Wearing Shoes inside the house? Slippers?

Do Americans wear shoes inside the house? Don’t your floors become dirty?

Should I always take my shoes off?

Yes

Walk around in socks?

No, in house shoes / slippers, usually provided by the host.

Do all Germans wear hausschuhes?

Yes.
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This is the custom throughout Europe (and most of the world really) - you remove your shoes and are provided with house shoes by the host. House shoes are typically a slide on felt shoe. No German or Austrian would wear street shoes beyond the front door. At schools, all children must remove their outside shoes and put on house shoes when entering the school.

Morten - Yes, Americans keep their outside shoes on in the house typically, but you do find more and more families adopting the idea of removing shoes at the door. My parents, for example, never take their shoes off in the house.

In the US it seems to be half-and-half which is confusing because you never know which type of house you will be visiting. So in the US if it's a shoe-free household then you walk around in socks. Leading to me occasionally worrying about mismatched or hole filled socks :) . I've not seen "house shoes" in the US, but I understand they will be provided at households in Germany.

Very odd, leaving your shoes on inside. Here in Canada, I only know of one family who leave on their outside shoes in their house and I simply can't do it when I visit. It is common here to bring your own slippers when you go visiting.

Bring a pair of light shoes with you just in case the family you visit asks you to remove your shoes. When I lived outside of Freiberg as an exchange student in the '80s, we took off our shoes before went entered the host family's home.

“Do Americans wear shoes inside the house?” Not in my house. It’s just a civilized approach. I wear clogs indoors...and they stay indoors.

I too wear indoor shoes indoors, but my daughter keeps her outdoor shoes on - I think mainly because it looks "smarter". She is only 41 and young people tend to be more vain - I think.

I also think it is a climate thing - if you live in an area where the streets are often covered in rain and slush it makes sense to take off your shoes when going indoor, and that spills over to summer time when it is often not necessary.

If you live in a warm climate (Italy, California) where the streets can be trusted to be dry, it may not make much sense to carry indoor shoes when you visit people. In Italy i have often seen indoor floors are made of marble or some other hard material, which is probably easier to keep clean than the carpets you often see in colder climates to help keep your feet warm.

Just my 2 cents :-)

When I travel, I just pick up a pair of slippers from the dollar store and discard them before leaving or after I get home - don't really want to wear slippers other people have had on.

For the record, at home I wear Birkenstocks around the house in the summer, slippers in the winter.

Doesn't matter how dry the streets seem - you are still walking thru dried up stuff - dog or cat urine...or people urine...ick...other messes, chemicals from lawns, bird droppings, sticky spilled drinks, every day grime. People shudder at wearing sandals in cities in the summer. I need to wear sandals because if my feet are hot, I get cranky. I take deodorizing foot wipes and had to use two every night when we were in Rome - if your feet look like that, imagine what your shoe soles look like...

We, and most people I know, do not wear their outdoor shoes inside the house. Younger people go barefoot and older people often bring indoor shoes. We have indoor shoes. Workmen usually have those shoe covers that they put on when they enter. I'm always amazed when people just walk into my house without even wiping their shoes to say nothing of offering to remove them like everyone else. The only people not requested to remove their shoes (most people do it automatically) are the elderly and some workmen. I don't see this as American vs European, but rather as clean vs dirty household OR versus a house with more chores vs fewer chores.

Wow, so many cultural and geographic differences. I have lived in 7 states from Massachusetts to Texas and have encountered VERY few shoeless homes. Even those few give guests a choice. Like Nicole P, I would not want to wear slippers after someone else and certainly would not offer them to guests. When I lived in the Northeast, I would carry flats in winter to change into when I took my snow boots off at the door. I frequently walk barefoot around the house simply because I like to. Hubby is just the opposite, rarely walks barefoot or in socks. Fun and educational to read about all the different customs!

Oooh, I kind of winced at the clean vs dirty statement because I don't see myself as a dirty person or living in a dirty house. I wear my outside shoes inside the house. I have good matting at the doors, wood floors that are fairly easy to clean and live in a semi-rural area. I usually leave hiking or snow boots in the utility room when I come in if they are wet or muddy. If the hikers are not wet/muddy/dusty then I do wear them inside.

