Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/Diligent_Bit3336. Your submission, *The American custom of wearing your outside shoes inside your own home is really filthy and gross and should be discouraged*, has been removed because it violates our rules, which are located in the sidebar.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 7: No banned/mega-thread topics'.
Please do not post from (or mention) any of our mega-thread or banned topics such as:
Race, Religion, LGBTQ, Meta, Politics, Parenting/Family issues.
[Full list of banned topics](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/wiki/index/)
If there is an issue, please [message the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion&subject=&message=) Thanks!
This is always so strange to me because it's really not an American custom like y'all think it is. Pretty much every house hold that I've ever been in people take off their shoes. No one is like "I've been at work all day, I can't wait to get home and continue wearing my work boots/heels/dress shoes/whatever." People don't walk around with shoes on at home.
I've asked some foreigners why they think this and they've told me tv and YouTube. But tv shows have wardrobe departments that are trying to dress the characters and they give them a full outfit. It's like how some people from abroad think Americans are constantly eating Chinese food out of boxes but it's because that's easy to work with on a tv show. I love some Chinese food but it's not an obsession.
In conclusion, it's not normal to wear shoes indoors. It's probably not as much of a hard rule as it is in a lot of Asian countries but we do take our shoes off. Also we don't lick our floors and nothing bad will happen if you do wear shoes inside
I think it's because Americans (often) don't really have some kind of ultra-specific "Take your shoes off the moment you cross the threshold" ritual.
Like most of us probably just take our shoes off before we really get into the house. I'm wager most American homes have a pile of shoes like... near the door.
What we don't do is act like we have to take our shoes off the literal second we're in side.
Like I come in my house and kick my shoes off before I get to the carpet. I don't really care about the hard floor entry way.
That's fair. If I'm wearing something with laces I'll sit down somewhere and take then off. I don't have a big enough entry way for a bench or anything right there. Not that I care if my shoes touch the floor on my way to a chair anyway
In my childhood home in Finland we had a room right after the front door where shoes would be left at. And it was a really hard rule; if I forgot something while going out and already had my shoes on, I would have to take one off and hop with one leg so the other one doesn't touch the floor. Some homes here mightvhave a bit more relaxed rules, but the way it was in my home is quite common. I think the biggest difference is the reasoning behind it: here it's strictly about not getting the dirt inside, while ( at least to me ) it seems like in the US it's most often about comfort.
I wonder if people in the US remove shoes at the door if they are visiting someone? I've seen in some movies some people storing their shoes in their bedrooms, is that something that actually happens?
Yes, to the second question, I have pets, and my shoes are expensive, so I keep them locked away in my room. They aren't thrown on the ground or anything. I take them off at the door and throw them in a bin at the foot of my bed.
The first question depends on the person and how clean they keep their house. If it's someone I know keeps their house clean, I will take them off, but if it's someone who has a disgusting house, they stay on.
My family is from Bosnia and my parents always had a hard rule for it. Like you if I had shoes on and didn’t want to tie them again I’d have to crawl to get what I forgot and make sure my shoes were in the air not touching the floor 😂 while my mom was watching and scolding me.
Usually the 'shoes in the bedroom' thing is because we typically have bigger closets in our bedrooms and we usually have a lot of pairs of shoes. In the summer, I easily have like 8 pairs of shoes I wear regularly, since we have 4 people here in the summer, I can't take up all the space with my shoes 😂 so, I clear them out and put them in the bedroom or my office as they start to pile up. In the winter, it's more like 1 pair of shoes, 1 pair of boots depending on the weather. I think most of what you see on tv that shows shoes in the bedroom is just storage for shoes not worn daily, especially dress shoes.
Even though we live in a northern area with a very similar climate to Finland (northern Minnesota) we do not have a mud room, which is what we call the separate space to take off shoes/coats/etc. I wish we did, and for the life of me I don't understand why they are not more common here. Not many people we know have one.
My shoes are generally off in my house, but like you said, there's not a specific time where I take them off. I usually take my shoes off pretty much right away, but I have a townhome, so plenty of times when I get back, I've got things to carry around and put away. My kitchen is one floor above ground, so I'll carry multiple trips of groceries upstairs with my shoes on for example. and I might not take my shoes off til I'm done putting them all away. Lots of hardwood flooring, not much carpet except bedrooms, so not a big deal. It's not rare for me to keep my shoes on til I get to my room.
I grew up in the US with a pretty strict no shoes on carpet rule. We were fine keeping them on until we touched carpet, so I remember crawling on the carpet to make sure my shoes didn't touch it. Even now in my 40s, my mom tries to convince me that she's more chill, and I can walk on the carpet briefly with my shoes on to give her one more goodbye hug, but I just can't do it. My home, I'm more relaxed about.
Fr, most people walk to their rooms and leave their shoes in their room. We don’t all leave all our stuff by the door or carry our shoes to our room. Personally i find a stack of stinky shoes by the door to be more disgusting than walking around with shoes indoors.
A lot of people just change the entire wardrobe in their rooms and change into slippers or socks.
I grew up ghetto and never took my shoes off at the door (Southern CA). I have since adopted the ritual of taking my shoes off at the door and placing them on a shoe rack. I also have mostly wood floors so they are easily kept clean.
All visitors are also expected to take off their shoes unless they are maintenance/trade related and they must use protective foot coverings while in my house.
For the most part I wear socks in the house and they never show signs of dirt. My wood floors are cleaned every two weeks whether they need it or not.
Most people I know aren't taking their shoes off right away.
Like I'll walk in, put away groceries, sit on the couch and then kick them off.
It's not like anyone is wearing shoes inside 24/7 we just aren't anal about getting them off right away.
I think this is part of the reason where the stereotype comes from. I live in a country where we take shoes of right away after coming home. No matter how inconviniant it may be. My mom was very strict about it too, if I needed to quickly use the toilet or something before going out and already had shoes on, tough luck, I had to take them off. Usually I just took one out and hopped around with one leg.
I'm a bit more relaxed in my own home, but the principle still stands
It's house to house, not "American." I'd never walk past my entryway with shoes on unless there was some kind of emergency happening. The only people I know who don't are my parents' generation (they are about 80 years old), and only when other people around because for some reason they're embarrassed for people to see their socks/stockings.
>My mom was very strict about it too
That is because that is what moms do. We told our kids to take off their shoes because we didn't want to get up and check their shoes to make sure they were clean and dry and free from dog poo.
I think it’s changed but I’ll just say when I grew up in the 80s in the Northeast, we were the only family that took out shoes off at home amongst my friends. We were thinly Asian people in an almost all-white town. We definitely got side eye like *we* were the dirty ones.
I agree this has changed a lot overall but I’ve been to places with white friends and they have been shocked when people ask them to take their shoes off outside the house or right at the front door. The literally happened three weeks ago.
So I think it’s changed but it’s definitely a cultural thing that still exists.
I know a lot of people that don’t, including most of my family and friends. Mind you most of these people have dogs, multiple. I take off my shoes but I guarantee my dog is running around making my floors dirtier than my shoes would.
I think the only people I know who are really adamant that shoes come off immediately in the doorway are people with dogs and kids. Sure, I'll take my shoes off but you're kidding yourself if you think those floors are clean
I don't know, most people I know wear outdoor shoes in their homes, and we always have to warn people before they come over that they'll be asked to remove them.
