ok here are the results so far of my impromptu survey. 36 votes for Yes.. I take off my shoes and ask others to

and 60 votes for I DO TAKE off my shoes but I don't ask others to.

My BnB is shoe free. My office house is not. But no one goes in my office house but me.

I take mine off because I'm more comfortable that way. Guests are not expected to unless they want to take them off.

i love barefoot, so no shoes at home, at the beach, when driving. at home the same applies to visitors.

No shoe rules at my house. If I take my shoes off it's simply because I want to go barefoot. Back and front doors wide open when I'm home. (I took the screen doors off cos I don't like them). Polished floors throughout. We used to have a few rugs but when my dog was a pup she weed on them and we never replaced them.

Since I live in Florida, I am nearly always in flip flops and prefer being barefoot, I am very likely to kick mine off whether they want me to or not LOL

Enclosed footwear is another matter. If I see a pile of shoes at the door and they have light carpet or brilliantly gleaming floors, I typically take them off but in the absence of some obvious hint that I should, I probably won't

If you prefer that people remove their shoes, you could post a decorative or whimsical sign

I take off my shoes when entering any home. I know that is not how everyone does things, and I accept that. Most people remove their shoes in my home after they see I do so.

You left out "I don't take off my shoes or ask others to".

Actually we're not stupid, we take our shoes off it it's rainy and muddy / snowy or otherwise a slop-fest as it's impossible not to track it all over the house. We also take our shoes off if it's more comfortable to have them off, which is usually true when we are staying indoors. But we don't necessarily do so when going in and out doing errands and such. My wife has boots of some soft material that she often forgets to take off because they're so comfortable, though. Also, ahem, at our age it's more work to get them off

I couldn't vote because I don't take off my shoes (unless it's winter and my boots are snowy or muddy) and I do not ask anyone else to do so.
Here's the thing for me -- I usually have dogs who run in and out of the house freely. -- unless there is obvious muck. Anything people bring in is probably going to be less toxic or unappealing than dog feet..
So I have a question for those who do remove their shoes -- what do you do about animals/pets? Do you own them? If so, what do you do about them tracking in germs, etc?

thanks for the helpful answers and your patience.. I see that I could have asked the question in a better way. Thanks so much for all the feed back and sharing. I like to take my shoes off when i come home for comfort and cleanliness.. I like others to take their shoes off., though I don't always ask people to .

Nah. Neither. D) none of the above

I don't remove mine, I don't ask anyone else to, and if someone asked me to remove my shoes I'd politely decline and probably leave.

I wear shoes for warmth, for foot support (feet hurt without them), plus no one wants to worry about the state of their socks around other people. It would seem just as rude to ask other people to remove any other article of clothing in your house. The role of host is make guests feel comfortable, not self conscious. Footwear that has been stomped through mud/slush etc are a different story. If you don't want people shoes in your house, keep a box of those little over-shoe booties by the front door.

Not only do I not take my shoes off I don't ask people to either. Keeps my house from getting stinky.

I believe barefoot is best, but my guests are free to wear or not wear whatever they like.

How come "I don't take off my shoes" is missing as an option? I have quartersawn white oak floors and tile. I hate carpeting for so many reasons! I think the only person who removed their shoes is a neighbor that just came from their horse pasture and had horse shit all over their boots. Other than that... Wipe your feet and come on in.

Obviously I remove my hiking boots if I go hiking and they are really muddy. I'll kick them off in the garage or beside the laundry room and let them dry. I have a backpack vacuum that works great. I hit the whole house every week to ten days.

I am not at all strict about it, especially right now since the carpet will be ripped out soon anyway. I picked up the habit when I visited India, and I rather like the custom.

Never have

No, no, no and no

I have tried this a couple of times. I failed miserably both times, but I love the idea of it.

None of the above.
All my floors are tile so it's easy to clean.

No & no.

Shoes track in dirt, dust, bacteria and leave prints and smudges. So shoes off at the door, please!

I take off my shoes because I find it more comfortable but leave it up to guests to make themselves at home as they choose.

My son's friend did this ..and the smell was absolutely nauseatingly awful...his once white socks were black....it was so bad I gave him a clean pair of socks ..and pointed him to the bathroom with soap and a towel.I could not clear the smell for days..it lingered and was embedded in the carpet ..sounds harsh ..but sometimes you have to take the bull by the horns and confront a difficult problem.So ..the answer to this moral dilemma ..keep your shoes on please...especially if your feet stink !

It is easy to take off shoes in cultures that are prepared for it - extra indoor slippers at the door, an expectation of shoes off everywhere, so you buy shoes that are easy to get on and off... a cultural thing. It is just as easy to keep shoes on in the house in cultures where that is a thing - like the US. Take off boots in the winter, and anything muddy anytime, of course, but regular-wear shoes in the house is fine. Note many boots are worn over shoes just for that purpose. The problem comes when cultures mix - also like the US. Then you get some people expecting to keep them on - and not prepared to take them off, either physically (sock issue) or mentally (do my feet smell?, are my nails clipped?) And some people who apparently clean their floors everyday so that taking shoes off is important to them. Carpet is more for bare feet, than hardwood, I think, but even then, the US shoe market is not made for easy-on, easy-off shoes for removing at the door all the time. It isn't really practical here because it isn't our custom and therefore we haven't developed ways to make it easy. BUT your house, your rules. If you insist (in the US) on having guests remove shoes, make it easy for them by putting extra indoor slippers at the door for them, and warn them before hand if they are new to your home. And guests should abide by house rules, unless there is a reason not to, which you explain at the door and then you and home owner decide what the ground rules are. I would add that culturally, the US has always been a shoe-wearing one. For those too poor to afford shoes, it was an aspiration, of course, not a reality, but there are iron shoe scrapes on front stairs of old houses, because people didn't take off their button-up shoes. Kids went barefoot a lot more, but even then, shoe-wearing became more common the older they got..The idea that if you had shoes and wore them outside, you wouldn't take them off just to come inside, is pretty much ubiquitous in the US until recently. Other cultures are showing us that there is another way. A better way? I don't think so. But it isn't worse, either, just different.