, perhaps, more people are doing it, or the mix of posters has changed.

Molly~

Muddy boots and garden clogs are left at the door, but we leave other shoes on. I wear shoes all day long inside, mostly because our slate floors are cold (unless the radiant heat is on). If guests want to remove their shoes, that's fine, but I don't ask them to.

As far as tracking dirt into the house, our slate floors are just about indestructible, so I don't worry about it. I even got rid of the boot tray, because it was harder to keep clean than the floor is. I do try not to track mud onto the bedroom carpeting though.

When I visit someone else's home, I do whatever they do. If I see a pile of shoes at the door, I remove mine. I also take off my shoes if they are wet or dirty.

We take our shoes off and guests do which ever they feel comfortable with- after all they are guests. When I am over at other people's houses, I try to do whatever the hostess does. I personally cannot wait until spring when I can go barefoot outside- yeeha!

We always take our shoes off when we come in the door. I feel so much more comfortable without shoes plus it's cleaner. I also ask my two girls' friends to take off their shoes. I don't ask adult guests even though I'd like to. Where we live(Ohio)it seems like most of the people around here leave their shoes on in their homes. It just seems gross to me!

I am an admissions rep. for one of the service academies, and often interview candidates at their homes. I was asked to remove my shoes for one such interview recently. I was in a business suit, my shoes were clean and not stiletto type heels. It was an interesting interview experience sitting in the living room of complete strangers in my stocking clad feet....

I always remove my shoes and so do my children. My DH is Korean but not culturally so-- people assume we do it per his culture, whereas it was I who instituted this policy.

I think leaving your shoes on indoors is like wiping your hands on your shirt instead of your napkin. Sure, you can wash the shirt to get those stains out, but you've just bought yourself a lot more work for no reason.

Plus, I was in Japan for several months. Since then, I have been tempted to do the whole "slippers for the bathroom" thing. It makes a lot of sense to me! I don't normally care about germs, but the bathroom is just ick to me.

Company knows to take off their shoes, but I do not ask if they don't. (And some guests have foot problems, so of course they leave their special shoes on.) I was impressed when our electrician took off his shoes (without us asking), too.

My family ALWAYS takes off there shoes. Most of my guests do too. I wouldn't ask my quest to take off their shoes. If they don't take them off it's usually an oversite on their part. I think it causes an uncomfortable moment when you say "Would you please remove your shoes" or "We don't ware shoes in the house."

But if you think about it wearing shoes inthe house is like going bare foot EVERYWHERE, public restrooms, outside, in the hospital. Your shoes carry all the germs inside. YUCK!

My teenagers have taken off their shoes since they were toddlers. They do it in my house and at their friends' houses too. Their friends seem to have been indoctrinated raised the same way, because it's automatic whenever they're over, off come the shoes!

Adult visitors leave shoes on. I've got hardwood floors, so I don't really obsess about shoes downstairs anyway.

Living through a remodel and the mess outdoors we got into the habit of leaving the "nasty" shoes outside. It's sort of carried through to living in the new addition. Doesn't prevent all the crap from coming indoors, but it helps to cut down on it. Would never ask a guest to remove his/her shoes, but I smile with gratitude everytime someone offers.

We live in the PNW, but I was raised in British Columbia and DH spent his first 7 years in Ontario. We were both raised to always take our shoes off upon entering our own homes or other peoples' homes.

In our home, we always remove our shoes. We NEVER ask anyone else to do so, although the vast majority do so.

Interestingly, we've had occasion to have workmen in the house who are traipsing in and out throughout the job. They have all had little blue "booties" that they use to slip over their work shoes while they're in the house. Cool.

When we do a big party, most of the men still remove their shoes while most of the ladies wear their dress-up shoes - me included.

We finally got rid of the cream carpet the covered our stairs, living and dining rooms and replaced it with laminate. While I still insist my boys remove their shoes, it honestly doesn't bother me whether other people do or don't. I just want them to be comfortable in my house.

I should add that our house shoe policy may change during the kitchen remodel depending on the contractor's definition of "we'll clean up each day." Don't want anyone stepping on nails or other sharpies!