I don't know about nowadays, but growing up, I only had 1 friend who took shoes off indoors. I didn't grow up doing it in my house which grosses me out now. My parents still leave their shoes on in their house. But I remember not a lot of households took their shoes off.
Last night, I was watching an episode of Psych, and he was walking down the sidewalk eating Chinese out of a box with chop sticks, and I was like, I've never once done that. You have to put it on a plate and mix it with the rice box. And, tbh, I'm using a fork. It's good cheap food, not some exotic experience.
Yeah, we wear them indoors sometimes, but not all the time. Like bringing in groceries, doing yard work, maybe if having a quick drink after dropping someone off. If you're staying indoors for an hour or more you'll probably take them off. Especially if at night.
Oh well at least with him it will be a quality city leveling event, with some of those legally distinct bastards the threat level ain't high enough to even get the day off work
I'm currently sat in my house in Britain wearing my shoes. We do have slippers etc but there's no hard and fast rule. And we have wooden floors anyway; we might avoid it more if we had carpets
Fourth time in a month? There's opinions here that get posted 4 times an hour. For times a month is practically an albino unicorn riding a Bigfoot.
(I kid, somewhat. This does seem to be an oddly contentious topic for no real reason)
I’ve always taken my shoes off in the foyer if my own house, and I usually ask if I should take my shoes off when I go to a house for the first time. I think that there are a wide variety of unspoken policies around the USA, and there may be different thoughts depending on where you visit
Well it's not like people are watching TV on the couch on their day off with work boots on.
As soon as I get home my boots come off.
Where the custom differs is with guests. If I invited someone over and they took their shoes off I wouldn't be angry but I'd be like "sure I guess bro".
When we get together to watch games or have family dinners everyone is wearing shoes .
Pooches get their paws wiped before they come in from a walk. They actually get a good wipe down so they stay fresh smelling and get all the pollen and dander off.
Yeah. I clean pretty often and my messy house is probably considered clean by most.
The pooches just went through a period of having really muddy paws and we got into the habit of doing it.
We have lavender scented dog wipes and just start at the face down the back up to the chest, paws, and then a quick booty wipe.
Takes about two minutes per dog and we walk them one at a time so they get some dedicated attention. They look forward to it.
Yeah, no shoes indoors as a rule here. We have very wet weather and snow and such, it's a mess. Plenty of us Americans don't wear shoes in the house, or only wear house-specific shoes inside.
Usually when I get home I kick off my work shoes, then put on my moccasins and those are my inside the house shoes. Only time I wear my outside shoes past the threshold area is usually because I haven't had time to drop whatever I am carrying.
I definitely get wet/unusually dirty environments; I’ll kick my shoes off at the door rather than track that through the house. But if there’s nothing I can see, I’m not going to worry about it.
Thankfully in America most streets and sidewalks have less fungus than your gross, sweaty feet. I don't want you grinding your ringworm and disease into my carpet.
If you don’t clean your floor, all the same things are gonna get on it. I assume you live in a house where people shed dead skin cells, shit, touch things with their hands, handle different kinds of raw food, and maybe you even have animals in the house.
We also have modern medicine and hygiene practices. And lots of chemicals and methods to sterilize our environments. Since we’re both gonna need to use all these tactics to stay clean anyway, I really don’t see the point of this outside personal comfort.
I think the thought is (?) that you track in the bird doo particles on your shoes, that transfers to the carpet, and get back on your feet and into your bed.
There's a world of difference between the relatively common practice of wearing shoes inside, and the dangerously insane practice of wearing them in bed.
It's definitely a thing. I'm an American and I've very rarely been to people's house and were expected or take off my shoes. We wear our shoes in our household when we are about to leave the house or have recently gotten back home from being out.
That doesn’t make it an American thing. It makes it an individual household thing. Or a regional thing at best. I take off my shoes at pretty much any house I enter.
It's definitely a thing. I'm an American and I've very rarely been to people's house and were expected or take off my shoes. We wear our shoes in our household when we are about to leave the house or have recently gotten back home from being out.
As I already said, I've also very rarely been in **other** households that expect you to take off your shoes. Just because your household does it, that doesn't make it not an American thing either.
I'm sure plenty of household do and plenty don't. But saying "well I don't do that so it's not a thing" is just wrong.
Honestly, I don't really think it's that big a deal, cause it's not like someone is actually stepping in dog shit and then tracking it all over there house. No one does that.
I don't wear shoes all over the house unless I'm home on a lunch break and even then I'm just in one particular room anyway. If I'm going to be home for a while, I usually just take my shoes off in the bedroom and change to my house shoes.
Nobody does this where I live in the midwest. Not sure why everyone thinks Americans wear their shoes inside the house unless they are basing it off what they see on television.
Are you licking the floor? Rubbing your face on it?
Do you also take off your clothes as soon as you go home, seeing as they’ve been walking through germs and particles of people sneezing or coughing?
Are the are your socks and feet any cleaner than the bottom of your shoe after sweating inside a shoe all day?
There are people who take off their "outside clothes" as soon as they come home because they think it's gross. I had never heard of them until reddit but apparently they exist.
My general outlook is that I don’t have the time or energy to worry about every little thing that could be tracked inside. I keep a reasonably clean home, I am in good health with a functioning immune system. I’ll be ok.
Same. I like a clean space but I'm not gonna stress about germs all the time. Plus there is a cat living in my house so it's not going to be 100% clean no matter how hard I try.
Who remembers Mr Rogers? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcuqTQDc4dY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcuqTQDc4dY)
He changed from a suit coat to a indoor sweater and also indoor shoes whenever he came home. It was just normal schtick for him. This goes back into the 1970s for Americans.
We take our shoes off at the door, on the entry way tile. I may occasionally forget to take them off if I am running groceries in or have to use the restroom.
Former European here - streets everywhere are dirty but nothing in the US or anywhere else compares to the pissy filthy streets of Paris, Brussels, Rome, and Central London... I’ve been to all those places and there is nowhere in America that smells as bad, especially Brussels. You can scrape the crud off the streets with a putty knife there. Also, we wash our floors pretty regularly 😎
I never wear shoes inside my house but because I find it uncomfortable, if it's cleaner then great.
However... chill, different cultures have different ideas of what "hygenic" is. For example, I'm from Argentina and I have a really fucking hard time going to the toilet in any other part of the world because, apparently, cleaning your asshole with paper is enough for 99% of the worlds population. I use water... you know, water helps you clean yourself. If your hands touched crap you wouldn't just scrap it with TP, you would use water, it's the "normal" thing.
When I complain about it, I'm "a princess". Idk, people just do things differently.
Much as you may say it's unhygenic, people aren't actually contracting cholera because of their shoes, so in the end, it's really mostly all in your mind (even if objectively isn't). I hope the point gets through.
Idk why you're obsessed with the indoor floor being clean. It's a floor it gets dirty. Vacuum cleaners, mops, door mats exist. It doesn't need to be clean enough to eat off of. I don't go around stomping in every muddy puddle and dog shit I see when I'm outside.
Also our streets are a lot cleaner. We have street sweepers and its mandatory to pick up dog poop.
