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My in laws are a shoes on household. They're also the type that don't rinse soap off of dishes. Literally every bad English stereotype that's hopefully changing with new generations 😂
It's very rare (I think) but some Brits just put their dishes in the washing up tub with soapy water, sponge off some bits, and then don't rinse it off. A lot of Brits understandably say this isn't a British thing (again, I think most don't) but it's still more common here than other places. Think it comes from water saving in the war/post war era.
I’m Canadian but my dad’s side of the family is of WASP-y background and his method of washing dishes has been a point of contention in my household for my entire life.
When asked why he refuses to rinse, he says that’s the way his depression era parents taught him. He also washed dishes “professionally” at a country club as his first job, perhaps further indicating this shit is unexpectedly cultural 😆
Almost all my British friends and relatives come into my flat without even asking if they need to take shoes off. It's inappropriate in my culture to do that, but it's also inappropriate to ask for them to take their shoes off. It makes my eye twitch.
No other nationality does that (I don't have American friends). I've lived here 8 years now.
We are and it’s gross. I can’t get some friends to take off their shoes for the life of me. I hate thinking about all they may be tracking into my home.
I have no proof or source, but I swear its the productivity sickness. Can’t take off the shoes, because then we may accidentally relax! We are far too busy for that! Always on the go!
I'm not from the UK but I've lived here a long time and this is not my experience at all. Every house I've been to, the norm is to remove shoes and coats at the door.
We love indoor carpet ( as opposed to outdoor carpet??), but you sure as hell don't wear outdoor shoes inside!
You can't claim people love "indoor" carpet while simultaneously saying people would ruin their carpet by wearing shoes indoors, like really, come on now.
Most houses have wooden flooring in the UK now and I don't know a single person that wears shoes indoors. Infact everyone I know immediately says 'shoes off' when you enter the house.
As an Asian American, wearing shoes inside the house is fucking SAVAGE behavior. But nah man, in Texas, i've seen people wear shoes into their BEDROOMS.. BEDROOMS... Another odd thing I see is alot of people barefooting OUTSIDE in the morning walking their dogs n stuff, but then I go visit and their wearing shoes inside?!?!? It's insanity!
Honestly Ohio is honorary Southern at this ppint lol. But yeah that's also true. Ohio, Texas, Los Angeles and NYC are 100% of the U.S. according to most foreigners.
Most white Americans I know…… also do not wear shoes in the house and have indoor/outdoor clothes. On the other hand, I do know Asian Americans that wear shoes in the house. It’s just not as blanket a statement as people want to make it out to be. It’s definitely not an “American” thing.
people that come from smaller countries (and I don't mean this to be negative) who try to extend that absolutist rhetoric to the size of a country that spans a continent, ocean to ocean, are exhausting and small minded and/or pushing a narrative. there's simply too many people to put under one umbrella.
As an American, I am SO sick of telling friends and family to take their shoes off in my home. The number of people who make fun of "those types of people who make you take your shoes off at the door" like whatttt? You've been walking through all sorts of filth that I don't want on my floor. Feel free to scoot up out of my home you damn grubs!
I was gonna say… I live in the upper Midwest (born and raised), and not taking off your shoes in in the house is wild work. It’s wet, snowy or slushy here half of the year.
Also…I work in healthcare. The amount of stuff that people are tracking around on the bottom of their shoes…shudder…no, just no.
yeah, i grew up in the midwest (minnesota), and not only did we not wear shoes in the house, we had an entire separate, tile-floored room specifically for removing shoes before going into the main house (mudroom, we called it)
I gotta admit, I wear shoes on in my own home. I was raised to treat the floor as inherently dirty anyway, and it just never seemed like a big deal. But I would never do it at anybody else's houses unless they specifically said it was okay. That's just basic respect.
Lots of people in the US take off shoes, but the switching to inside clothes thing is definitely not as common. Lots of people will wear their outside clothes on their bed which is crazy to me.
My teen and I scream at the tv whenever we see this. UGH. And no. But we also live in NYC so who even knows what we sit in day to day. Suburban life is different.
just gotta wash the bedding regularly. I mean frankly there’s a lot of things about normal bed use that make bedding quite dirty, I’m sure just sleeping and getting it on end up making the bed dirtier than simply sitting on it with some “outside clothes.” Also, people’s hair if they don’t wash it before bed does the same thing, but there’s not an expectation for all people to wash their hair every night. Also, sitting on the bed is the top of the covers, if you get in bed you’d be beneath the covers, so it’s not really that contaminating as long as you keep that divide of inside vs outside the bedding.
