Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Why We Don't Wear Shoes...

I grew up in a house where we always took off our shoes when we first entered the house. I never thought anything of it. It was just something we did, and most of my friends did the same, so it was never an issue. Oh, sure, there were always a few people we had to remind, and a few houses where people told me I didn't have to, but ... it was kinda normal.

Even now, most of my friends take off their shoes inside. (Then again, we have a next door neighbor who wears no shoes at all throughout the neighborhood whenever the thermometer hits 50 degrees, but that's extreme in the other direction!)

Then we have my in-laws. When they visit - and they rarely do - they don't take off their shoes in my house. We ask them to each time. We've bought them slippers to wear in our house. And they still have to be asked each and every time. And then they ignore us and wear their shoes inside anyway.

But that's not the point today.

In their house, they also wear their shoes inside. When we visited in October, they had that thick industrial plastic laid across their living room in a "t" pattern (if only I'd taken a picture of it). They told us their carpet was getting too dirty, and they wanted to protect it.

Be proud of me. I bit my tongue and didn't say a word. I think it's still bruised.

We were there for Thanksgiving, and I realized again what a difference it makes when you wear shoes inside. (Ok, granted, some of this may be due to my mother-in-law's imperfect housekeeping, which explains why my feet sorta stick to the floors when I walk sometimes.

These are my socks after I've worn them in my house all day long:



This photo doesn't do it justice unfortunately (it's worse than it looks), but these are my socks after spending three hours in my in-law's house.



Ewww.

14 comments:

septembermom December 1, 2009 at 9:24 PM  

What a difference! We don't wear shoes in the house either. Sometimes my husband will forget and my daughter will promptly shake her finger and tell him to "get those shoes off". I have her trained well!

Pop and Ice December 1, 2009 at 10:12 PM  

We're more of a "no shoes in the house during winter" kind of family. Which only makes sense unless you want really, dirty wet floors and carpet.

Plastic over dirty carpet? That's just yucky. Thankfully, most of my downstairs is tile and hardwoods, so cleanup is rather easy.

Tami December 2, 2009 at 8:13 AM  

We have the same rule. Even my son's friends who visit (daily) take off their shoes. I didn't pay attention before, but my in-laws don't take off their shoes either! New pet peeve is stewing... ;-)
We have a combo of tile, hardwood and one room (which was the dinning room, but now a play room for the little ones) that still has carpet.
If I could only get my doggies to cooperate and take off their muddy paws before they enter the house! LOL

Teacher Tom December 2, 2009 at 8:37 AM  

I don't wear socks either -- that way I have no idea how dirty the floor is/was. =)

WeaselMomma December 2, 2009 at 11:09 AM  

And that's why we wear shoe in our house. That and my feet are perpetually cold.

marco December 2, 2009 at 11:34 AM  

We don't wear shoes or socks for that matter in the house. Usually we wear slippers, and given some people aversion to going without shoes in the house, we bought slippers for the detractors, and still some complain. Sometimes my kids come back from theirs friends and their socks are filthy. We have started making visitors (kids mainly) with dirty socks, to them off.

Michelle December 2, 2009 at 9:32 PM  

Kelly - It is, isn't it? Kinda gross :) Gotta love how your daughter keeps your husband in line!

Carol Lynn - Technically, I'm hoping -- since I didn't actually verify this -- that they cleaned the carpet before they put down the plastic. For my own sanity, I'm going to pretend like I know they did.

t.t. millers - Oops, don't mean to make a new pet peeve. BUT did you see the paw cleaners they have at Bed Bath & Beyond?

Tom - No socks? Hmmmm. I think I like wearing socks -- and only partly because then I can slide on the floor as I go. And maybe because I keep the house a little chilly in the winter.

WeaselMomma - Wait, that's why? I'm confused!

marco - It's amazing how some people complain... I'm hoping I'm teaching the wee ones to "do as the Romans do" when reasonable. I hadn't even thought about the socks people are wearing though. Ewww.

Anonymous December 3, 2009 at 2:51 PM  

I was raised in a no shoes house, and have insituted the same policy in my house. It irritates me to no end when people come into my house and don't remove their shoes - I have a 7-month-old rolling around and putting everything in her mouth!

The socks? EWWW! (Kind of what my socks look like when I walk around in them at my in-laws house . . . and they wonder why we never brought Cooper up to play as a baby!)

Melisa Wells December 5, 2009 at 10:13 PM  

Okay, gross.

Michelle December 17, 2009 at 9:12 PM  

Nichole - These are the days when I'm happy we live five and a half hours from the in laws :)

Melisa - Totally, isn't it?

Matthew Celestine January 18, 2010 at 12:24 PM  

That is so rude of them not removing their shoes when they had been asked.

I have an whole blog about removing shoes in homes: Shoes Off at the Door, Please You might like to take a look.

Michelle February 22, 2010 at 10:06 PM  

Celestial Fundy - Eh, they could do worse, but it does annoy me. And is it wrong that I'm almost afraid to go look? :)

Unknown August 19, 2010 at 2:24 AM  
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Unknown October 6, 2010 at 12:28 PM  
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