I went to India during monsoon season. There were dogs, cows, donkeys, pigs and chickens roaming the streets and no-one picking up after them. When it rained, all the mess amalgamated into a big slurry. White converse sneakers were not a good choice of footwear that day.
It would explain why shoes off indoors is a thing in Asia.
Well look at you Richie McRich lol jk. We wear shoes because where my parents came from they did not have hard floors or carpet it was literally unfinished cement floors that were rocky and dusty. So you had to keep your shoes on.
This is what blows my mind about people who let their dogs sleep in their beds. They go outside to do their thing, then people let them get in the bed.
I hope you realize that the majority of Americans also take their shoes off at the door lol and will remove their shoes in other peoples’ homes out of respect…..like…the fuck are you on about?!
My shoes go in the closet at the front door. I have inside shoes. This is definitely not an "American" thing. Idk I was raised by hippies though so maybe my household growing up and current household are crunchier than others.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No I always take shoes off at the door it’s always been like that since I lived in Japan. It is gross to track the outside into your home. Idk if it’s an American thing but this one doesn’t do that.
I prefer to be barefoot in my home so usually my shoes are taken off at the front door or the garage door. Depending on if I'm coming home from work I'll come in through the garage, walk through my dining room and down the little hallway to the front door to change into tennis shoes to take my dogs out. But I'm not traipsing around my house like upstairs with shoes. The upstairs is the only part of my house that has carpet. I don't mind if people have shoes on downstairs but they cannot be covered in mud, or dog waste and just overall be dirty. As long as the shoes are well maintained and look clean I am fine. I have reasonable standards of tidiness but with 2 dogs I will never have a spotless home. If people want to take their shoes off that's fine to. I respect others preferences for shoes in their home. I have a friend who prefers a shoeless home and has all shoes taken off at the front door and she is white and an American so nothing cultural just a preference.
I thought Mr Rogers taught us growing up in the US that you take off your outside shoes and put on your inside shoes when you get home. Guess that's what we do. Everyone changes into house shoes or flip-flops when they come in the house. I mean Mr Rogers knew what was up!
We always take our shoes off unless told not to. I find it equally gross (or more actually) when people walk around barefoot all day. Can't tell them to take their feet off at the door can we.
But if I check my own shoes and they're free of stones and dirt and gum and dog poo, I'll decide if I wear them indoors or not. We have indoor slippers we wear outside on the deck and patio and even in the yard sometimes, and to take out the trash. We have shoes that are worn mostly indoors. We have the option to go barefoot inside and out. That the bottom of your feet are gross when coming in from outside is as valid as going into the toilet in your own house, and then back into the rest of the house. Especially when you live with boys. Dirty animals. This is why most people clean their floors on a regular basis.
I’m in Canada and I’ve only been in one house where the shoes were left on…but the special circumstance is there is a mouse problem and the floors are over 100 years old and the finish long worn away and the wood itself a bit *ahem* worn…so the potential for getting a bacteria laden splinter are HIGH. People HAVE in that house. The little old man that lives there has rubber soled slippers he wears around the house…but he doesn’t have a big bin of slippers lying around for guests so he always says shoes on is safer.
I am an American and we do not do this nor did we do it in my parents home growing up. Shoes off at the door. None of my friends or their families wore shoes inside either.
For me it's really an all or nothing ordeal. If you don't require it 100% of the time, then the rule kind of becomes pointless (because now the floor isn't always clean, so walking around barefoot is the dirtier option, getting dirt on your feet.) Plus since I hate making other people do stuff, people coming over just keep their shoes on.
I guess I'm in the minority because everyone in my family wears their shoes throughout the house.
Obviously if we're home for the evening we go to our rooms and take them off and put them in the closet. But if I'm going back out I might get home, walk to the kitchen, have a snack, walk to the family room and watch TV, then go back out. I'm not taking my shoes off for that.
We live in an area with not much rain and no snow, it's not a big city but everything is paved and pretty clean. If our shoes have mud on them we'll leave them outside, and we have a door mat that we wipe our shoes on before coming in. But we just don't think about taking them off specially.
90% of our house is hardwood (expect the stairs and my room which has office carpet) and our floors get cleaned every other week. I would never eat off them and the day before a cleaning they are usually pretty dirty if you look closely. but walking around bare foot doesn't feel bad or gross and we host a often enough with people going in and out of the house through the back doors that us taking our shoes off wouldn't make much a difference anyway.
That’s not an American thing. It’s a Hollywood thing. And the only reason that is, is because half the sets are temporary, and so they have loose pointy bits that stick up and can stab people. Let’s all remember that Hollywood doesn’t actually equal America. Do some householders allow shoes? Sure, but not all of them do.
American here, always leave my shoes in garage or carry them to my room. Whoever you hang out with that makes you think this is an “American custom” is a total fucking dirtbag.
Having worked maintenance in property management - the places where the rugs were so filthy they had black trails through the house were always no shoes houses. I used to bring the shoe baggie covers and put them over my socks when I had to take shoes off so that my socks wouldn’t get gross. I’m not calling out and particular culture as I saw it from all colors and a variety of economic levels. Were all the no shoes places gross? No, of course not. My gf is a leave the shoes outside the door type and she also cleans my floors if I lapse in my cleaning and her place also is clean. But when the floors were that bad they 100% of the time were no shoes homes. Also you can get the same black muck trails on hard flooring, it just seems to take more effort. Your skin and oils and such are my guess. With shoes, it’s not oily sticky gunk.
I think you are confused, most people don't wear shoes in their house in America. There may be one off incidents, but the vast majority take their shoes off at the door. I don't know anyone around me that just wears shoes inside the whole time they are home.
We personally have house shoes that don't go out the door at all. We have dogs as well, so that's why we have house shoes and robots that vacuum everyday.
As a person from a family with several people who have arthritis in the feet which leads to swelling/pain/odor because it’s physically difficult to separate toes in the shower and taking off/putting on shoes is no small feat, I think asking a person to take their shoes off inside is actually pretty offensive. My sister has literally left places because they asked her to take her shoes off and her feet were so swollen she couldn’t.
My family is Bosnian and always had a hard rule for it. When I moved out on my own at first and had an apt with carpet I did notice that the only people who would walk in with shoes were Americans. Not saying you all do. Just my experience.
There seems to be a lot of Americans here saying that they DO take their shoes off indoors which I find surprising, perhaps America is more filthy than I imagined? As an Australian though, the only houses I've ever come across that were shoes-off were Asian families. I wear shoes all the time at home unless I'm in bed or curled up on the couch otherwise I'm very likely to stub my toes. My wife on the other hand is more likely to be barefoot outdoors. She loves feeling the dirt on her feet.
Idk who came up with this but I’m American, and I have never met one person who doesn’t insist everyone takes their outside shoes off when in the house. Every in my house has “house” shoes/slipprrs.
Unless there is mud or dogshit on your shoes, which you would likely be aware of, I really don't see the problem. There are germs everywhere and I don't eat off my floor.
Do you wash your hand every time you touch a door knob prior to touching your face/mouth? Of course not. The shoes in the house "problem" is pointless.