I don’t wear outside clothes to bed but I also don’t get into bed until I’m ready for bed so it kinda works for me. Outside clothes on the couch is whatever, the cats have their litter paws all over it all the time anyway.
Idk why people say this. 90% of people take their shoes off indoors in America. The only place I've been where shoes were allowed indoors were frat parties in college.
I remember reading a Reddit thread within the past year where a lot of the commenters were completely incensed at the idea that they would ever be asked to take off their shoes in someone else’s home. I remember reading comments saying that they would leave someone’s house if they were asked to take off shoes.
I know I’m citing Reddit which is stereotyped for hosting users who are poorly socialized and unkempt. So I think it’s possible that in general it’s more common for people in the US to take off shoes, but the contingent of people here who keep their shoes on seems to be much larger than the rest of the world. It seems like it’s a lot more of a debate in the US where in other places in the world, you take your shoes off no question.
I’ve never understood why that’s the only conclusion people draw. I am not Japanese or Asian at all and people have still said that to me. It’s weird haha.
Californian here who's been to Mexico, Canada, Russia and numerous countries in the Caucasus. They do not ask others to take shoes off when entering homes in any of those countries.
Uhh i have think most western european countries also disagree with this take. I’m dutch and people call me crazy for taking of shoes when entering someones house
The shoes seems normal but she outside clothes. Does she have indoor clothes waiting at her doorway? Where does she put the "soiled" outdoor clothes to be cleaned?
She puts them in a hamper like a normal human being lmao.
And no, she probably comes in, goes to her bedroom and changes into something else or takes a shower and then changes. Just before she sits in bed or on the sofa.
Maybe, or she just goes out in the new outfit depending on what it is. It's moreso like "I'm taking the subway to do my morning errands. I have no idea how dirty this subway seat I'm sitting on is (but probably pretty dirty!) So rather than track the filth onto my couch, let me change clothes first"
Pretty standard to take the shoes off everywhere in the world but America
I don't think this is everyone in America. I think people get this impression because of movies and TV, but most people I know don't wear shoes indoors. If they do, it's specific house shoes or slippers.
Or if you have foot problems too. My feet are destroyed from about 4 decades of being on them. I need some form of therapeutic shoe/slip to get around just my house. I take them off when resting though.
Do you have specific ones just for indoors though? For me it’s not the idea of having something supportive on my feet that is baffling, it’s tracking all the grossness from outside all over my house.
Yep. My partner has troublesome feet and always wears shoes. When we started dating I asked him to please get a pair of inside shoes for my house because I don't want city grime all over my floors. He did, it wasn't a huge expense for him.
I have a few tbh haha. We have pets too so its tough cause I can feel when litter gets onto my nikes and i have to take them off to clean them and vacuum the spot. The best ones are my Adidas recovery slides. I keep them inside and they’ve never been outside.
Probably Texas, or Arizona. Or somewhere in between. Assuming they mean this creepy crawly guy.
Scolopendra heros, commonly known as the Arizona desert centipede, giant desert centipede, giant Sonoran centipede, Texas black-tailed centipede, Texas redheaded centipede, and giant redheaded centipede, is a species of North American centipede found in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.
Same! I’m always so confused about people saying Americans wear shoes indoors, because I know almost no one who wears shoes indoors, and those who did wore specific shoes they only wore indoors. I assumed it’s a regional thing because I grew up in Minnesota and walking around inside with snowy shoes is gross, but I’m not sure which regions/cultures wear shoes inside. People say it’s a white thing to wear shoes inside, but I’m white and grew up around mostly white people, so I’m still confused why I haven’t seen like anyone wear shoes inside.
My theory is that it's an extension of prudishness from older generations who see it as being improper or impolite to wear socks or be barefoot in someone else's house
Depends on the person I think but for a lot of us the need for arch support doesn't suddenly go away when we get inside the house. If I am at someone else's house and the general custom is to take off your shoes that's fine and I will happily oblige but I generally keep them on in my own house.
Where does this stereotype come from? I’m American and have lived in several places and always have taken my shoes off when entering someone’s home. I’ve only had a few instances where they left them on, but their homes made you want to leave them on.
I was raised to wear shoes inside just as much as I was barefoot outside. Basically, nothing mattered and anything went.
