Was recently discussing with someone that it’s really weird that, on the internet, Britain is repeatedly labelled a “shoes on indoors” society, because nobody we know has shoes on indoors (in their own home). Britain is a wet and muddy country.
Does anyone here do shoes on indoors? Where are you all from?
Weird. I also grew up in the UK, and I’m in my 50s now, it’s always been shoes off in my and my family’s houses. Unless it was a quick visit.
Same goes for my friend’s houses.
I’ve worked in the other people’s houses for well over 30 years in different capacities, from ‘clean’ jobs such as surveying to the more physical jobs of handyman, plastering etc. And a high percentage of the time it was shoes off as well.
Or separate clean shoes for inside.
Basically it’s easier to change my shoes than it is to clean a carpet or floor after I have trampled dirt around.
Ok, yeah, you’d get people say “don’t bother about your shoes” if I was only doing a survey, but I took them off anyways.
The only time I wouldn’t remove my shoes is if the houses were cleaner outside than inside, but that hardly ever happened.
If I had to guess I would say that in all the thousands and thousands of houses I’ve visited in the UK that 90% were shoes off.
UK too, shoes off too, have never lived anywhere where shoes on indoors was a common thing
The only reason I can think is that underfloor heating is relatively rare here and if you’ve got hard floors it’ll be cold to walk on, but then slippers exist so idk really
It might be in including having slippers or “indoor shoes”. Nigeria is there as a shoes on, but from my understanding, its only slippers/flip flops specificly for indoors, that are normal.
Edit: Talked to my Nigerian friend, shoes off is expected, and slippers are just a personal preference. The map is just wrong.
No, in “shoes off” countries it is very normal to wear slippers or other kinds of indoor footwear, so it wouldn’t make any sense to count those as “shoes on”. I just think the data used for this map was very faulty.
Same for Japan. No chance they’re wearing full hiking boots or sneakers inside the house in Japan - the shoe cabinet is built in right next to the front door of houses, tiny apartments, temples, many restaurants, etc. I assume the schools still do too.
Canada is labelled as shoes off but we also have slippers.
Although not sure about Nigeria, are slippers and flip flops like expected to be worn or just available?
For me I have slippers which are worn often but it’s not expected that anyone inside wear them. Most people just wear socks if they come to visit. And myself I go barefoot unless my feet get cold then I grab the slippers.
Although not sure about Nigeria, are slippers and flip flops like expected to be worn or just available?
In my (limitted) experience, its expected. When I visited a friend who was Nigerian, they offered me slippers to wear in the house, and they felt uncomfortable going barefoot in my (Canadian) house.
Edit: Talked to my Nigerian friend, shoes off is expected, and slippers are just a personal preference. The map is just wrong.
Yeah that’s probably why it’s labelled as shoes on then I imagine and why Canada is labelled shoes off since any sort of foot covering is expected / not expected.
I reckon it depends on how warm someone’s home is and how good their circulation is. If I don’t have shoes on indoors, then for half the year it feels like my feet have been stabbed because they get so cold (slippers are not enough), but I don’t wear the same shoes indoors as outdoors. I suspect that if we set the heating higher and the house wasn’t constructed in a way that makes the floor always much colder than a few inches above the floor, this wouldn’t be a problem.
That’s interesting, I hqve a different experience - i used to have horrible foot circulation as a kid but i got into the habit of never wearing socks in my house (don’t like the texture, enjoy feeling air on feet and them being cooler) and i haven’t had the bad foot circulation since then… as far as i can tell. I have been wearing them for this winter though.
To me, the big decider is plush carpets. The first level of my house is mostly hardwood and tile. The second floor, and living rooms have plush carpets. So if someone is unloading a car, getting ready to leave, or just general in/out stuff, sure leave the shoes on. Once you’ve decided to stay, get those shoes off and be welcome in the cozy areas of the house.
Which, coincidentally, is also the areas where other warm stuff is.
The same in NZ. Is this that you never ever wear shoes on inside?
Is it acceptable to walk into your own house and walk around with shoes on? Sure.
Do most people do that most of the time? In my experience, people will be shoes off in their own home most of the time, but it’s not some big taboo to keep them on if you’re popping in to grab something.
In/out doors doesn’t really make a difference. If I need shoes outside, I’m probably wearing them inside. And vice versa.
It would be different if I had carpet. Carpet is impossible to thoroughly clean in situ. I would never want outside shoes on non-rental carpet. But I’ve got 100+ year old hardwood floors that have seen way worse than I’m tracking in.
US here. Depends really. If I’m working around the house I like my shoes on but when it’s time to shutdown. They off, maybe some flip flops if I head out to the pool
So when I visited my friend that moved there, the rule was if you aren’t muddy shoes on in the first floor is fine but no shoes on the second floor.
They also have guests slippers for the first floor. I think this kinda makes sense since they like having parties then they don’t allow anyone upstairs.
Was recently discussing with someone that it’s really weird that, on the internet, Britain is repeatedly labelled a “shoes on indoors” society, because nobody we know has shoes on indoors (in their own home). Britain is a wet and muddy country.
Does anyone here do shoes on indoors? Where are you all from?
Same with France, many if not most no longer wear shoes inside of their homes.
I’ve seen both in the UK. Personally, I’m a shoes off guy. Means less cleaning needed.
For me, in Italy it’s both, in 90% of the cases the situation is like:
You get in, remove the shoes and go barefoot/with slippers, if it’s like a party, festivity etc etc, usually no one cares to get off the shoes
There’s obviously no need for durable footwear when your whole country is a boot.
Living in Italy, both Rome and North, the floors are cold in the winter. We wear slippers at home and tell guests to keep their shoes on until spring.