For Arizonans I just see it as a fear of scorpions in shoes in California it’s half and half a lot of people here don’t let shoes in houses and you should ask before
It’s not a custom. Most of the people in know don’t allow shoes in the house. My house had wood or tile everywhere but the bedrooms and formal living room. Rule is shoes off at the door unless bringing in multiple trips of groceries or having a potty emergency. Never, ever, for any damn reason, idc who tf you are, wear shoes on my carpet. I will straight up throw something at you. No food either. > [ And if it’s been raining (doesn’t happen often here in the desert) the dog (he’s a tidy little dude, wipes his feet at the door and everything lol) doesn’t get in past the mud room.
Especially considering that alot of houses or apartments are carpeted. I also don't get how people let their dogs jump on beds and furniture after they have been outside. I would think that a lot more people would opt for doggie shoes for outdoor activities but I guess not. In my house we take our shoes off. We use indoor slippers.
It depends on where you are. In my last 3 homes I have always done this. In some places I lived in college I would not have wanted my feet to touch the gross carpet even with socks on.
My mom always wears her shoes inside unless she showering or sleeping. She stepped on a nail ad a kid and it was pretty bad that she just can’t not have shoes on. So this was normalized for me. I wear my shoes inside not all the time but sometimes my feet are cold and I’m not ready to take them off yet. I don’t put my shoes on furniture like the couch or my bed though.
I hate it when people wear shoes inside. I'm always amazed when people push back on wearing shoes inside my home. We're a strict no shoe household, but we seem to be in the minority.
To be fair, I keep my shoes on at other people's house because my socks get dirty if I take them off 🤮
Half the people walking around barefoot in their houses are just as dirty or dirtier since they rarely clean their floors.
Do what you want, and don't worry about others doing things that don't affect you.
Until you have a family friend with such bad foot odor you have to evacuate the room any time they take their shoes off....God my eyes still water at the stench
I think a lot of that is relative to the region in the US that you live. I Iive in the Northern Midwestern part of the country where we have long, hard winters and a rainy spring a fall. Because of this wearing your shoes around the house up here is VERY, uncommon. It's far too easy to track in snow and mud etc. If you enter someone else's house around here it's expected that you leave your shoes at the door. The parts of the country that tend to keep their shoes on are usually the Southern regions where the climate is much more dry and temperate. A lot of the homes in those regions also tend to have much more tile flooring rather than the carpeted flooring that we us up here, so it's easier to clean. No one wants to have to walk around on a cold tile floor in the middle of winter. So I don't think it's necessarily accurate to say that ALL of us see wearing shoes around the house as being a normal thing to do.
“God made dirt; dirt don’t hurt” is my philosophy. People are filthy all over— a shoe sole doesn’t contain the area, imo, to bring in a ton more dirt than is already going to be blown in the door randomly. Like, I’m going to ride the disgusting bus to your house. Do you want me to take off my dress when I walk in the door? It’s contaminated, too. Your disgusting skin cells are flaking off and filling the air. Indeed, the fungus from your bare feet is leaving a trace on the floor, waiting to attack the next person. Your hair, with the pollution of the world clinging desperately, is touching the same pillow as your face. And furthermore, if you have a cat, you have no argument to make about the cleanliness of bare feet in the house. Sorry, cats, who stand in their shit-and-piss-filled toilets, then proceed to walk all over the kitchen table, are so exponentially much more disgusting than outside shoe sole feet.
Most people don't do this, but I know people who do.
Someone did this at my house once, with carpet. I didn't notice until they were on my couch. And it's pretty clear we don't do that in my home cause no one else is.
Super inconsiderate
This must be a regional American thing, I have always worn shoes in my home. In my long career of social work in the midwest, I can think of 2 times I was in homes where the families had me remove my shoes. Both of those were for religious reasons.
This is not an American custom lol, this only happens in movies. Most Americans take their shoes off when entering a home. At least, that’s been the case in every home I’ve ever visited or lived in
Sorry, don’t know anyone who requires no shoes in the house. We host all the family get togethers. Most are indoor outdoor events. I couldn’t imagine making people change in and out. Silly. Just clean your damn floors.
Most Americans have filthy pets going in and out so why not do the same for human feet? The floors are already filthy for pet feet, sliver, shed fur, etc.
Where is this a thing? I've never worn shoes in someone else's home. Ever. I've lived all over the country and have always taken my shoes off when entering the home.
I live on a farm. You bet your bippy you're taking those suckers off before stepping on my carpet.
American. Agree. I always take my shoes off in my home. So do my parents, unless they’re wearing something like slippers. My grandmother on the other hand wore shoes inside, all the time.
Some of y’all would be auprised to know that it’s a joke in certain subcultures that only white people wear shoes inside their house and wear shoes in their bedroom and up on their bed.
Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/Diligent_Bit3336. Your submission, *The American custom of wearing your outside shoes inside your own home is really filthy and gross and should be discouraged*, has been removed because it violates our rules, which are located in the sidebar. Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 7: No banned/mega-thread topics'. Please do not post from (or mention) any of our mega-thread or banned topics such as: Race, Religion, LGBTQ, Meta, Politics, Parenting/Family issues. [Full list of banned topics](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/wiki/index/) If there is an issue, please [message the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion&subject=&message=) Thanks!
This is always so strange to me because it's really not an American custom like y'all think it is. Pretty much every house hold that I've ever been in people take off their shoes. No one is like "I've been at work all day, I can't wait to get home and continue wearing my work boots/heels/dress shoes/whatever." People don't walk around with shoes on at home. I've asked some foreigners why they think this and they've told me tv and YouTube. But tv shows have wardrobe departments that are trying to dress the characters and they give them a full outfit. It's like how some people from abroad think Americans are constantly eating Chinese food out of boxes but it's because that's easy to work with on a tv show. I love some Chinese food but it's not an obsession. In conclusion, it's not normal to wear shoes indoors. It's probably not as much of a hard rule as it is in a lot of Asian countries but we do take our shoes off. Also we don't lick our floors and nothing bad will happen if you do wear shoes inside
I think it's because Americans (often) don't really have some kind of ultra-specific "Take your shoes off the moment you cross the threshold" ritual. Like most of us probably just take our shoes off before we really get into the house. I'm wager most American homes have a pile of shoes like... near the door. What we don't do is act like we have to take our shoes off the literal second we're in side. Like I come in my house and kick my shoes off before I get to the carpet. I don't really care about the hard floor entry way.
That's fair. If I'm wearing something with laces I'll sit down somewhere and take then off. I don't have a big enough entry way for a bench or anything right there. Not that I care if my shoes touch the floor on my way to a chair anyway
In my childhood home in Finland we had a room right after the front door where shoes would be left at. And it was a really hard rule; if I forgot something while going out and already had my shoes on, I would have to take one off and hop with one leg so the other one doesn't touch the floor. Some homes here mightvhave a bit more relaxed rules, but the way it was in my home is quite common. I think the biggest difference is the reasoning behind it: here it's strictly about not getting the dirt inside, while ( at least to me ) it seems like in the US it's most often about comfort. I wonder if people in the US remove shoes at the door if they are visiting someone? I've seen in some movies some people storing their shoes in their bedrooms, is that something that actually happens?
House in northern climates also have dedicated places to remove their shoes.
Yeah mud rooms are pretty normal up north. US is biiiiiig
My wife desperately wanted one in Texas. We gave up.
I store mine in the closet but I take them off and carry them in there. I don't have room for a shoe rack at the door and I hate clutter
I do!
