The Shoe Fetish
Sometimes I wonder: are Martin and I more American or more European?
Add a point to the European column today; here’s the entrance to our tarped off kitchen that will be COMING DOWN this week:
We treat the space like a back door to our house. We have our door mat on the inside of our little bubble, and we always take off our shoes when we’re done working. Germans always take their shoes off inside the house while most Americans tell us it’s okay to leave our shoes on (we start taking them off out of habit the moment we walk into someone’s house).
The idea of leaving my shoes on inside the house just feels yucky these days, especially when we’ve rented apartments with wall-to-wall carpet that can suck up all the dirt, lawn chemicals, and ice melters we pick up on the bottom of our shoes.
How do the rules go in your house? Shoes? No shoes?
February 21st, 2009 at 6:22 am
No shoes….all on a shoe rack (the pairs being worn currently) and the rest in wardrobes. I am well out of the habit of wearing shoes inside which is normal in Australia.
February 21st, 2009 at 7:52 am
No shoes in the house here either. We have a couple of shoe baskets – we could totally use a rack though – Renia has a good idea there! It really helps keep the floors cleaner, and just seems more sanitary. We have house slippers – god, we sound old! haha!
February 21st, 2009 at 8:48 am
No shoes on in my house…slippers are ok though! Why am I online on my due date? I should be in the hospital!!
I bet you can’t wait for the tarp to come down.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:00 am
No shoes! But slippers are a must! With all of the snow we get here in winter, my carpets and wood floors would be a yucky, wet mess if we kept our shoes on.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:39 am
Indy and I take our shoes off the minute we come in the door. Too much snow, slush and muck to wear them in the house. We already have dogs who bring muck in, so we don’t need to add to it. I *try* really hard to get M to take his off, because they are HUGE, but he says it’s too much trouble to take off his combat boots when he comes home for lunch. Instead I whip out my little swiffer and clean up after him. Blah.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:49 am
I lived a number of years in Hawaii where you always remove your shoes at the door. I know it is also a Japanese custom. Here in NC most people don’t take off their shoes. However, we do. It just feels like the right thing to do. I wish we had room at the front door for a basket or shoe rack that would suggest to arriving guests that we would appreciate them removing street shoes. I know of no polite way to ask them to do so. I have thought about bringing one of thoese cute signs home from Hawaii sometime: “Please remove shoes (*slippers* in Hawaii- or flip flops, as we know them). Mahalo!”
February 21st, 2009 at 10:27 am
Christy, I use a shoe rack from Ikea (we have two)- you can see it a little here http://ekkentroslife.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-want-to-be-free.html :)
February 21st, 2009 at 10:27 am
We all take off our shoes when we come inside. It’s pretty standard practice in Canada. And if we visit someone else’s house we take off our shoes too. However, I will tell guests it’s OK to leave their shoes on, particularly if they’re just dropping by for a minute to pick something up or the like. It’s very rare that someone takes me up on it, though.
February 21st, 2009 at 10:57 am
No shoes, but we do wear slippers. Have a great weekend!
February 21st, 2009 at 12:48 pm
No shoes. But my husband never follows the rules and now our white rug is turning grey!
February 21st, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Definitely no shoes. There’s snow here for more than half the year :P
February 21st, 2009 at 2:36 pm
We leave our shoes on unless my feet are feeling claustrophobic in my shoes. But I also wear arch supports in my shoes and sometimes I am worse off leaving my shoes off than I am leaving them on. Knee and ankle pain can come on if I am without shoes for too long. So sometimes people need to leave shoes on to get the needed support to avoid pain and that can include back pain too.
February 21st, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Since my husband was raised in a Swedish household, we leave our shoes just inside the door. Supposedly, that’s not the norm here in Belgium.
February 21st, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Excellent point, Linnea. I’d be wearing shoes if the alternative meant a sore back. Thank you for showing us another perspective on this one!
Katie
February 21st, 2009 at 9:54 pm
No shoes…but one of my sons always forgets and tracks dirt in. I’m always saying, “This is a no-shoe house! Don’t forget!” I think I will get him some slippers. I live in slippers in the winter, and bare feet in the summer.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:44 am
No shoes. I was astounded when I found out you folks leave your shoes on inside the house. No judging involved, just surprise. It never occurred to me people overseas were so different ;) We have “indoor shoes”/slippers, though.
Thank you for that email you wrote, I haven’t come around to answering yet, I have a very high maintenance baby :)
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
When it’s the two of us we leave our shoes at the door. Especially in the winter when they are full of snow and salt and things. But when we have company over, we don’t require them to take their shoes off. We also have slippers for around the house since it’s cold on hardwood floors.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:06 am
No shoes. And dog’s paws get cleaned well in this weather. I must say that my hubby already had the habit of taking his shoes off when we met. I guess a big thank you goes to his mom ;o)
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 am
We were raised in all-american shoe-wearing households, but went to college with a lot of asian friends, and adopted the shoeless habit from them.
But we’re not strict about it – guests can wear them if they prefer. It’s not worth making them uncomfortable if they weren’t expecting to de-shoe.
Occasionally, the cold hard floors are bothersome, and I wish I had more supportive slippers, or maybe thicker rugs.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:29 am
InIndia there is agood custom of removing the shoes at the door .Though,hot cold and rainy seasons in India .even in the villages after removing the the shoes visiter use to wash the foot and join the company.
June 20th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Removing shoes in homes is such an excellent thing to do.
I have an whole blog about this: Shoes Off at the Door, Please You might want to take a look.
December 17th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Wearing shoes in the house? I never even thought to do it! Must be a Canadian thing…maybe it’s the winters of slush and snow!
September 26th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
if you r nt managing to get off your shoes properly mean y r not a diciplined person and consist adistured man. may visit any whear 1st at sitituation of the surface and your position of shoes.If they allows y and ofcourse the invity permits you.ok.
July 19th, 2011 at 3:11 am
It is considered quite auspicious to keep shoes outside your main living room.Not permitted in kitchen,A strict no at the place of worship. Kindly follow and reap the benefit bydoing this.