Shoes on or off in your house?

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

With a personal invitation like that......

I'm in!

~Ok, next year will come down and join the fun.
But will you reveal yourself to me if I swear to not photograph or divilge?

:-)
 
Mine come off at the door

Because i have beautiful Wall-to-wall carpet, and i want to keep it looking beautiful, Nathan on the other hand, as much as i hate it, i make him take off his shoes, even tho he does have smelly feet, he is in construction, and is always nasty and dirty, especially his boots, but I'd rather deal with smelly feet, than have nasty dingy carpet, that i have to constantly clean.
 
smelly feet

One of the easiest things to deal with is foot hygiene - and yet it is sorely neglected.
A friend of mine deals with the elderly (youth challenged for the PC crowd). They have lots of little needs which we don't think about while we can still see our feet.
Here's what he tells his clients, it applies equally well to us:
1) Natural fibers, not synthetics. Cotton (or the cellulose derivatives like bamboo, etc) absorb moisture. Change your socks two or three times a day.
2) Give your shoes a day off - they last longer, feel better and an unbelievable amount of moisture needs to evaporate out of them. Stefan says it's over 1/2 cup per shoe! Wow!
3) Wash your feet every day. If you can't reach them, then use a long brush like for your back, but wash them.
4) Unless diabetes forces constraints on you, let your feet breath.
Bad smells often mean fungal infections. Get them treated. You can save the shoes by putting them in the deep freeze for several weeks - that 0° will eventually dessicate and kill the spores. Takes time, but it works.

Frankly, I don't see why we insist on wearing synthetics which don't breath (yeah, yeah - I know the high-tech stuff does, but we are talking about normal people and normal underwear...). Nylon stinks the worst, but the polyesthers, ick.

Carpeting is nice, but you can't keep your carpets truly clean if people walk on them with street shoes. It's a simple fact and no amount of vacuuming or "steam" cleaning can change it.
 
Lazy bastards don't want to work.

~Give your shoes a day off -
I heard one day on, two days off.

I wonder if those ionic and /or ultravilet shoe-odor eliminators are worth a damn.

I had read tht simpe peroxide "baths" kills fungi!
 
Shoes... always off

I grew up in Alaska where it was customary to remove shoes when going indoors because of the muck a person tracks in on their shoes. When I moved out of state it just made sense to continue the tradition. Think of all the nasty crud you walk on and through during the course of the day. I don't want to bring that filth into my home. Yuk! My home is my sanctuary, not a bus station.

And, as Steve and Keven wrote above, good shoemakers recommend that you don't wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row. It's also recommended that you use shoe trees to help wick away the moisture left by your feet after a day of wearing a pair and to help the shoes keep their shape.
 
Panthera Nathan does have great hygiene, and showers as soon as he walks through the door, and his boots come off, (well i get a kiss first "smile"). He has been to many foot doctors, and nothing seems to help, he doesn't have foot fungus, and even after he showers he still has some foot odor. About keeping my carpet clean, no one i mean NO ONE wears street shoes in my house, they all come off at the front door, whether they want to or not.
 
Hi Back Lee,

I figured he would, most folks of our tribe are pretty clean. You know, there's got to be a reason, be well worth doing some research on it. The body rids itself of toxins through the skin and the feet have an enormous amount of work to do - they sweat, relative to their size, tremendously
Good luck figuring it out - something ain't quite right there. I'll ask my friend the holistic doctor this weekend what she thinks, if you don't mind.
 
Quite honestely what one does in one's own home is up to them. When they impose rigid rules on their guests is when they step away from their good host(es) award. Most guest realize what the customs are of the home and comply.
I work with a woman who asked for a ride home one evening. At her driveway she informs me "I would ask you in but I don't allow any shoes in my house." as if to imply I was to stupid to remove my own shoes or something.

Though she had no problem plopping her happy butt in my clean leather with her sloppy snow covered shoes on my tan carpet her house was more important than my car. Which is more than likely worth more than her house btw.