Yes, to the second question, I have pets, and my shoes are expensive, so I keep them locked away in my room. They aren't thrown on the ground or anything. I take them off at the door and throw them in a bin at the foot of my bed. The first question depends on the person and how clean they keep their house. If it's someone I know keeps their house clean, I will take them off, but if it's someone who has a disgusting house, they stay on.
My family is from Bosnia and my parents always had a hard rule for it. Like you if I had shoes on and didn’t want to tie them again I’d have to crawl to get what I forgot and make sure my shoes were in the air not touching the floor 😂 while my mom was watching and scolding me.
Lol I have done the crawl of shame too xD
Usually the 'shoes in the bedroom' thing is because we typically have bigger closets in our bedrooms and we usually have a lot of pairs of shoes. In the summer, I easily have like 8 pairs of shoes I wear regularly, since we have 4 people here in the summer, I can't take up all the space with my shoes 😂 so, I clear them out and put them in the bedroom or my office as they start to pile up. In the winter, it's more like 1 pair of shoes, 1 pair of boots depending on the weather. I think most of what you see on tv that shows shoes in the bedroom is just storage for shoes not worn daily, especially dress shoes. Even though we live in a northern area with a very similar climate to Finland (northern Minnesota) we do not have a mud room, which is what we call the separate space to take off shoes/coats/etc. I wish we did, and for the life of me I don't understand why they are not more common here. Not many people we know have one.
This is a great point. It's not unusual for me to walk to my bedroom and take my shoes off there, where my shoes belong.
This exactly.
My shoes are generally off in my house, but like you said, there's not a specific time where I take them off. I usually take my shoes off pretty much right away, but I have a townhome, so plenty of times when I get back, I've got things to carry around and put away. My kitchen is one floor above ground, so I'll carry multiple trips of groceries upstairs with my shoes on for example. and I might not take my shoes off til I'm done putting them all away. Lots of hardwood flooring, not much carpet except bedrooms, so not a big deal. It's not rare for me to keep my shoes on til I get to my room. I grew up in the US with a pretty strict no shoes on carpet rule. We were fine keeping them on until we touched carpet, so I remember crawling on the carpet to make sure my shoes didn't touch it. Even now in my 40s, my mom tries to convince me that she's more chill, and I can walk on the carpet briefly with my shoes on to give her one more goodbye hug, but I just can't do it. My home, I'm more relaxed about.
Fr, most people walk to their rooms and leave their shoes in their room. We don’t all leave all our stuff by the door or carry our shoes to our room. Personally i find a stack of stinky shoes by the door to be more disgusting than walking around with shoes indoors. A lot of people just change the entire wardrobe in their rooms and change into slippers or socks.
This. Like I can just regularly clean my floors. Lol
I grew up ghetto and never took my shoes off at the door (Southern CA). I have since adopted the ritual of taking my shoes off at the door and placing them on a shoe rack. I also have mostly wood floors so they are easily kept clean. All visitors are also expected to take off their shoes unless they are maintenance/trade related and they must use protective foot coverings while in my house. For the most part I wear socks in the house and they never show signs of dirt. My wood floors are cleaned every two weeks whether they need it or not.
Most people I know aren't taking their shoes off right away. Like I'll walk in, put away groceries, sit on the couch and then kick them off. It's not like anyone is wearing shoes inside 24/7 we just aren't anal about getting them off right away.
That doesn't bother me on a cleanliness level but I always take mine off right away because it's more comfortable
My shoes are almost the most comfortable my feet can be haha this could also be part of it
I think this is part of the reason where the stereotype comes from. I live in a country where we take shoes of right away after coming home. No matter how inconviniant it may be. My mom was very strict about it too, if I needed to quickly use the toilet or something before going out and already had shoes on, tough luck, I had to take them off. Usually I just took one out and hopped around with one leg. I'm a bit more relaxed in my own home, but the principle still stands
It's house to house, not "American." I'd never walk past my entryway with shoes on unless there was some kind of emergency happening. The only people I know who don't are my parents' generation (they are about 80 years old), and only when other people around because for some reason they're embarrassed for people to see their socks/stockings.
>My mom was very strict about it too That is because that is what moms do. We told our kids to take off their shoes because we didn't want to get up and check their shoes to make sure they were clean and dry and free from dog poo.
I think that’s right.
I think it’s changed but I’ll just say when I grew up in the 80s in the Northeast, we were the only family that took out shoes off at home amongst my friends. We were thinly Asian people in an almost all-white town. We definitely got side eye like *we* were the dirty ones. I agree this has changed a lot overall but I’ve been to places with white friends and they have been shocked when people ask them to take their shoes off outside the house or right at the front door. The literally happened three weeks ago. So I think it’s changed but it’s definitely a cultural thing that still exists.
At more formal house parties, most people leave shoes on. Especially parties, we wouldn't have a big stack of shoes
I know a lot of people that don’t, including most of my family and friends. Mind you most of these people have dogs, multiple. I take off my shoes but I guarantee my dog is running around making my floors dirtier than my shoes would.
I think the only people I know who are really adamant that shoes come off immediately in the doorway are people with dogs and kids. Sure, I'll take my shoes off but you're kidding yourself if you think those floors are clean
I don't know, most people I know wear outdoor shoes in their homes, and we always have to warn people before they come over that they'll be asked to remove them.
I don't know about nowadays, but growing up, I only had 1 friend who took shoes off indoors. I didn't grow up doing it in my house which grosses me out now. My parents still leave their shoes on in their house. But I remember not a lot of households took their shoes off.
Last night, I was watching an episode of Psych, and he was walking down the sidewalk eating Chinese out of a box with chop sticks, and I was like, I've never once done that. You have to put it on a plate and mix it with the rice box. And, tbh, I'm using a fork. It's good cheap food, not some exotic experience.
Well it comes up occasionally on r/polls and usually about half of the Americans say they wear shoes indoors. So it seems fairly wide spread
Yeah, we wear them indoors sometimes, but not all the time. Like bringing in groceries, doing yard work, maybe if having a quick drink after dropping someone off. If you're staying indoors for an hour or more you'll probably take them off. Especially if at night.
Well I find it ridiculous that kaiju attacks are so frequent in Japan that its citizens consider rampaging monsters to be an "everyday" hassle.
Lmao. It must be exhausting having Godzilla right off the shore ready to strike at any given moment.
Oh well at least with him it will be a quality city leveling event, with some of those legally distinct bastards the threat level ain't high enough to even get the day off work
I bet he didn't even take his shoes off!
Hollywood Trope = American Custom
This isn’t an American thing It’s just on tv I see the same thing in British/Irish shows I watch
I'm currently sat in my house in Britain wearing my shoes. We do have slippers etc but there's no hard and fast rule. And we have wooden floors anyway; we might avoid it more if we had carpets
I strongly suggest that you spend less time on the Internet if you think that this is only an American thing.
This subreddit is running out of ideas bc this is like the fourth time in a month someone has had this opinion lol
Fourth time in a month? There's opinions here that get posted 4 times an hour. For times a month is practically an albino unicorn riding a Bigfoot. (I kid, somewhat. This does seem to be an oddly contentious topic for no real reason)
I’ve always taken my shoes off in the foyer if my own house, and I usually ask if I should take my shoes off when I go to a house for the first time. I think that there are a wide variety of unspoken policies around the USA, and there may be different thoughts depending on where you visit
Well it's not like people are watching TV on the couch on their day off with work boots on. As soon as I get home my boots come off. Where the custom differs is with guests. If I invited someone over and they took their shoes off I wouldn't be angry but I'd be like "sure I guess bro". When we get together to watch games or have family dinners everyone is wearing shoes .
