What's the policy in your home about wearing shoes indoors? Do you always remove your shoes when entering and ask your guests to as well? Or do you feel that shoes are meant to be worn all the time, and therefore wearing them indoors is the norm. There are two distinct camps on this topic. Here's my take.
I used to wear my shoes indoors all the time. It seemed an inconvenience to remove them, and I did not like having to look for them or having them lined up in the entry way. I am a bit of a neat freak and I like my house to look nice all the time so shoes piled up by the door can make me crazy. But then I started studying the effects of toxins in the home, and learned about all the stuff that gets on my shoes and then is tracked around my house. Uck! Plus I looked at the carpet that is a contact challenge to keep clean and realized that it was me who was leaving all this dirt on the carpet, it basically acts as a door mat. Everything I've stepped on that day ends up on the carpet in my house.
Now that I know what I know it is not hard to take my shoes off at the door. All I have to do is think about what I am bringing in and that it is now following me around the house. And if you have kids that are down on the floor think about what they are crawling and playing on.
Pesticides from lawns and plants, dog poop, bacteria, heavy metals, chemicals used in all our public places, bug spray, parasites, arsenic, DDT, and lead are some of the items we bring indoors on our shoes. Any toxins you bring indoors are gradually released back into the air you breath. This can pose a health issue.
Where have your feet been all day?
So if you want a healthier house leave your shoes at the door. There are a few other things you can do to minimize the toxins as well. Use a vacuum with a hepa filter, replace furnace filters regularly, and consider using a portable air purifier in your bedroom.
If you take all these steps to insure the air quality of your house your health will be better and your house will be cleaner.
We do not wear shoes in the house, they come off at the door. We have an antique ottoman at the entrance so we can sit down and take off our shoes and them change into slippers. Our guests are also expected to take their shoes off. Its a new house so we are just getting settled in, but we intend to have a basket of slippers by the door for guests to wear if they choose. Its a rural town in the UK where we live with many very nice houses, so taking off shoes when visiting is quite the norm here. Its something i grew up with so its second nature for me to take off shoes and switch to slippers. The same goes for my OH.
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