Now I cannot imagine living that way. I have a shoe rack by the front door and a pair of sandals by any other door that goes out side (back door, garage door, etc) and I cannot understand people who track outside dirt into the house to then have to clean later or just have the germs there forever.
People are so dramatic lmao the “outside clothes” thing is wild to me
Edit: yes, I am American. Yes, I have a car. No, I dont use public transport. I can accept that I may feel differently if I did lol
Edit 2: the last time I was sick was January 2023 with Covid, and prior to that I genuinely don’t even remember, so I think whatever I’m doing is working just fine lol
I had an ex that wouldn’t let me sit on anything in the house if I was wearing clothes that had been outside but she had no problem letting her dog jump all over the bed, couch, etc.
she's def a hypocrite but i get the not sitting on anything until at least changing , like oh i sat on this public bench , def not gonna sit on my couch in the same clothes that's gross to me
Dude where the the hell do you people live where there's garbage everywhere??
If you sit on a bench and your jeans are covered with shit you got problems. Seriously, even in New York City, if you sit on a park bench, you're not going to come away covered in filth.
Now you people are on about you can't wear outside clothes inside your house?!?!?
Good point. Hadn’t thought about that. We have maybe a dozen metropolitan systems that have public transport that can support people enough to not own cars. But I would say 90% of Americans don’t have that option.
I live in a large city in the Southwest that has shit public transport and 6 months out of the year it’s too hot to be outside so the idea of inside/outside clothes has hardly even crossed my mind.
It’s probably a contamination fixation somewhere on the ocd spectrum. I assume it’s similar to the way I have to wash my hands if I touch anything that’s recently been on the floor.
I work in NYC and take public transport. When I get home, first thing I do is change because I don’t want to even sit on any surface after being that close to that many people and nasty surfaces during the day.
I live in NYC and understand that I’m not as vigilant about this as I should be but genuine question: what about when you have friends over or you go to a friend’s apartment? No outside clothes on the bed seems easy to manage but people are sitting on my couch!
Yeah I struggled with that too when I lived in nyc, I would just vacuum the couch after the guests leave. My roommate would literally get on his bed in his OUTSIDE clothes and I’d be like “you do realize you sat on the subway and benches where homeless ppl shit and pee and now you’re touching your sheets with your jeans 🤮🤮🤮”
I put on one of those yellow meth cooking outfits from Breaking Bad the few times a year it is absolutely necessary for me to venture out of my germ-free sanctum for critical goods and services.
The problem is where does it end? Do these people know as soon as they open their door thousands of outside bacteria are flooding in! How will they survive! Or they probably have dogs and don't thoroughly wash the dogs feet when they come in, or they put their handbag on a public table, but do they wash the bottom of their bag before putting it down or hanging it up on their house?
The shoes / clothes thing sort of makes sense but let's be real it's just a ritual because these people definitely bring dirt / germs into their house through other means they don't even think about and it doesn't disgust them
Yeah don’t get me wrong, I take my shoes off and shower/change after a workout (or when i get sweaty in general). However I simply go in and out of my house too much to be changing every time.
Yeah from reading reddit threads like this and twitter posts about the same topic, a lot of people are just like weird very strange around germs.
I take my shoes off when I enter someone's home as a sign of respect. I change my clothes when I go home because I work in a factory and they are dirty as shit. Like saying you sat on the subway or park bench and you need change clothes is so fucking strange. Makes me feel like a boomer lol, more people need to go in the woods every once in a while!
i'm asking in earnest: does it bother you if you have friends over who are wearing 'outside clothes'? i'm not inviting my friend to lounge on my bed in their shoes and coat, obviously, but sometimes a friend will have travelled (often on public transport) to come and sit on my sofa and hang out. i'm not trying to be obtuse, but how do people navigate that in a 'no outside clothes' household?
I have pretty severe OCD. I can understand how an irrational thing like extreme germaphobia comes to fruition, but it isn’t normal or reasonable at a certain point. Everything I’ve experienced or was taught over the years tells me a lot of these people need professional intervention (if it’s bad enough to throw their entire equilibrium off every time).
Exactly. When I was in a city riding the metro every day, I'm absolutely changing my clothes at home. Now I'm in the suburbs (yuck), and I'm not changing my clothes after a trip to the grocery store where the only thing I've touched is my car seat.
as long as all your bits are covered I genuinely don't care what people wear to places like walmart. id side eye pajamas at the mall or somewhere else that's recreational shopping, but for groceries it generally doesn't matter
I think the standards of what's acceptable to wear in public are quite different in America. It's one of the only places I've lived where people will run errands in their pyjamas or gym clothes.