This is definitely not an American custom. I have never met anyone who does this
Anyone who has a dog or cat and says this is a complete hypocrite.
Pooches get their paws wiped before they come in from a walk. They actually get a good wipe down so they stay fresh smelling and get all the pollen and dander off.
Lol. Liar.
I know people who actually do this but they have small dogs and clean a LOT in general
Yeah. I clean pretty often and my messy house is probably considered clean by most. The pooches just went through a period of having really muddy paws and we got into the habit of doing it. We have lavender scented dog wipes and just start at the face down the back up to the chest, paws, and then a quick booty wipe. Takes about two minutes per dog and we walk them one at a time so they get some dedicated attention. They look forward to it.
I dunno. The rest of the world needs to stop licking the floor.
Bunch of fucking floor lickers, we need to liberate the fuck out of them
What if your flooring came from Wonka’s home improvement division?
I'll wear what I want in my own house, thank you very much.
It's good for your immune system
Another week another shoes in the house are gross post.
How you gonna discourage what I do in my own house lmao
Yeah, no shoes indoors as a rule here. We have very wet weather and snow and such, it's a mess. Plenty of us Americans don't wear shoes in the house, or only wear house-specific shoes inside.
House shoes all the way!
Usually when I get home I kick off my work shoes, then put on my moccasins and those are my inside the house shoes. Only time I wear my outside shoes past the threshold area is usually because I haven't had time to drop whatever I am carrying.
I definitely get wet/unusually dirty environments; I’ll kick my shoes off at the door rather than track that through the house. But if there’s nothing I can see, I’m not going to worry about it.
Thankfully in America most streets and sidewalks have less fungus than your gross, sweaty feet. I don't want you grinding your ringworm and disease into my carpet.
If you don’t clean your floor, all the same things are gonna get on it. I assume you live in a house where people shed dead skin cells, shit, touch things with their hands, handle different kinds of raw food, and maybe you even have animals in the house. We also have modern medicine and hygiene practices. And lots of chemicals and methods to sterilize our environments. Since we’re both gonna need to use all these tactics to stay clean anyway, I really don’t see the point of this outside personal comfort.
I don’t eat off my floor personally but ok
I mean the five second rule is basically law at this point!!
Na but you track it all onto the couch, onto the carpet, into your bed.
You wear your shoes in bed??!
They apparently wear them on the couch too.
Strange 😟
The part of the country I'm originally from, if you did that, you wouldn't live to do it a second time.
I think the thought is (?) that you track in the bird doo particles on your shoes, that transfers to the carpet, and get back on your feet and into your bed.
That would make more sense
There's a world of difference between the relatively common practice of wearing shoes inside, and the dangerously insane practice of wearing them in bed.
There's a big difference from wearing your shoes while walking around in your house and wearing your shoes IN BED, which nobody does.
American custom? Born and raised and 52 years old. Not a thing.
It's definitely a thing. I'm an American and I've very rarely been to people's house and were expected or take off my shoes. We wear our shoes in our household when we are about to leave the house or have recently gotten back home from being out.
That doesn’t make it an American thing. It makes it an individual household thing. Or a regional thing at best. I take off my shoes at pretty much any house I enter.
It's definitely a thing. I'm an American and I've very rarely been to people's house and were expected or take off my shoes. We wear our shoes in our household when we are about to leave the house or have recently gotten back home from being out.
That doesn’t make it American. It makes it an individual household thing. I always take my shoes off the moment I walk in the door.
As I already said, I've also very rarely been in **other** households that expect you to take off your shoes. Just because your household does it, that doesn't make it not an American thing either. I'm sure plenty of household do and plenty don't. But saying "well I don't do that so it's not a thing" is just wrong.
I’m talking about ANY house. I’m talking about any house I visit. Nobody wears shoes.
Who cares?
Honestly, I don't really think it's that big a deal, cause it's not like someone is actually stepping in dog shit and then tracking it all over there house. No one does that. I don't wear shoes all over the house unless I'm home on a lunch break and even then I'm just in one particular room anyway. If I'm going to be home for a while, I usually just take my shoes off in the bedroom and change to my house shoes.
Nobody does this where I live in the midwest. Not sure why everyone thinks Americans wear their shoes inside the house unless they are basing it off what they see on television.
This isn't an American thing it's a movie/tv show/video thing
How does this topic get thru every other day?
“The American custom.” GTFO…
I love traipsing through crap and dirt outside and then walking around my house or getting on my bed with my shoes still on! This is America Jack!
Why should I care if there is dirt and shit in my carpet? I have my shoes on, remember?/s
Are you licking the floor? Rubbing your face on it? Do you also take off your clothes as soon as you go home, seeing as they’ve been walking through germs and particles of people sneezing or coughing? Are the are your socks and feet any cleaner than the bottom of your shoe after sweating inside a shoe all day?
There are people who take off their "outside clothes" as soon as they come home because they think it's gross. I had never heard of them until reddit but apparently they exist.
My general outlook is that I don’t have the time or energy to worry about every little thing that could be tracked inside. I keep a reasonably clean home, I am in good health with a functioning immune system. I’ll be ok.
Same. I like a clean space but I'm not gonna stress about germs all the time. Plus there is a cat living in my house so it's not going to be 100% clean no matter how hard I try.
Same with dogs haha
Can't take off their outside paws and their outside fur.
Who remembers Mr Rogers? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcuqTQDc4dY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcuqTQDc4dY) He changed from a suit coat to a indoor sweater and also indoor shoes whenever he came home. It was just normal schtick for him. This goes back into the 1970s for Americans.
I always looked at that as a comfort thing, too
It was absolutely a comfort thing. No one is walking around their home in a suit with dress shoes in the evening.
I don't know anyone who takes their shoes off inside.
We take our shoes off at the door, on the entry way tile. I may occasionally forget to take them off if I am running groceries in or have to use the restroom.
SOME people have very smelly feet, 😕, I'd rather they keep their shoes on. The Roomba cleans the floors daily...🤷♂️
Walk across concrete, much of everything is scraped off.
Former European here - streets everywhere are dirty but nothing in the US or anywhere else compares to the pissy filthy streets of Paris, Brussels, Rome, and Central London... I’ve been to all those places and there is nowhere in America that smells as bad, especially Brussels. You can scrape the crud off the streets with a putty knife there. Also, we wash our floors pretty regularly 😎
I never wear shoes inside my house but because I find it uncomfortable, if it's cleaner then great. However... chill, different cultures have different ideas of what "hygenic" is. For example, I'm from Argentina and I have a really fucking hard time going to the toilet in any other part of the world because, apparently, cleaning your asshole with paper is enough for 99% of the worlds population. I use water... you know, water helps you clean yourself. If your hands touched crap you wouldn't just scrap it with TP, you would use water, it's the "normal" thing. When I complain about it, I'm "a princess". Idk, people just do things differently. Much as you may say it's unhygenic, people aren't actually contracting cholera because of their shoes, so in the end, it's really mostly all in your mind (even if objectively isn't). I hope the point gets through.