As far as someone telling me how I am to pee in their house. Talk about crossing the line, and I would take issue. If someone were to tell me to sit to pee. Though I would remain a gentleman, I would ask them how much weight they think the sink would hold.
 
If someone were to tell me to sit to pee.

Though I would remain a gentleman, I would ask them how much weight they think the sink would hold.



LMAO!!!

Clip from The League of Gentlemen - UK BBC Comedy form 2000

R

 
~"I would ask you in but I don't allow any shoes in my house." as if to imply I was too stupid to remove my own shoes or something.

Perhaps she was trying to say,
"I know I'm quirky but I have no right to impose my ways on you." or
"I'm a good old-fashioned germ-freak and this is an excuse I need to use to keep my home sterile (by keeping you and everyone else out of it!"

I'd have to say a man of any class or breeding at all would take a (small) piece of toilet paper and wipe the rim after dribbling all over it. (i.e. every time), then thow the paper in the bowl. Problem solved......at least partially.

Now if that simple motion is the best cleaning the throne has seen in 6 months, you simply don't go back to visit.
 
I'm a bad host? WHAT!!!

What y'all talking about i am a great host, all i ask is no shoes on the carpet, PERIOD, and that makes me a bad host because? Damn well i should let anyone and everyone trapes threw my home with their dirty street shoes. When i go to a persons home, the first thing i do is remove my shoes, once my guests are in my home, it's as if they were in their own home. Hell my boyfriend, who brings home most of the money, more than what i do and, makes the house payment, is not allowed shoes in the house, i guess it's the way i was brought up, my mother did not allow shoes, in her house, or smoking and she smokes, so do I, but i don't smoke in the house nor do i allow smoking in the house. I like a clean home and that a bad thing?
 
Toggleswitch...

Steve, check your email and let me know if you did not receive my note.

I'd also suggest that you google heating and cooling/construction companies in Anchorage. There may be some differences when you get out into the bush, but my guess is that in most areas, heating, cooling and insulation methods are similar or the same as in Northern states.

Mike
 
Lee,

dahlink -
Nobody is accusing you of anything.
This is the washer club, not another group of, er, ladies who specialize in finding insults between the lines and being offended at every opportunity. We may speak gruffly here at times, but, a discussion is a discussion and not a personal attack.
When they call you a Nazi, ok, then it's time to get upset. Anything less, well, somebody is just not getting shagged enough, obviously. Or it's that time of the month...365 days a year for them.
I agree, as a host one is duty bound to tolerate much which one would not desire of one's dearest friends and family.
If you don't want shit and filth dragged in from the streets and spread all over the carpets, well, yeah, you won't get any argument from me.
But I live in Europe and, over here, that is a far more firmly embedded aspect of culture than in the US. Since I grew up in a hyphen-American family, I grew up with European cultural sensitivities and I really, personally, don't like shoes in the house. But my brother, who is 100% all-American (in the sense which makes Yankees abroad cringe) wears the same underwear to bed he wore the whole day, the TV runs 24/7 and folks drink their beer out of the can. He still manages to be good to the dogs, will track a wounded deer for miles to make sure it doesn't suffer after a missed shot and his wife still manages to keep a clean house.
I need to lighten up around here sometimes - it is too easy to get my goat. Don't you end up sensitive and hysterical, too.
Remember, lots of the guys posting here have stuff going on in their lives which you can't imagine. Not everybody here is wealthy, well-hung, young, bright, beautiful and living the vida bonita...and it bleeds through at times.
 
I'm a bad host? WHAT!!!

The only time I think that of a host/friend is when there is no soap (ever) near the bathroom sink. Speaks volumes of one's bathroom and hygiene habits. I've been known to transfer the bar soap from the shower to the sink area. Makes my point quietly. I would pray that such a host who is touching and ccoking my food would at least wash their hands in the kithchen. (Fat chance!) We won't even get into how gross having those contaminants near one's dishes is.