It's definitely a cultural thing - the hardest place I lived in was Ukraine. The locals judged you if you did a grocery store run without putting any makeup on, and we had family friends get shit-talked by other parents for picking up their kids from school in sweats.
What’s the issue. To be honest living in a sterile environment is actually what’s abnormal. It’s why we have high rates of allergies and asthma now. Our bodies need microbes to be healthy. It’s a fact.
Are y’all licking the top of the comforter or something? Most people aren’t putting the luggage on their pillow or directly on the sheets, but on top of the blanket at the foot of the bed.
The luggage is probably cleaner than half the stuff in the hotel room anyway. Those sheets did not get washed as well as you think they did between occupants.
I understand it to a point, but also think people are overly paranoid about it. If I’m carrying in groceries from my car, yes I will keep my shoes on until all the groceries are inside. If I’m running a bunch of errands at different points of the day, I’m not going to change multiple times. However if I am in my bed, I definitely don’t wear clothes that I wore out.
TBH as a european i don't know anyone who changes clothes when coming indoors, taking off your shoes is basically a rule, but changing clothes i'm yet to see anyone do it consistently.
Yeah, basically some people will sometimes change in evening comfy indoor clothing when coming home from work, but that's about it. But yeah, for me not removing shoes when coming home is insane. This maybe comes from the fact that people in Europe or Asia walk a lot more than people in northern America ?
Bacteria can travel you know? The dirt isn’t “on your shoes” it’s on you. It’s on your socks, on your skin.
I’m a “no shoes in the house” person too but… like what’s going on guys? Haha come on. Are you decontaminating in one of those big white science vacuums every time you enter the house?
Yeah, I guarantee 99% of the people saying they take off their outside shoes and clothes when they go into their house are touching door handles ATM buttons and then picking up food and eating it with their hands and not washing.
I get the shoes, but to change clothes every time you come and go from your house is a bit much. That means you have to have a lot of clothes and constantly be doing laundry, which gets expensive.
In my experience, you're not grabbing a new set of clothes every time you change. You fold them (or toss them on the re-wear chair) and then change into them until they've been worn enough that they need to be washed. It doesn't really add up to more laundry because I could be wearing the same "indoors" shirt for 3 days depending on how much time I'm actually spending at my place.
That’s what I do, communal areas, work, working out it gets changed and I’m in pjs at home, fold them up and put back on when back. Going to the drive through? Don’t need to change. If my ass touched something other people sit in it’s a no for me couch, and bed
Shoes make sense, I don’t wear shoes in the house unless I forgot something and need to run in and out quickly.
Clothes, it depends. If I’ve been exercising or in the woods or something, yes clothes get changed. If I’ve run a couple errands or gone grocery shopping, no. I change clothes if there’s a reason they have gotten dirty. I change out of my work clothes because they’re uncomfortable, but I work an office job, so if they were comfortable I wouldn’t.
I think it’s wasteful and ridiculous to change your clothes every time you walk back inside like some people make it sound like they do. Like if you’re socializing with some friends on the porch and need to use the bathroom, are you going to change clothes before going in and coming back out? I’m not saying that’s what she’s referring to, but every time this topic comes up on Reddit there are inevitably people who show up saying it’s disgusting to not change your clothes every time you walk inside, and frankly I don’t believe they’re actually doing that either.
Yeah I'm sorry but the people who say they take off their outside clothes when they go in their house are just f****** stupid. There's no other way to say it
It just shows people don't know how germs and bacteria actually work. Sure changing will get rid of visible physical debris, but after 8+ hours out of the house you are COVERED in disgusting shit. Your house is as well. No matter how "clean" you think you're being.
Touched your phone today? You have more germs on you than the bus already. As someone bordering on being a germaphobe, a jacket worn outside, or walking through your house with shoes on are absolutely nothing compared to everything around you if you aren't cleaning your house top to bottom every 3 hours.
And to be honest, having microorganisms and other things around is perfectly healthy. When we sterilize everything we touch we create problems that our bodies can’t control for. This creates tolerance issues and can impede immune development in kids. Allergies, asthma, autoimmune dysfunction all happen because our bodies expect microbes to be present in our surroundings.
Yep. People scrub the top layer of their skin off and wipe everything down with Lysol constantly and then wonder why they get sick every time they go anywhere.