Oh, we are from the South and we are just so happy to have shoes, we never take them off, not even for sleeping or showering. :)

Yes and no. Our whole downstairs is wood, so we wear shoes in, but they usually get deposited at the bottom of the carpeted stairs. I don't have any set "rules," though... in other words, I'm not going to force my elderly parents or any guests to attempt to remove their shoes while standing on the porch.

We don't wear outdoor shoes in the house. The coat closet next to the front door has shoe shelves in one half of it, and all our outdoor shoes live there. Indoors, it's socks or house-only shoes like slippers or flip-flops. I recently developed plantar fasciitis and must wear super-supportive shoes now, but I glued felt to the bottoms of the indoor ones. We get a great deal of pleasure from the beauty of our wood floors and want them to look nice for a long time. We never ask visitors to remove their shoes, though.

I grew up in a house where if you had any type of mud on your shoes they came off. Mom would always be like,"Check your shoes. What do you have on your shoes?" I'll also add we had a lot of carpet and live in the country. Even now when i go over to somone's house I check my shoes before entering. They come off if need be.

Now that i'm about to move into my own new house we'll be taking ours off and most of our family/friends are conscious enough to do so. I would have no problem asking someone to remove their shoes if they hunks of whatever coming off on the floor. I think it's just inconsiderate. I wouldn't be snippy when asking though.
I'm sure it has a lot of do with how and where you grew up. What type of floors. Carpet, tile, hardwood, etc.

I drop my shoes at the door, DH wears his to the BR and then changes to slippers...We would never ask a guest to take their shoes off...or leave them on for that matter!
DGD's love to come to our house and get rid of their shoes as soon as they walk in...at home they are not allowed to take thme off since they are in and out all day and live in a pecan grove. We have St. Augustine grass so if they go out with no shoes, no harm is done! (I DID check with their Mom and Dad before I allowed them to lose their shoes first thing, so don't flame me too badly!)

We're Asians, so it's always been a shoe-off. Another reason why we continue to be shoe-off is my son, he has tons of allergies.
We always take our shoes off when we come home or when we visit other houses. For guest, we just tell them it's up to them if they want to wear their shoes in the house or not, but most of them take their shoes off. They get the clue/hint- several pairs of shoes outside the door:)

Oh, we are from the South and we are just so happy to have shoes, we never take them off, not even for sleeping or showering. :)

This is the best answer so far. :D

I like to keep people wondering. Sometimes... I take off my shoes. Sometimes... I don't. What I will do next is anyone's guess.

I never have my shoes off, but DH and sons are often in stockinged feet or slippers around the house. I would never ask anyone to remove their shoes, unless they were full of wet mud. Sons' friends tend to remove them, but I always tell them it is okay to leave them on if they prefer.

LOL about taking off shoes to prevent bringing in allergens - we likely bring more in on our clothes and hair - so should everyone strip and shower when they come in? Now THAT might offend a guest or delivery person!!

My mom HATES bare feet or stockinged feet in the house. She would never want family or guests walking around like that - and her homes have always had immaculate white carpeting. For her, it is preferable to clean the carpeting more often than to have people shoe-less. I think it reminds her of the days in her childhood when she didn't have shoes to wear to school.

We are a leave on shoes house. We have hardwood floors up and down which contributes to that. DS always takes off his shoes - carryover from his preschool where they change into slippers.

We do have a huge pile of shoes in a metal tray in kitchen so do have some guests that take off shoes because they see that. I always say it isn't necessary (I'm clearly wearing my own shoes) but they often do anyway.

I have noticed when we are at the beach and have carpet - I do take off my shoes -- then again it may be a warmth thing -- I hate being cold and live in the NE.

I don't like going to people's houses who have the no shoes rule -- really bothers me (although I obviously comply without making a deal about it). One I have stinky feet and 2 I wear a lot of heels and my pants are too long when I have to take off my shoes and I feel shulmpy (sp?)

When we were selling our house last year and I was keeping everything pristine I did do the no shoes thing with my family --- worked with everyone but DH :-)

Oh, patricia, perfect answer!

We are southerners and honestly, with the exception of kids coming into the house after a rain (check your feet!) I had never heard of folks taking shoes off at the door until I started reading these forums.

Prior to my enlightenment, I would have feared that an adult removing his/her shoes in our entry might continue to disrobe! (do you need our address, Brad Pitt?)

