Why we are a shoe-free house

This “shoe-free house” policy has been a long road. We have tried to implement it several times and have failed, mostly because we feel awkward asking guests to remove their shoes. Well one baby with RSV, 4 viruses, a dog allergy, and #motherhood and we no longer feel awkward making this request. Here are three (very big) reasons why we ask that you remove your shoes upon entering our house.

We are movin’ and groovin’!

We have a 7 month old who is almost crawling (currently scooting) who puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. No joke, I put her on her mat and walked away for 2 seconds and next thing I knew she has the dog’s toy IN HER MOUTH. I am a firm believer in the 5 second rule, but not when the item comes up having grown hair in the form of dust bunnies.

The Germ Factor

Our shoes carry a lot of bacteria and we also track a lot of dirt, pesticides, animal feces in on the bottom of our shoes without knowing. Just think about that dirty bathroom you walked into and couldn’t stomach actually using. Yep, you track all that grossness (is that a word?) into you house. And before you ask, yes our dog goes outside and does not wipe his paws but we do keep a strict one bath a week rule for him (and for everyone in the house). Also he has allergies so will step in as little grass as possible.

Ain’t nobody got time for that

I do not want to clean. I do not want to vacuum and mop my floor just for it to rain the next day and get mud and wet paw and shoe prints all over my clean floor. With our no shoes policy I make it a habit to do a quick vacuum (or as I like to call it “A Lick and Promise”) every few days so guest to get grossed out taking their shoes off. But I have seen the light, my floors look and (key word here) STAY clean for days!! You would also be shocked at how much dirt I pick up when we have no carpet and a shoe-free house. It is scary.

[pinterest image_url=”https://coastalbend.momcollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Shoe-Free.png” count=”horizontal”]