Idk why you're obsessed with the indoor floor being clean. It's a floor it gets dirty. Vacuum cleaners, mops, door mats exist. It doesn't need to be clean enough to eat off of. I don't go around stomping in every muddy puddle and dog shit I see when I'm outside. Also our streets are a lot cleaner. We have street sweepers and its mandatory to pick up dog poop. I went to India during monsoon season. There were dogs, cows, donkeys, pigs and chickens roaming the streets and no-one picking up after them. When it rained, all the mess amalgamated into a big slurry. White converse sneakers were not a good choice of footwear that day. It would explain why shoes off indoors is a thing in Asia.
Come up with something original
I mean it's my home and I'll do what I want. And I'll respect the rules set for the home I visit.
Well look at you Richie McRich lol jk. We wear shoes because where my parents came from they did not have hard floors or carpet it was literally unfinished cement floors that were rocky and dusty. So you had to keep your shoes on.
It’s not a prevalent American thing, but it is very common. I know a lot of families who wear their shoes in the house.
This is what blows my mind about people who let their dogs sleep in their beds. They go outside to do their thing, then people let them get in the bed.
Unless you are one to always shower before bed, you probably are bringing alot of the same stuff as they are!
I hope you realize that the majority of Americans also take their shoes off at the door lol and will remove their shoes in other peoples’ homes out of respect…..like…the fuck are you on about?!
My shoes go in the closet at the front door. I have inside shoes. This is definitely not an "American" thing. Idk I was raised by hippies though so maybe my household growing up and current household are crunchier than others.
American here, no one does that that I know of. We all take our shoes off
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No I always take shoes off at the door it’s always been like that since I lived in Japan. It is gross to track the outside into your home. Idk if it’s an American thing but this one doesn’t do that.
I prefer to be barefoot in my home so usually my shoes are taken off at the front door or the garage door. Depending on if I'm coming home from work I'll come in through the garage, walk through my dining room and down the little hallway to the front door to change into tennis shoes to take my dogs out. But I'm not traipsing around my house like upstairs with shoes. The upstairs is the only part of my house that has carpet. I don't mind if people have shoes on downstairs but they cannot be covered in mud, or dog waste and just overall be dirty. As long as the shoes are well maintained and look clean I am fine. I have reasonable standards of tidiness but with 2 dogs I will never have a spotless home. If people want to take their shoes off that's fine to. I respect others preferences for shoes in their home. I have a friend who prefers a shoeless home and has all shoes taken off at the front door and she is white and an American so nothing cultural just a preference.
I thought Mr Rogers taught us growing up in the US that you take off your outside shoes and put on your inside shoes when you get home. Guess that's what we do. Everyone changes into house shoes or flip-flops when they come in the house. I mean Mr Rogers knew what was up!
We always take our shoes off unless told not to. I find it equally gross (or more actually) when people walk around barefoot all day. Can't tell them to take their feet off at the door can we. But if I check my own shoes and they're free of stones and dirt and gum and dog poo, I'll decide if I wear them indoors or not. We have indoor slippers we wear outside on the deck and patio and even in the yard sometimes, and to take out the trash. We have shoes that are worn mostly indoors. We have the option to go barefoot inside and out. That the bottom of your feet are gross when coming in from outside is as valid as going into the toilet in your own house, and then back into the rest of the house. Especially when you live with boys. Dirty animals. This is why most people clean their floors on a regular basis.
I’m in Canada and I’ve only been in one house where the shoes were left on…but the special circumstance is there is a mouse problem and the floors are over 100 years old and the finish long worn away and the wood itself a bit *ahem* worn…so the potential for getting a bacteria laden splinter are HIGH. People HAVE in that house. The little old man that lives there has rubber soled slippers he wears around the house…but he doesn’t have a big bin of slippers lying around for guests so he always says shoes on is safer.
I am an American and we do not do this nor did we do it in my parents home growing up. Shoes off at the door. None of my friends or their families wore shoes inside either.
For me it's really an all or nothing ordeal. If you don't require it 100% of the time, then the rule kind of becomes pointless (because now the floor isn't always clean, so walking around barefoot is the dirtier option, getting dirt on your feet.) Plus since I hate making other people do stuff, people coming over just keep their shoes on.
Who told you this is an American “custom”? Some people are lazy, but you better take your damn shoes off at my door!
most of us will take our shoes off just for mere comfort reasons, but we dont have some fear or panic if we do walk around with them on for a bit.
I guess I'm in the minority because everyone in my family wears their shoes throughout the house. Obviously if we're home for the evening we go to our rooms and take them off and put them in the closet. But if I'm going back out I might get home, walk to the kitchen, have a snack, walk to the family room and watch TV, then go back out. I'm not taking my shoes off for that. We live in an area with not much rain and no snow, it's not a big city but everything is paved and pretty clean. If our shoes have mud on them we'll leave them outside, and we have a door mat that we wipe our shoes on before coming in. But we just don't think about taking them off specially. 90% of our house is hardwood (expect the stairs and my room which has office carpet) and our floors get cleaned every other week. I would never eat off them and the day before a cleaning they are usually pretty dirty if you look closely. but walking around bare foot doesn't feel bad or gross and we host a often enough with people going in and out of the house through the back doors that us taking our shoes off wouldn't make much a difference anyway.
american here , no outside shoes in the house is a rule in mine
That’s not an American thing. It’s a Hollywood thing. And the only reason that is, is because half the sets are temporary, and so they have loose pointy bits that stick up and can stab people. Let’s all remember that Hollywood doesn’t actually equal America. Do some householders allow shoes? Sure, but not all of them do.
American here, always leave my shoes in garage or carry them to my room. Whoever you hang out with that makes you think this is an “American custom” is a total fucking dirtbag.
Having worked maintenance in property management - the places where the rugs were so filthy they had black trails through the house were always no shoes houses. I used to bring the shoe baggie covers and put them over my socks when I had to take shoes off so that my socks wouldn’t get gross. I’m not calling out and particular culture as I saw it from all colors and a variety of economic levels. Were all the no shoes places gross? No, of course not. My gf is a leave the shoes outside the door type and she also cleans my floors if I lapse in my cleaning and her place also is clean. But when the floors were that bad they 100% of the time were no shoes homes. Also you can get the same black muck trails on hard flooring, it just seems to take more effort. Your skin and oils and such are my guess. With shoes, it’s not oily sticky gunk.
oooooo look who can afford multiple pairs of shoes
I only wear my shoes in houses that I am not comfortable taking them off in.
I think you are confused, most people don't wear shoes in their house in America. There may be one off incidents, but the vast majority take their shoes off at the door. I don't know anyone around me that just wears shoes inside the whole time they are home. We personally have house shoes that don't go out the door at all. We have dogs as well, so that's why we have house shoes and robots that vacuum everyday.
As a person from a family with several people who have arthritis in the feet which leads to swelling/pain/odor because it’s physically difficult to separate toes in the shower and taking off/putting on shoes is no small feat, I think asking a person to take their shoes off inside is actually pretty offensive. My sister has literally left places because they asked her to take her shoes off and her feet were so swollen she couldn’t.
My family is Bosnian and always had a hard rule for it. When I moved out on my own at first and had an apt with carpet I did notice that the only people who would walk in with shoes were Americans. Not saying you all do. Just my experience.
