Wearing shoes inside the house
 

I thought Asians were the ones who regularly removed shoes upon entering the house. I've always had to ask my Y-T friends to take off their shoes in the house. :o

It turns out my (caucasian) bf also has to take off his shoes upon entering his parents house. He says it's not only an Asian thing- he's from the midwest and the homes he's visited do the same thing.

Is it a regional thing?

Do you take off your shoes before entering your house?

We take off our shoes when we go to my grandma's house, but it's only because she has white carpet and is maybe the cleanest person I've ever known.

At my parent's house, the floors are all tile, so if you don't wear shoes in the winter, you will freeze your toes off!

I can't stand to wear shoes in the house...my cousins on my dad's side are all the same way. My mom's family, however, always wears shoes in the house. So maybe it's a German thing too. :)

I've seen people do that and always found it odd. My shoes live in my room, not in the hallway or laundry room somewhere.

I wear them in the house if I feel like it; i take them off if I don't. We have mostly hardwood and tile, so its not that big of a deal. Usually during the winter I wear slippers around the house just because they're warmer. During the summer I usually bum around the house in flip flops.

When I was little, my family wore shoes no matter where we were in the house. Then my parents got new, light-colored, high-pile carpeting. Slippers for all!

Part of my house is carpeted, part is hardwood floors. If I'm wearing shoes, I won't go into the carpeted areas of my house, but usually I just wear slippers around the house. Just an attempt to keep entropy at bay... :)

Mr. Ginger and I don't wear our shoes inside our house. It's very common in the midwest, especially in the more rural areas... you don't want to be tracking all that mud, slush, snow, gravel, etc. inside your house. There's not much that's worse than stepping in a melted-snow footprint.

We don't ask people to take their shoes off when they visit, but most do either out of habit or because they see us without shoes.

its way common im the midwest. at my house, we usually enter and leave the house through the garage. when you walk into my house through the garage, there's a coat/shoe room - its like one big giant walk in closet that connects the garage to the house. We ALWAYS take off our shoes when we get home - not doing so will result in my mother kicking your butt!!! :D

One of my very good friends is from Minnesota, and we always remove our shoes in her house. Apparently, she was brought up to do that, and we do it out of respect to her when we visit (although she's told us not to feel like we have to).

I'm from Georgia, and we don't remove our shoes before going inside our house. To me, it seems kind of weird to do so unless you're at a good friend's home or at the home of a family member. Seems like you're a little too comfortable in someone's house if you start removing clothing at the door. :D

I always take my shoes off when I enter my home. And I would NEVER dream of wearing my shoes inside someone elsees house without their permission.
I was brought up that it's the polite thing to do when entering someone elses home to take off your shoes. You don't need to go walking all over their house bring mud and god knows what else from outside with you.

Re: Wearing shoes inside the house
 

I never wear shoes in my place or my parents. Its always been like that.

Mine come off the minute I get inside.

I don't care while in my parents. My brother always were shoes (so does my daddy) now when I move out to an aprtment I will not wear shoes to get the carpet dirty.


Christia

LOL. Down here, its much more "do you mind if I take my shoes off?" I feel weird at my fiance's house when I don't have shoes on, like his parents will think that I'm being rude because I came in and started getting undressed!

Well...you know what my answer is. :D

My friends' parents are neurotic about taking off shoes in the houses. It's scary. In high school my boyfriends always thought my parents were so cool because we allow shoes to be worn in the house. ;)

My parents ahave always been ANAL about shoe-wearing. I loved going to school and living on my own because I could FINALLY wear my shoes EVERYWHERE!! Very exciting for me....

NOW I live in an apartment and my roommate likes for us to take our shoes off. I CANT WAIT until I live at adelphi next year (sorority compound) and can wear my shoes inside again!!

Up here it is the rare occassion that shoes remain on when entering a house or apartment. I think it has to do with not wanting snow/salt/sand to be tracked all over the house in the winter time. It can be quite a mess to clean up.

Re: Wearing shoes inside the house
 

Yes, my husband is very anal about it. By the way, he's Asian, lol. :)

It's not a rule for my house that people remove their shoes, but I HATE shoes and they come off at the front door. My kids got it from me. We end up with what my son refers to as "The Shoe Pile" by the door. The poor kid doesn't know what to do if I put them all in his closet. Then he can't find his shoes!

When I'm visiting someone else, it depends. When it's snowy, salty, etc as CanadianTeke said, they always come off. Ditto for rainy. I just don't want to track mud/water/snow/salt into someone's house. I did have a lot of friends who weren't allowed to wear their shoes in the house.

Dee

ETA: Then again, I had friends whose living rooms had plastic on the furniture and lamps and they were never allowed to use that room. I never got the point of that either. I use my living room and family room equally... I like having a lot of living space!

Everyone in my house takes their shoes off at the door. We also have that shoe pile inside the garage door. If someone comes over I won't ask them to remove their shoes, but I always hope they will notice no one else has on shoes.

-wendi

ahhh I HATE the "shoe piles"!!! That's why I can't wait til I can finally wear my shoes inside next year!!!

