to think people should keep their shoes on in public rooms?

I am with the 'remove shoes in the hall' sentiment as it is the shoes (not the bare or stockinged feet) that may have trodden in unmentionables en route to the house. As I have hard floors throughout my house nothing will stick to those feet once inside the house.

It's our practice to remove our shoes at home. It was always interesting to see the row of shoes, large and small, in the hall, when DSs had friends staying over!

x

It would not surprise me if a very large proportion of the world's human population has bare feet all the time. And I know for a fact that an even larger proportion (i.e. most) of the world's human population have always, until very recently, gone barefoot. We survived.

Is worry/distaste-for-the-ordinary-and-basic like that in the OP one of those "twenty-first century, first world problems"?

dunit and I went to an inn for refreshments after a hot moorland walk the other day. I took my boots and socks off so my feet could cool down. I often do this on trains too, well, anywhere where my feet feel too hot.

My feet stay on the floor. Floors do not need to be 'hygienic'. Neither do feet. They are washable anyway.

Didn't you let your kids crawl around in muck outside, janer?

It is standard practice in New Zealand too to remove shoes before entering someone's home and also many other places. We remove our shoes before entering our classroom for our Maori lesson for example. As I get "claustrophobia of the toes", this suits me literally down to the ground.

I don't mind removing my shoes if asked but am not going to wear someone else's slippers or cotton mules- that is dire!

A friend, who has since moved elsewhere, used to keep several pairs of cotton mules - like you get with your bathrobe in a hotel - for visitors to wear once they had removed their shoes.

Shoes off at the door is the rule in all our family homes, all of my family carry light slippers or walk in stocking feet.
I would not be rude to a visitor but do ask tradesmen to remove their boots before walking on the carpets.

Coolgran65 I think this must be a universal Canadian habit. Perhaps because of the snowy winters? All the houses I visited there seemed to have some provision for taking off and tidying boots/ shoes. Oddly it seems to be a Thai thing too. When visiting DS I was surprised to see that shoes were left outside shops and cafes, or perhaps it was just that part of Thailand?

We don't have many carpets Ana, just a rug in our sitting room in front of the fire, I have always ripped out carpets and had wood put down which I think is what made me suddenly be aware of how I felt. People can do as they wish in my house, I do keep a few pairs of soft ballet pump knitted slipper things in case visitors want them, and I always take some with me in my bag when I visit other people. My sisters do the same. Lots of people keep their shoes on in our house, but wood and ceramic tiles can be washed easily. I'm used to it in houses, after all what someone does in their own house is their own business, I just try to respect their wishes, but seeing it last night really made me think.

Is it the Japanese who provide disposable slippers? I can't remember. Yes, I read somewhere about the loo shoes - because of splashy males perhaps?

Everyone takes off shoes in Japanese homes. But they have a strange habit of having special shoes for using going into the loo which I find very odd.

I usually wear slippers or mule sandals indoors in my own house.
When DH gets dressed in the morning he puts on his shoes. He never wears slippers.
Noone takes off their shoes when they come into my home, I've never thought to ask them to do so.
None of my friends do this.

If it was really snowy mucky then shoes get taken off at the door but not otherwise.

The only two HOMES I know who do this is my DS and DIL, and DIL's parents (in the USA and Canada).

My floors are wooden and are vacuumed and mopped on alternate days, or as needed.

There is a mat at the outer kitchen door and another inside the kitchen door. No-one ever uses our front door !!

Bare feet on our cool laminate floor has been a godsend these last couple of days. I am not usually worried as long as people are comfortable.

I wouldn't mind taking off my shoes if the room was carpeted. I have no qualms about walking on grime,cafter all my are washable. I don't think that other groups would be that fussed about it either. That's just the way I feel.

I would never ask anyone to take their shoes off when they come into my house, perhaps that is why my cream carpets aren't as cream as they used to be!
Son , Daughter and families take their shoes off because that is what they do at home, they wear socks though. When the GC come in from the garden or park I do ask them to take their shoes off, they normally do without asking though.
I always check the soles of my shoes after wiping then when entering someone's house.
Bare feet can look quite horrible and I would rather have shoes on my carpet than some folks feet!!!
One summers night we were invited to a friends house, the host answered the door in shorts which was fine, but his bare feet were all knobbly and his toenails looked yellow and cracked. I needed more than one drink that night!

Strange you should say that, anno. My DH insists on shoes or slippers on at all times in the house, and is subject to much mockery from me when he changes to his "indoor shoes" . But he's the one who gets athlete's foot and veruccas (so perhaps I should be grateful). I've never had the first and the only verucca I've had was when I was still at school - it had to be cut out by my GP . Mind you, I'm not much of an athlete....

I don't think it's rude,just brave!

With teens in trainers I always insisted that they remove said trainers before the came through but have always provided washable towelling slippers which I salvage from hotel stays. I do this with the DGCs as well as they don't look where they walk and goodness knows what's stuck to the soles of their shoes. But I amLadyMacbeth according to DH.

If everyone walked around barefoot, think of the veruccas and athlete's foot!

I'm like this with hotel carpets. Much prefer a hard floor.

Shoes off indoors in our house.

I always think that bare feet are much cleaner than shoes. I go barefoot at home and whip my shoes off at the door in other people's houses and when I go to toddler group, soft play etc with the GC (I always cringe when I see adults stomping round in shoes near tiny toes and fingers). Nobody's ever asked me to put my shoes back on, but perhaps they've been wishing I would.

I don't think I have ever removed my shoes in a public room, thinking about it.I like visitors to take their shoes off but never ask them to, most do offer but not all.If the weather is dry and fine it doesn't matter, but in wet/ muddy and snowy conditions I think they should offer to.I remember once staying at a friend's house for a weekend and forgetting slippers, so walking about in socks, and being horrified at the end of the day when I took them off..... I was a member of the Blackfoot tribe!The carpets looked ok but must really have been dirty, ugh.
As Teetime says, if you go round to somebody's house for a meal and are dressed nicely, it does look odd if you stick a pair of slippers on, so I take a pair of ballet flats and wear those instead.

I think it's one thing people wearing socks but another when they walk about on carpets barefoot [my feet are particularly sweaty and horrible at the best of times ]. I've never bothered with my house, but have just had new carpets throughout so am having to impose the 'remove shoes' rule; taking some getting used to though [I keep forgetting].

Tricky one. When it very very hot people do take things off and at the end of a hot hot day feet are usually suffering so I think we could stretch a point on this occasion. I always take my shoes off in other people houses to save their carpets and in my own just for comfort really. I do think its looks odd when people have dressed up for a dinner party for example and change into their slippers- I'd rather go without but on the other hand I do not have lovely feet!

What are you like with your own carpets, janerowena, just out of interest? I mean, would you hate it if a visitor took their shoes off?