If you really want to set a trap...er perform and experiment... get a stinky liquid soap for the bathroom sink. The knd that will perfume the whole room just by being on one's hands. You'd be amazed at how many will not wash their hands after using the loo.

As a host and when cooking I wash my hands twice (with a nail brush) in the loo and again in the kitchen sink. As I tell my guests."Don't thank me now for a wonderful dinner and gathering. Call me in 24 hours if you havn't gotten the runs. We'll talk then. *LOL*"
 
Even as a good host that has been assured that I make guests feel "at home" there are a few sure-fire ways to cause me to open my hole..er mouth.

1- Touch my walls. Every 5 year old has been trained to not to do this. Why do you at your age? (I overlook doing this while putting on one's shoes).

2- Leave a trail of dirt, disorder and destruction behind you.
Rummaging through my medicine cabinet? (the Midol is on the lowest shelf) OK whatever. But GD it, close the doors and leave them the way you found them!

3- Taking ice. You may abosolutely go in my refrigerator unannounced. But do not leave the full ice cube tray out afer removing a cube for yourself. There ARE other people in this world.

4- Flush twice. (Its a long way to the kitchen) We all know these water-saving toilets have challenges. No one wants to share your creation with you. ([Look mommy it's art!]

5- Keep your bags off my tables and counters. They have been on the ground, under urinals, in the subway, etc. And after you DO do this, don't be lookin at me cross-eyed when I wash the table-top before and after dinner.

As I stated earlier I will remove my shoes without being asked unless you are a slob and my socks will be the only mopping your place has seen in months, or unless it's a formal gathering.

RANT OVER!
 
I do something quite funny!

As a wheelchair user for nearly 10 years, I still come indoors and wipe my feet on the mat! LOL :) It’s just a habit, but I guess it’s a good one! If not, I get wheeled in all the way into the kitchen, where my shoes are taken off for me. :) At no time do the shoes touch the floor! hehe :)

On good days, I can waddle around the house, though I do occasionally use my wheelchair indoors. I never wear shoes indoors – just socks, though barefoot just before bed and all night of course – and I find shoes or slippers indoors problematic, but that relates to my condition.

As a child, I did used to always ask about taking my shoes off before entering others’ homes. One of our neighbours insists on everyone taking their shoes off before entering, though I am ‘exempt’ because my feet don’t touch the ground, what with being in my wheelchair! LOL :)

We have hard floor everywhere, and Mum and Dad clean it several times a day.

The dogs have to sit at the back door before coming into the rest of the house after going outside, so I just say, “Sit!” They sit there quietly for a bit and then move on when I tell them to. :) I am nice to them – honest! :) – and they get cuddles for doing well. :)
 
Sorry I didn't mean to offend

The revocation of good host(es) award was not in my power I should not have issued the proclamation.

I guess here in the mid-west we spend more time dealing with 60 mph breezes that spread more crap than a pair of shoes. So it just isn't that big of deal for me.

I was taking issue with telling someone how to pee which bled over to the other issue. My Naughty. As a gentleman I would always remove the dishes first, I might add.

"Not everybody here is wealthy, well-hung, young, bright, (and) beautiful and living the vida bonita...and it bleeds through at times."

Naw--Though not wealthy, I'm ok. I'm comfortable in my hung-ness not a problem. Youth is a matter of mind, beautiful is only skin deep--it's the ugly that goes clear to the bone. Even if I don't get "shagged" enough, I have a do-it-yourself mentality--still ok with it.

You are, however, correct that some tend to get their knickers bunched easier than others.
 