Grew up in the UK, in a “shoes on” household. We just gave them a good scrape on the doormat when coming inside.
Since then, I’ve lived in a few different countries and am 100% converted to the shoes off way of being. I agree it’s much better.
Weird. I also grew up in the UK, and I’m in my 50s now, it’s always been shoes off in my and my family’s houses. Unless it was a quick visit.
Same goes for my friend’s houses.
I’ve worked in the other people’s houses for well over 30 years in different capacities, from ‘clean’ jobs such as surveying to the more physical jobs of handyman, plastering etc. And a high percentage of the time it was shoes off as well.
Or separate clean shoes for inside.
Basically it’s easier to change my shoes than it is to clean a carpet or floor after I have trampled dirt around.
Ok, yeah, you’d get people say “don’t bother about your shoes” if I was only doing a survey, but I took them off anyways.
The only time I wouldn’t remove my shoes is if the houses were cleaner outside than inside, but that hardly ever happened.
If I had to guess I would say that in all the thousands and thousands of houses I’ve visited in the UK that 90% were shoes off.
That’s funny because, thinking back on it, I’d say about 90% of my friends and family were shoes on.
Perhaps it’s regional. I grew up in the South East, for reference. Not London, but in one of the surrounding counties.
UK too, shoes off too, have never lived anywhere where shoes on indoors was a common thing
The only reason I can think is that underfloor heating is relatively rare here and if you’ve got hard floors it’ll be cold to walk on, but then slippers exist so idk really
It might be in including having slippers or “indoor shoes”. Nigeria is there as a shoes on, but from my understanding, its only slippers/flip flops specificly for indoors, that are normal.
Edit: Talked to my Nigerian friend, shoes off is expected, and slippers are just a personal preference. The map is just wrong.
No, in “shoes off” countries it is very normal to wear slippers or other kinds of indoor footwear, so it wouldn’t make any sense to count those as “shoes on”. I just think the data used for this map was very faulty.
Same for Japan. No chance they’re wearing full hiking boots or sneakers inside the house in Japan - the shoe cabinet is built in right next to the front door of houses, tiny apartments, temples, many restaurants, etc. I assume the schools still do too.
Canada is labelled as shoes off but we also have slippers.
Although not sure about Nigeria, are slippers and flip flops like expected to be worn or just available?
For me I have slippers which are worn often but it’s not expected that anyone inside wear them. Most people just wear socks if they come to visit. And myself I go barefoot unless my feet get cold then I grab the slippers.
In my (limitted) experience, its expected. When I visited a friend who was Nigerian, they offered me slippers to wear in the house, and they felt uncomfortable going barefoot in my (Canadian) house.
Edit: Talked to my Nigerian friend, shoes off is expected, and slippers are just a personal preference. The map is just wrong.
Yeah that’s probably why it’s labelled as shoes on then I imagine and why Canada is labelled shoes off since any sort of foot covering is expected / not expected.
Correction: asked my friend, and shoes off is the normal expectation in Nigeria. Slippers are just a personal preference, so the chart is just wrong.
I reckon it depends on how warm someone’s home is and how good their circulation is. If I don’t have shoes on indoors, then for half the year it feels like my feet have been stabbed because they get so cold (slippers are not enough), but I don’t wear the same shoes indoors as outdoors. I suspect that if we set the heating higher and the house wasn’t constructed in a way that makes the floor always much colder than a few inches above the floor, this wouldn’t be a problem.
That’s interesting, I hqve a different experience - i used to have horrible foot circulation as a kid but i got into the habit of never wearing socks in my house (don’t like the texture, enjoy feeling air on feet and them being cooler) and i haven’t had the bad foot circulation since then… as far as i can tell. I have been wearing them for this winter though.
To me, the big decider is plush carpets. The first level of my house is mostly hardwood and tile. The second floor, and living rooms have plush carpets. So if someone is unloading a car, getting ready to leave, or just general in/out stuff, sure leave the shoes on. Once you’ve decided to stay, get those shoes off and be welcome in the cozy areas of the house.
Which, coincidentally, is also the areas where other warm stuff is.
Get some down booties. It’s like your feet are cocooned in a loving embrace of warmth and comfort.
The same in NZ. Is this that you never ever wear shoes on inside?
Is it acceptable to walk into your own house and walk around with shoes on? Sure.
Do most people do that most of the time? In my experience, people will be shoes off in their own home most of the time, but it’s not some big taboo to keep them on if you’re popping in to grab something.
Yeah as a kiwi this resonates. But it’s weird to see us labelled as a “shoes on” country when even shoes outside are optional lol.
Yeah I’m US and my parents were always at least annoyed if we wore our shoes further into the house than right by the door.
Same for the U.S. Sometimes downstairs or in common areas for guests.
In/out doors doesn’t really make a difference. If I need shoes outside, I’m probably wearing them inside. And vice versa.
It would be different if I had carpet. Carpet is impossible to thoroughly clean in situ. I would never want outside shoes on non-rental carpet. But I’ve got 100+ year old hardwood floors that have seen way worse than I’m tracking in.
US here. Depends really. If I’m working around the house I like my shoes on but when it’s time to shutdown. They off, maybe some flip flops if I head out to the pool
My parents keep their shoes on, I take mine off.
the opposite for me, my floors are dirty, i can handle it
wouldn’t be dirty if your shoes were off!
yeah but then i have to take my shoes off and put them on multiple times a day which is annoying
also i can live with a dirty floor, does not bother me, full of essential dirt to help keep my immune system on edge 😁
You must not have pets, or children.
So when I visited my friend that moved there, the rule was if you aren’t muddy shoes on in the first floor is fine but no shoes on the second floor.
They also have guests slippers for the first floor. I think this kinda makes sense since they like having parties then they don’t allow anyone upstairs.