My best friend from 8th grade had parents who made us take off our shoes before we could enter the house. They were Italian and had beautiful and expensive tile floors which they didn't want scuffed. They didn't ask my mom to take her shoes off when she came over though.

Now I usually take my shoes off when I get home and always when there is rain or snow.

I know a few folks here in Oklahoma that worry about it. My family never cared.

I generally wear shoes everywhere.

I generally take off my shoes when I enter my house, but I would never dream of telling a guest to do so.

You know what's funny? I walk in the house, and walk to my bedroom on the other side of the house to take them off. lol. Seems to defeat the purpose, doesn't it?

My boyfriend's mom is Californian (I consider it a country, haha), and she is NUTS about taking your shoes off. I don't think she even likes me wearing them on the welcome mat. :p

Work Boots: Off
Shoes: On

Exactly!

I HATE SHOES, but I LOVE fancy house slippers. I picked up 3 new pairs to wear when I entertain. I'm getting to be a slipper freak like some women are shoe hounds.

must remove shoes
 

i am from oklahoma and here it is done out of respect. because where i am from in particular it just always seems to be muddy, and therefore you do not want to track mud into the persons house so you take your shoes off. plus for some odd reason it is like it offends the person if you dont because it is like you dont care about their stuff or you dont plan on visiting very long, i dont know it just seems that way.

i hate wearing shoes, so they always come off as soon as i walk in the door. if it is snowy or rainy or muddy, i will always take off my shoes at a friend's house. i would hate to have them walking around behind me cleaning up my foot prints! otherwise, i leave them on...unless we are good friends, then off they go!

When we first moved into the neighborhood, every kid took their shoes off-no one had to ask. I was so shocked-but very happy they were already trained! It was pretty dusty because of new construction plus, we live on a golf course and Hubby always had grass clippings and spikes. Now they don't allow spikes.

When I come home, I'll take them off when I'm upstairs in my room... I don't like wearing sneakers in my house, I'll put slippers on, much more comfy. My mom and dad on the other hand, wear their shoes inside and won't take them off while they're cooking dinner or just watching TV-- I'm always like, don't you want to take them off? But it doesn't bother them, they just do it for some reason.

I just bought a condo and the carpeting is pale beige and the area is new construction. My mom and I got into it on moving day cause it was raining and I was making everyone take off their shoes between trips outside. She told me to calm down and thats when my brother tracked red mud throughout half the house. I could have killed him (and claimed insanity I was so mad). Shoes are off at the door. I have relaxed on my parents/ grandmother though (as long as its not raining)

HOME: if the weather is nice, then i really don't think about it unless i'm getting comfortable, or it's summer and i'm probably barefoot anyway. but if the weather is bad then i take them off at the door and carry them to my room because the shoe pile at the door is just NOT attractive.

OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES: they stay on no matter what, unless they're covered in mud or the host says something.

USFstudent...thats when my brother tracked red mud throughout half the house. I could have killed him

OH NO!!! Sounds like red clay!!! How did you ever get it out?
Even regular clay destroys things around here, but I found Orange Clean Paste even got the dog's vomit stain out!
Gross, I know.
edited-the stain was there for over three years.

When I saw the title of this thread I had to post! I have always worn my shoes inside my house as well as everyone else I know, but when I went to visit my friend in France those couple of times I couldn't and she thought it was so weird that I wore my shoes inside my house. The thought of wearing shoes in the house almost made her sick! She said shoes were dirty and filthy and that's why French people have those little racks outside their doors (usually in the garage, by the door leading inside the house) to put their shoes on when they came in. I remember her asking me one day if it was really true what she saw in American movies, if Americans really would consider lying down on their beds with their--gasp!--shoes on. I thought it was really funny, because I do that without thinking.

Fortunately, I had attacked him in the garage and wiped 99% of the mud off his shoes first (thus starting several family jokes about biblical references and me cleaning his feet.....:rolleyes: ) So I guess I missed a glob on the far side of one shoe, the linolium (sp?) got the most of it, and by the time he was on carpeting it was pretty faint. I got most of it up, and can still see it. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Yeah my husband has tried to break me of the shoes in the house habit! He gave up :D
But in other folx house that don't wear shoes, I do take them off

shoes are ALWAYS off in my apt. i had my shoes on yesterday and was barely on the carpet and my roommate was like "umm...shoes" we just laughed about it. from what i remember i have always taken my shoes off since i moved out (alomst 2 yrs ago). my roommate/best friend grew up in Iceland and he has always taken his shoes off. he mom insists that i dont need to take mine off when i go over there but i always do cause i know it bothers her....i just thought it was natural to take your shoes off...they are dirty!!

am i weird?!?!? :confused: :confused:

***dances a :confused: dance***

I don't like shoes and I wear them as little as possible. If I could, I walk around barefoot all day. I usually take my shoes off in the car on my way home, though, because I enjoy driving barefoot. I end up just walking my shoes back to my closet when I get home.

Considering how many globs of spit, mucous and snot loogies that I see on the sidewalk, I would NEVER wear shoes inside the house. My shoes are removed once I get inside the door.
And yes, I would politely ask guests to remove their shoes also.