IheartMaytag

You didn't offend me, that's for sure.
It is funny how the things we take for granted in one culture are absolutely obscene in others.
One of my students asked me yesterday - in genuine puzzlement - what the big deal was with Hanna Montana and a really well done photo shoot with Anne Leiboviz.
Nobody here in Germany - or anywhere in Europe west of Poland - can understand the problem.
Or shall I say "issue"?
Did my best to explain the double-morals of Christianists and Political Correctness. I tried, the gods know I did...but it was awful hard to explain that it is not ok for a 16 year old girl to show her naked back...but perfectly ok for an 18 year old young woman or man to be sent off to Irak to be murdered in the name of...I forget, was it the weapons of mass destruction or was it the guaranteed cheap gasoline...
Anyway, my students - who already, on sunny days are taking their t-shirt, pants and shoes off in the commons (and that is just the girls, I've seen some of the guys strip all the way.)
Just didn't get it.
I don't either, to be honest.
 
Ok Y'all

maybe i was a little over sensitive on that, but all in all i don't want people to think i am not hospitable, in ANY way.
Growing up in a European Cultured family, (Mother from Italy), there certain things that simply "you don't do in the house", All my friends know how i am about shoes and smoking in the house, and they respect that. That is one of the reasons i don't let Nathan do the laundry, run the vacuum, do the dishes, or cook for that matter, I will however let him grill out, but as far as the house work goes, i am solely in charge in that department. He has his tasks, he knows how picky i am about washing my hands, after i go to the bathroom, before i cook, i even wash my hands after i vacuum, my mother is the same way, you could literally eat off her floors, she is so clean. Well i am sorry if i sounded bitchy, and offended, and panthera your right not everyone is Well Hung, well Nathan does fall in the Well Hung category. :-).
 
I'm

Half Italian, Half German and Half Scot with 1/4 Irish.
The Italian half of the family did things like washing - not just sweeping - the sidewalk in front of the house...every day.
I get you Lee, I get you.
What Windex may be to the Greeks, Lysol, Chlorine Bleach and strong strong hand soap are to the Italians.
Oh, my yes - we didn't just change our shirts for dinner at grammama's house...we bathed.
 
Half Italian, Half German and Half Scot with 1/4 Irish.

Does this make you a 1 3/4 man? ;-)

I get the neat freak syndrome from my mother. She used to hand polish her hardwood floors with paste wax weekly.

As I have said before, cholorine is my friend. I bleach the hell out of everything.
Now I know why my daughter hates bath time. Let's not even talk about the white dog (she used to be brown).
 
I don't demand anything of people when they come over. Most of the time, "conditions" placed upon guests just make for uncomfortable guests. Guests who can't really relax and be themselves. When I was a kid, my mom took me to this lady's house for the afternoon, she had been invited for coffee. The woman had plastic coverings on all her furniture. She had plastic runner-mats in the specific places that she "allowed" people to walk. Certain rooms were completely off-limits. She watched everyone like a hawk. I was so uncomfortable I just sat cross-legged (and yes, shoeless) on one of her plastic mats and didn't move the whole time we were there, and I was NEVER so glad to get out of a place in my life. I was afraid to move, afraid I'd commit some sort of horrible "sin" just by breathing in that space. The overall message that sort of "enviroment" gave off was "It's NOT ok for you to be you in MY space." Yuck. Too much "control" for me.

And I won't go into a restaurant that requires a coat and tie. To heck with that...no food is worth that kind of misery!
 