I wasn't raised to take off my shoes and I can't remember when I started doing it. But now having them on inside completely oogs me out. I automatically remove my shoes when I enter someone else's home, unless I see that the homeowner has kept hers on. I will also politely ask guests who don't take their shoes off to remove them. The biggest reason is that we have a baby who plays on the floor. If it wasn't for that I might not say anything, although it would really bother me. Aside from germs, chemicals and dirt, we have hardwood and light beige carpeting and shoes are hard on both.

No shoes in this house here. If we're having company and we tidy up super good, all the shoes that normally are left by the door get put away on the shoe rack in the garage. All nice and tidy for company and none of shoes are left by the door then some guests will take their shoes off, some won't.

Super casual get-together, neighbors over, whatever and our normal pile of shoes is left by the door and EVERYONE will contribute to the shoe pile and take their shoes off! I didn't even notice, my little guy pointed it out.

So if you truly want people to remove their shoes before walking around your house, leave a pile of shoes by the door and you won't have to say anything. :D

Ahem. Would you really rather have my utterly awful toenail fungus on your floors for you to pick up or for your kids to roll around in (after all, I got it somewhere), than ordinary dirt?

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that many of you, in your lovely, super clean homes, use chemical cleaners to keep them clean, hire chemical lawn services so you have thick, green lawns (or do it yourselves), spray bug spray to keep out the bugs, burn candles for atmosphere, have chemical plug-in room fresheners and eat processed foods that have lots of chemicals and dyes in them. Et Cetera!

I know I sound like a crank (I'm really not) but those things seem far worse to me than perfect floors. And I have gorgeous wood floors that cost me a small fortune and much aggravation to have installed eight years ago where I don't have nice carpeting.

When they were little, I couldn't get my kids to wear shoes and socks in the house, even when my own feet were freezing in their thick socks and warm shoes! To each his own, I say. Let common sense and personal preference prevail.

You are all welcome in my home, anytime, with your shoes on or off as you please. Just wipe your feet on the mat at the door and come on in. I'll have my shoes on.

Sherry

Lived in the south all my life and I figured that's why I like my BARE feet! LOL I hate having my feet covered up.

We're more of a shoes off household - but it's just the hubby and myself. And it's our preference. I've never really thought of allergens, etc. that you could bring in, just prefer NOT wearing shoes. Now when I had white carpet, we did take shoes off to keep it clean and many people who came in the house did so too. We would NEVER ask a guest to remove their shoes.

We now have hardwood floors and I don't worry about shoes harming the floor, if someone wants to take their shoes off, that is fine, if not, that is fine too. Hubby works in design and fabrication, and picks up alot of small metal chips. We do think about that and the wood floors. We enter from the garage and have a place for shoes at that door. He's almost always taken his shoes off upon entering the house. I usually have a pair of tennies or flip-flops convenient to the sunroom door as we spend alot of time out back.

I would go insane keeping shoes on inside all the time. I guess I am a hillbilly after all! LOL

tina

I keep my shoes on all the time at home unless it's in the evening, I take them off to put them up on the couch (my feet hurt if I walk around w/o shoes). DH & kids usually take them off, but there aren't any rules about it here, and I'd *never* ask guests to take their shoes off (or keep them on!). I'm not germ-phobic, so what's brought in on shoes doesn't bother me. But I can't stand the thought of athlete's foot fungus, etc. being transmitted via bare feet, so I guess I'd prefer either shoes on or if they're off, to have socks on.

We live in the country so removing shoes (and whatever is on them) is obligatory. My 4 children have been taught to respect others' homes and remove their shoes when visiting. Generally I do not insist on guests removing their shoes at my home. An exception was the landlord of a house we rented once. He was giving me a hard time when I was closing out the lease because my husband had signed the lease and not me so that mysogynistic little man thought I had no business doing a man's job. He thought he could walk in with his shoes on. If he had been nice, he could have but I made him stand there, untie his shoelaces and place the shoes neatly by the door, for the protection of HIS white carpet, of course!

We live in the Midwest and most homes I have been in, if you are wearing shoes inside you are getting ready to go somewhere or just got back. Like another poster said earlier, it just seems very formal to leave your shoes on if you are close friends or family. Obviously parties would be the exception. Most homes have a pile of shoes by the door these days. Having said that, I do consider it rude to say, "Could you please take off your shoes?" to an adult visitor just entering my home, so unless they see the pile and do it on their own, my best trick is to have a huge, thick coir doormat outside the door that will help clean their shoes a bit before they come in.