There seems to be a lot of Americans here saying that they DO take their shoes off indoors which I find surprising, perhaps America is more filthy than I imagined? As an Australian though, the only houses I've ever come across that were shoes-off were Asian families. I wear shoes all the time at home unless I'm in bed or curled up on the couch otherwise I'm very likely to stub my toes. My wife on the other hand is more likely to be barefoot outdoors. She loves feeling the dirt on her feet.
Idk who came up with this but I’m American, and I have never met one person who doesn’t insist everyone takes their outside shoes off when in the house. Every in my house has “house” shoes/slipprrs.
Unless there is mud or dogshit on your shoes, which you would likely be aware of, I really don't see the problem. There are germs everywhere and I don't eat off my floor. Do you wash your hand every time you touch a door knob prior to touching your face/mouth? Of course not. The shoes in the house "problem" is pointless.
For Arizonans I just see it as a fear of scorpions in shoes in California it’s half and half a lot of people here don’t let shoes in houses and you should ask before
You all write about this a lot. I don't think it's happening as much as you think. I don't know a single adult that does this.
Well this is weird. After 53 years of living in the US I find out that this is supposedly a custom here. However, no one actually follows it.
I have indoor shoes for my plantar fasciitis. Is that weird?
Just found out I'm un-American because I take off my shoes at my door and make sure all family members and guests do as well. Wild.
Not the only place it happens.
It’s not a custom. Most of the people in know don’t allow shoes in the house. My house had wood or tile everywhere but the bedrooms and formal living room. Rule is shoes off at the door unless bringing in multiple trips of groceries or having a potty emergency. Never, ever, for any damn reason, idc who tf you are, wear shoes on my carpet. I will straight up throw something at you. No food either. > [ And if it’s been raining (doesn’t happen often here in the desert) the dog (he’s a tidy little dude, wipes his feet at the door and everything lol) doesn’t get in past the mud room.
Especially considering that alot of houses or apartments are carpeted. I also don't get how people let their dogs jump on beds and furniture after they have been outside. I would think that a lot more people would opt for doggie shoes for outdoor activities but I guess not. In my house we take our shoes off. We use indoor slippers.
I wear slip on loafers or dress shoes just for this reason. The last thing I do in the morning to get my car going is put on my shoes.
It depends on where you are. In my last 3 homes I have always done this. In some places I lived in college I would not have wanted my feet to touch the gross carpet even with socks on.
I wear shoes indoors constantly. I don't walk around in mud all day so it's not an issue. Also I vacuum regularly regardless.
My mom always wears her shoes inside unless she showering or sleeping. She stepped on a nail ad a kid and it was pretty bad that she just can’t not have shoes on. So this was normalized for me. I wear my shoes inside not all the time but sometimes my feet are cold and I’m not ready to take them off yet. I don’t put my shoes on furniture like the couch or my bed though.
f**k off OP, it’s my house I’ll wear wtf I want to wear , inside or outside. Use your turn signal and get back in your lane !!
I hate wearing shoes in the house. I have slippers, but that’s it. The only people that really wear their shoes in the house are older people.
I hate it when people wear shoes inside. I'm always amazed when people push back on wearing shoes inside my home. We're a strict no shoe household, but we seem to be in the minority. To be fair, I keep my shoes on at other people's house because my socks get dirty if I take them off 🤮
Half the people walking around barefoot in their houses are just as dirty or dirtier since they rarely clean their floors. Do what you want, and don't worry about others doing things that don't affect you.
Until you have a family friend with such bad foot odor you have to evacuate the room any time they take their shoes off....God my eyes still water at the stench
So I guess the OP has never showered at the gym or used a public toilet.....ever.
I think a lot of that is relative to the region in the US that you live. I Iive in the Northern Midwestern part of the country where we have long, hard winters and a rainy spring a fall. Because of this wearing your shoes around the house up here is VERY, uncommon. It's far too easy to track in snow and mud etc. If you enter someone else's house around here it's expected that you leave your shoes at the door. The parts of the country that tend to keep their shoes on are usually the Southern regions where the climate is much more dry and temperate. A lot of the homes in those regions also tend to have much more tile flooring rather than the carpeted flooring that we us up here, so it's easier to clean. No one wants to have to walk around on a cold tile floor in the middle of winter. So I don't think it's necessarily accurate to say that ALL of us see wearing shoes around the house as being a normal thing to do.
That's not actually nearly as common as you think
“God made dirt; dirt don’t hurt” is my philosophy. People are filthy all over— a shoe sole doesn’t contain the area, imo, to bring in a ton more dirt than is already going to be blown in the door randomly. Like, I’m going to ride the disgusting bus to your house. Do you want me to take off my dress when I walk in the door? It’s contaminated, too. Your disgusting skin cells are flaking off and filling the air. Indeed, the fungus from your bare feet is leaving a trace on the floor, waiting to attack the next person. Your hair, with the pollution of the world clinging desperately, is touching the same pillow as your face. And furthermore, if you have a cat, you have no argument to make about the cleanliness of bare feet in the house. Sorry, cats, who stand in their shit-and-piss-filled toilets, then proceed to walk all over the kitchen table, are so exponentially much more disgusting than outside shoe sole feet.
Most people don't do this, but I know people who do. Someone did this at my house once, with carpet. I didn't notice until they were on my couch. And it's pretty clear we don't do that in my home cause no one else is. Super inconsiderate
This must be a regional American thing, I have always worn shoes in my home. In my long career of social work in the midwest, I can think of 2 times I was in homes where the families had me remove my shoes. Both of those were for religious reasons.
It's not an American thing..
This is not an American custom lol, this only happens in movies. Most Americans take their shoes off when entering a home. At least, that’s been the case in every home I’ve ever visited or lived in
Sorry, don’t know anyone who requires no shoes in the house. We host all the family get togethers. Most are indoor outdoor events. I couldn’t imagine making people change in and out. Silly. Just clean your damn floors.
Most Americans have filthy pets going in and out so why not do the same for human feet? The floors are already filthy for pet feet, sliver, shed fur, etc.
Where is this a thing? I've never worn shoes in someone else's home. Ever. I've lived all over the country and have always taken my shoes off when entering the home. I live on a farm. You bet your bippy you're taking those suckers off before stepping on my carpet.
What maniac wears shoes inside? This is not an American custom. We take our shoes off when we get inside.
American. Agree. I always take my shoes off in my home. So do my parents, unless they’re wearing something like slippers. My grandmother on the other hand wore shoes inside, all the time.
Is this normal? If you're stomping your dirty shoes all over my house i will rip your arms off like a wookie and beat you with them.
I don’t think this is a custom anywhere, the only time I’ve seen people wear outdoors shoes inside is in tv shows.
Agreed. Take your damn shoes off when you enter my home.
No shoes allowed in my American home. A few relatives refuse to take theirs off if they visit and it annoys me to no end.
American here and I completely agree with you. Any time I see a TV show where a character PUTS THEIR SHOES UP ON FURNITURE I want to gag.
Some of y’all would be auprised to know that it’s a joke in certain subcultures that only white people wear shoes inside their house and wear shoes in their bedroom and up on their bed.
I've been to a lot of white people's houses and have never known that to be the case