Actually, iheartmaytag,

some days I am not really quite sure I'm even human.
My father was adopted in the 1930's from Germany by an Italian couple. So there you have, already, a dad who is 100% German and 100% Italian.
It is pretty certain his parents were Jewish, he is circumcised and that was limited to Jews in those days here. The catholic church smuggled many, many babies of Jewish and socialist parents out of the country in those days - something to remember the next time one hears that all Germans are Nazis. Of course, some primitive spiteful people are to be found in any group, so I guess you just have to take the good apples with the bad.
My mom's dad's family is from one of the colder outer Hebrides (means it rains, snows, snows and rains as the four seasons as opposed to the warmer islands where it rains rains snows and rains) and they are all cousins, all bouncing back and forth between Scotland and the US for hundreds of years. I understand completely.) Her mother is half Irish and half Bavarian.
Bavarians have German passports, but they are easy to tell apart from Germans. Germans live to work. Bavarians work to live...and yes, we take breaks from work often. Tomorrow, for instance is the first of May and a major holiday.
My union has free beer and Würstchen on tap to lure us all down for a rousing lecture on something or other.
If the weather is nice, I'll go let meself be lectured for a while.
The funny thing is, despite being gay, Italian and German, I have absolutely no passion for cleaning my house within an inch of its life. That sequence of the gay gene must have run into the Italian cleanliness is next to godliness gene during meiosis...and then took it out back of the bar for a brawl with the German neatnik. By the time they settled it, the Irish had won and anyone who has ever seen a Scottish croft knows that there is a big difference between tidy and operating theatre which is how most German and all Italian gays keep their places.
Which brings us to a new question:
Out of the bottle or milk carton or only from a proper glass?
Hands on your heart now ladies.
Me? Hell, I rip the cap off with me teeth and pour it down me gullet. But I extend my little pinkie when I do it, refined as I am. Same with the milk -
 
So the bully's at it again

Boy I sure put a bug up your ass. How do you like it. You insult so many members constantly, our religion, our country, our schools; but you can't take a well-deserved and so much needed slap. Ya big baby! Grow up. How powerful must I be, Adolph, that you can't get it out of your craw, that finally someone stood up to the jaw-breaking, throat slashing, murder-surrounded bully, and he's whining like a little baby over and over, even lying. I never said all Germans are Nazis. You're a fool. My former "husssssband" as you like to call him is 3/4 GERMAN!!!!!!

All Germans are not Nazis. That's like saying all American's are Klan, not true, nor is it true that Nazis are typical of Germany any more than Klansmen are typical of America'. And only a fool would get that wrong or suggest it. I use Nazi the way you use Christianist. You use christianst regularly, and no matter how you rhetoricize it, we have deacons, choir member, and all manner of believers in this club. I use Nazi once and you whine a thousand timnes. What a joke!

We are sick of being injected with your venom, sick of your hate speech which is so distressing and disheartening to friendly happy people. Sick of opening an innocent thread like "Shoes on or off" and finding "which brings us back to using both hands and I am sooo not going there, some of the goose-stepping-PC-queens are still having the vapors about that one." Who are you talking to and what are you talking about? In every thread you pull this nonsense, and long before i called you out as I bully.

Stop using our rare and wonderful and oh-so-tolerant club as a psychiatrist's couch
Stop bashing America
Stop bashing our schools--Good luck on getting hired, much less receiving a Green Card, especially if Customs gets a peak at your constant anti-America venom, screed, and diatribe. Hey maybe I'll give the Western New York Regional Homeland Security Czar your posts. He's one of my former and best students. JUST KIDDING. But what if you hurt someone so bad he or she did such a thing.

Hate speech which is your calling card is one of the most destructive forces in society. It begets more of the same. Do us a favor and stop it.

And why not try telling the truth. One week your family hates you, the next, your dad makes jokes about not getting your boyfriend pregnant. That's a great dad. How fortunate you are to have him. Now today, you say your brother is okay as neat as a gay; last time you cast him as momstrous. Why bash your own family in public, as you so often do. It's so depressing And why are you leaving Germany when you have a thriving business? One week you're American, the next you're German and now suddenly you're Jewish. See I do listen to you; in fact, that story you told last year about riding horseback through Europe was so evocative, I wish I could hear it over again. See, I really like you--HONEST!!--, and if you'd only stop with the free floating insults that land on anyone vulnerable, we could get along famously. We could teach together and have a blast.
 
Like America doesn't deserve to be bashed after electing W not once but twice???? The shoes may not be off everywhere but the scariest parts of the rest of the world have the gloves off thanks to W.
 
screw the shoes.....

....how many of you strip it all off when you get home?

At my house, depending on if its empty there is generally A path of clothes hitting the floor as I hit the bathroom and then my bed for the power nap that gets me through the nite.
 
Back
Top