Yes, we take our shoes off & wear slippers around the house.

No, we don't ask guests to remove their shoes.

But, we try to use the back entrance in the kitchen for family, kids, handymen or messy weather. It's easier to clean the those floors.

Always take them off. Was raised that way and still do. I do when I go to other peoples house too, its just immediate habit. So far no one has ever told me to leave them on:) I didn't ask people to take off shoes in two of my houses, nor would I in this apt but when I had a brand new custom built home I did.

We always take our shoes off. We have a mat and shoe rack by the door.

When my husband and I first lived together, he refused to take his shoes off, and the carpet quickly became filthy. There were spots all over. When he finally agreed to take off his shoes, we had to clean the carpet less often.

We live in an apartment so I am very concerned about the carpet since if we damage it, we'll have to pay to replace it.

I never ask guests to take off their shoes, but many do when they see the shoe rack. It irks me when they don't, but I don't say anything.

Is this regional? I can't imagine taking my shoes off in someone else's house and walking around barefoot. My own floor--and as I live in a 3000 sq. ft. loft, it's one big floor--is old redwood and no matter how well I clean, there's a hundred years of dirt worn into it.

We do not wear outside shoes inside, however do not expect guest to remove shoes, just hope they stay on tile, as other is white berber..any and all workers, repair men etc. must either remove shoes or wear booties,(shoe covers) if they get in at all? I'm a germ aphobe too, LOL

I try and get my kids' shoes off when they come in, but it is more a matter of survial in our house. If the shoes are by the door in a bin, the kids can find them when it is time to go out again. We spend lots of time outside and most of the time shoes are muddy/dirty and it does help keep the bulk of the dirt contained.

I would never ask a guest to remove their shoes.......

No, but I once had a party where the guests (by their own design) removed their shoes. The following day I had several callers saying their feet had swollen from something they consumed at my party while a few others called to say that something they ate had caused their feet to shrink. We had a helluva time getting everybody's shoes back to their rightful owners. Whew! And I thought (for one small moment) I was going to be sued, for one small moment, for the dips and chips that had caused edema to occur bordering on kidney or heart failure. Just that everyone mixed up shoes if they were same or similar shoes in color, style, etc. It was the sangria, no doubt. Oh, yeah as a PS, all the women had their rightful shoes; it was the men; the men; the men who had picked the wrong shoes. Wouldn't ya just know.

I've always taken my shoes off when I got home,so it just became a habit. I guess my kids saw this and would automatically do the same. I still do the same thing in their homes,and they also when they came to mine.

Since I had carpeting it was more of an issue. My new home has wood floors,so not as much of a big deal. I won't ask guests to remove their shoes,unless they're full of mud~I would hope they would do it of their own accord.

These responses are interesting in their variety. When it is raining, we take our shoes off at the door. I don't mind if our family is barefoot in our own house, but I really don't want other people in their sock feet or barefooted in my house.

It is for us..but then it's not difficult at all as outside shoes get dropped in gar., at door to inside, and inside shoes/slippers are inside at door....shoe bottoms get cleaned before going back to the closet into shoe containers..(also have white berber carpet)

Patricia43, I'm not sure why but your story about the swollen & shrunken feet and the borderline kidney and heart failure from the chips and dip, or maybe it was the sangria, was rather hilarious! Glad you didn't get sued though.

Last week a lady from the HVAC Co came to service my a/c. When I answered the door, she started to put on those little hospital type shoe covers and I told her not to bother. She continued to put them on, and I told her really, don't do it, we don't even have floor covering in most of the house. She looked in at my awful concrete floor, and took the little covers off & stuck them in her pocket. Someday, I'll have a finished house. I can't imagine what it will be like, but I'm sure I'll still keep my shoes on. Too much trouble to tie & untie double knots in tennis shoes every time I walk out the door.

I do have separate shoes for yard work though, and they stay at the door.

I was in a little coffee shop the other day and there was a group of women that had clearly come from a stable to have lunch. Their muddy, filthy riding boots left a huge pile of grit and dirt under the table of this cute shop. I thought it was just incredibly rude. I certainly wouldn't let them in my house with boots that dirty and I doubt they walked into their own homes like that.