I also wear a product called correct toes for strengthening my feet to combat Plantar Fasciitis which works better inside shoes. There have been times when I have worn orthotics which do need to be in shoes. I guess some people have specific shoes they wear in the house and several pair of orthotics so they don't have to change back and forth.

"Should I always take my shoes off? Walk around in socks?"

Are you going to be staying in someone's house? If you're staying in a b&b, or a private home, they will probably tell you if they want you to take your shoes off and provide you with some kind of foot covering. For hotels and other buildings, it's not an issue, keep your shoes on.

but rather as clean vs dirty household OR versus a house with more chores vs fewer chores.

I just want to make sure you read the entire sentence, as no offense was intended, but those are the options. I like to limit my chores and I suspect you all likely fit into the second category. My child grew up where 95% of the houses require shoes to be removed due to influences perhaps from Swedish, Old New England and Asian cultures, perhaps?

I grew up in Poland and am used to taking off my shoes inside the house...yes, it's a cultural thing and it's pretty common in Poland, Germany, other European countries, Japan, and probably lots of other places in the world. Most of my guests (close friends, etc) take off theirs as well. I don't have slippers (of all sizes) available for them, however. I don't insist or ask that one-time guests or contractors take off their shoes, although good contractors put the little baggies over their feet before walking in. I basically take my cue for entering any house by the presence (or absence) of a wall of shoes right at the doorway and also seeing if other people have their shoes off - and of course the background and cultural inclinations of the home owner.

Hi,

I'll give you my experiences with Germans into whose houses I have been invited.

I always take off my shoes, leave them near the front door. Yes, I walk around in the house (as long it is inside) or patio in socks. If they don't request that I remove my tennis shoes, then I ask them ( the answer is always yes anyway), or I do it automatically without being asked. Likewise in France. I'm certainly not going to be the only one still in tennis shoes when the others have removed their shoes.

Herr Freegrnt, wunderbar.

For those of you from a no-shoes-inside culture, if you're hosting a cocktail party or dinner party in your home, and people are rather dressed up, do they still take off their high heels etc?

I would say most of the houses around here are no shoes inside. I wear slippers in the winter, flipflops in the summer, and socks or barefoot only upstairs. 50 years ago this was rare, except in the winter when it was the norm. I carry slippers to wear in other people's houses (Minneapolis).

For those of you from a no-shoes-inside culture, if you're hosting a
cocktail party or dinner party in your home, and people are rather
dressed up, do they still take off their high heels etc?

By and large yes. My experience, living in Canada (and in Germany for 3 years) is that guests remove their shoes at the door. It is up to them to choose to go in stocking/bare feet or to put on a clean pair of shoes that they have brought with them. Occasionally, for a summer party where guests are frequently going between the indoors and patio, this "rule" is suspended for convenience sake. It would be considered the height of rudeness to wear outdoor footwear in a house in winter or any time the weather was inclement.

Interesting. Here in the southeast U.S., dirty snow/slush isn't a problem. But also there tends to be more social formality, and walking around in socks in someone's home that you don't know well, would involve a certain perceived "intimacy" that would make people uncomfortable.

Growing up we always wore shoes in the house. My parents put their shoes on as soon as they got up. Now I wear slippers or go barefoot. But I go through the house to my bed room before I take them off. None of my friends take their shoes off in the house if we come in from outside. Most wear shoes or slippers but none of us have specific house shoes. My slippers gave a hardsole snd I wear them outside as well.

I grew up wearing shoes in the house (usually if we were going back out again that day), but when my siblings and I moved out and got our own houses, we all started taking our shoes off at the door (including at my parents' house). Our personal shoes are kept in a coat closet. My now college aged kids have never known anything different. They wear socks or go barefoot in the summer in our house. I wear house slippers because my feet get cold. I ask repairmen to put on the shoe covers because sometimes their boots are muddy or wet, and because I recently had new carpet installed. Most guests automatically take their shoes off (as I do in their houses) or I ask them if they mind taking them off. When elderly relatives come over and they're dressed up, if they don't take their shoes off, I don't make them.

Will, as a fellow Southerner, I agree that taking off shoes in a traditional Southern home would cause blushes and possibly worse.

If someone removed their shoes when entering my house, I would ask what they were doing, because it's not the way I was raised (Los Angeles) Maybe if it were raining outside ....