Wearing shoes in the house is disgusting
I can’t remember when I transitioned from being a no-shoes-in-the-house person, but I’m pretty sure it was when I was still living in an apartment. Then it was mostly to keep as much dirt off the floor and be a better neighbor to the people living downstairs. After we moved into our home and had our first toddler playing and crawling around the house, it became a necessity. There’s loads of bad stuff on the bottom of your shoes … drug-resistant pathogens, cancer-causing toxins and chemicals from lawn & garden herbicides/fertilizers. But that’s not all, researchers from the University of Arizona found 421,000 units of bacteria on the outside of shoes including E.coli, meningitis, diarrheal disease, pneumonia and others.
But let’s put all of that aside, practically speaking, when you’re tracking lots of dirt in on a regular basis, you have to clean more and use more cleaning products. You’re getting more wear and tear on carpeting and being barefoot is good for you and your feet.
But what about keeping your feet warm in the winter or maybe you need structure for your feet. Have a pair of shoes that are designated ‘inside only’ and slip those on when you get home.
Six reasons to remove your shoes at the door
Environmental chemists give their view of shoes in the house
