Shoes in the House - Nooooooo!

I have for you, dear reader, the ultimate housekeeping tip. If you want less dirt in your house, take your shoes off at the door.

Even though all of the flooring in my home is roughly the same color as the dirt outside (seriously - I factored that into the carpet and flooring choices), we take our shoes off at the door.

Every.
single.
time.

Even though we are a no-shoes-in-the-house family, there is still plenty to keep clean, but I can tell you, keeping the shoes on the front porch or just inside the front door saves a lot of tracked-in dirt and grime. And once you have the habit, it's the easiest thing to kick those shoes off when you're headed into the house.

I can think of all sorts of things that might be on the bottom of shoes that I don't want in our house. Dirt, mud, dog-doo, chicken and duck doo, grass bugs, parts of bugs, leaves...you get the idea. While this one simple practice won't take care of every little thing, I don't really worry about laying on the carpet to read a book, or about Little Bit playing on the floor.

We haven't worn shoes in the house since about 1988 (actually, Hubby never wore shoes in the house growing up), and now, I can't imagine ever going back. What about you and yours? Do you wear shoes in, or take them off at the door? Leave a comment and tell me why you do what you do!

Comments

Jennie said…
Shoes off at the door in my house.
Snow, salt, sand, garden detritus, I don't need any of it on the carpets in our rental house. Plus, I too have a little one that likes to play on the floor.

I wasn't raised that way, and in fact when my parents come over to visit, my father usually passes on the custom, as he has a nerve problem in his feet and does a little better if he can keep them strapped into his shoes. We love them, so we let it slide. :-D
HossBoss said…
If it were up to ME, I'd be barefoot everywhere but church anyway. I love going barefoot. But my husband has something on his feet unless he's stepping into the shower or climbing into bed. He wears house shoes (not to be confused with slippers) when he's in the house and his 'outside shoes' when he goes out in our yard/property, work boots for work and slippers for when he's just gotten up but not dressed for the day yet. Me? If I'm in the house, my feet at NAKED!

: )

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