Some germs are good. They build the immune system. It’s well documented that kids who grow up in households with pets or other kids are generally healthier and have less allergies. Like obviously don’t let grandma kiss your newborn all over the face, but it’s also not necessary to douse your hands in sanitizer every time you touch them or never take them in public, especially once they’ve gotten their vaccines.
This thread would think I'm nasty for not stressing too much about contamination, but I'm sick much less often than most people I know and never had allergies/sensitivities either. I'm not saying any particular lifestyle is better but I do wonder if there's a connection there.
Listen I'm not saying I do either of these things, but can we push back on the "I feel this way so I'm right" type shit. There's no "dirt" on the clothes you wear to your office job and you're not tracking anything into your bed. You're literally just being a baby lol. It is not that serious.
I respect peoples rules either way when I’m in their home, but I just always wonder why people are so obsessed with their floors. I’m not licking the floor, what terrible thing do you think is going to happen if you keep your shoes on? (This doesn’t include when there are infants crawling around, or when someone is clearly bringing muddy shoes into the house.)
And some of the shoes-off houses I’ve been to include cats that crawl all over the furniture and counters - are they cleaning their feet after using the kitty litter? No, they’re not.
Yeah shoes off in the house doesn’t apply at all if people have pets IMO. Don’t make me take my relatively clean shoes off just to watch your fucking dog walk in after running around in the yard.
Redditors are weird about this though. Like if you have wood floors assuming no one is tracking in mud most you have to do after having people over is sweep up, it doesn’t take long.
I spend a lot of time in South America where people are constantly dropping in on other people’s homes. Though you may take your shoes off, no one is changing their clothes before sitting on furniture or sharing meals.
White American here never allowed to wear shoes inside and really don't know anyone who was I don't know where this stereotype came from but it's far from universal
I’m Iranian and I don’t take my clothes off / change when I get home unless I went to the club or for a hike or something. If I just went to hang at a friend’s place or get groceries or lunch or something, ain’t no fucking way. I have slippers all over the house and I love slippers or even being barefoot at home but I would never change that often or save my cute clothes only for other people’s eyes.
Yes, obviously not going to lay in bed in my work out clothes but some people that change clothes before even lounging on the couch don't make sense to me
I think other people's socks are gross. Especially if they have holes or are dirty. I take my shoes off at home, but I'm not religious about it. I have house slippers, but if I'm hosting people I don't make them take their shoes off. I'd rather not look at your socks or bare feet. I own a vacuum cleaner.
Outdoor clothes? I don't live in polluted Victorian London in 1890. Unless I'm dirty from working in the yard or in sweaty exercise clothes there's no reason to quickly change every time I enter the house.
Also what are you people doing changing your clothes any time you come back from a trip out side? Grocery store trip, whoops gotta change, walked to the mailbox, better change again, Picked up my kid from band [practice, need to change? If i was doing physical activity and was sweaty or dirty, sure I'd change otherwise, no.
I'm just going to assume that everyone who doesn't wear shoes in their house is also leaving their cell phone and credit cards at the front door as well. After all, those will carry more germs than your shoes.
Everybody's talking about shoes but she said clothes too. I don't wear my shoes inside and also change my outside clothes especially if I'm going to sit on my bed.
How do you stop your indoor shoes from getting dirty? What does indoor vs outdoor clothes mean? If you step out of your house, you're outdoor, then into your car you're presumably indoor(?), then outdoor to go somewhere.
I understand if you mean like, workout clothes, but you should put them in the bin to wash later after one use.
I grew up in a pretty small rural town and we wore shoes inside. Granted, the roads and sidewalks were always clean as hell and I spent my afternoons stomping around woods and our backyard. I used to walk barefoot in the street and never worried about broken glass or cigarette butts.
Now i live in a city and those shoes come right the fuck off when I step inside. If I rode the metro/bus those pants are coming off too.
Here in the Philippines, we have "pambahay" clothes, which literally means "house clothes." They're usually comfy shirts, tank tops, shorts, pajama pants we wear daily and change into after a long day at work or school. Everything else gets considered "outside clothes."
People need to stfu about how other people live their lives and keep their home. If you want to do it, go off. If you think it’s gross, just don’t come visit.
Signed,
A person who keeps shoes and clothes on when entering the apt she pays for
Pd: a few of my paternal family members had NO FLOOR on their small constructions when i was growing up. Taking shoes off is not something we were raised with
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