Do You Wear Your Shoes Inside? And Ask Guests to do the Same?

Of course, taking off shoes before you enter the house will keep homes cleaner. But I still can’t get used to going shoeless in my own home, no less slipping around in my socks when I visit friends.

Although more and more home owners ask guests to switch street shoes for socks and slippers when they walk inside, most of my friends don’t ask, and I don’t offer. To me, it seems more disrespectful to dress down at a luncheon or dinner party than to wipe my shoes on a doormat and enter like I care, not like I just stepped out of the shower.

Of course, I’ve always insisted that my son and his friends leave their cruddy shoes in our mudroom because I don’t want mud tracked all over my good carpets.

And once, a friend insisted that we don powder blue shoe covers — the ones workmen wear in your house — so we wouldn’t scratch her newly refinished floors.

I felt ridiculous padding around with shower caps on my feet and regretted wasting time putting together a pretty outfit that looked ridiculous with my clown feet.

But I get the feeling I’m becoming a minority.

A recent blog post likens wearing shoes inside to rubbing dog feces and antifreeze over your good floors. The writer suggests posting a “no shoes inside” sign on your entry door.

Credit: Joy from JustOrganizeYourself

A lively HouseLogic debate revealed a colleague at odds with a boyfriend who tracks New York City street dirt throughout her clean apartment, and an editor’s in-laws who sport “indoors-only” running shoes and wipe their dog’s paws after every walk.

Where do you stand indoors? In your street shoes? Or in your stocking feet or slippers?