Take Off Your Shoes At the Door | Honor Your Health and House | Keep Bacteria Out

Striving to keep the floors clean in the house is an ongoing struggle, especially with children and pets. What did they step into out there in the world that now lives in your carpeting? Where did you walk today while at work, in the parking lot, public bathrooms, and through the recent chemically treated lawn. The remnants of these bacteria, molds, pollen, oils, toxins, and other unmentionables are walking into your home with your shoes. Many cultures around the planet have customs about taking off the shoes before entering the home. It is not only customary but a form of honoring the home by not bringing in the outside pollutions of the day into your sanctuary.

With the busy lives we lead in the United States, so little time is taken to remove the shoes at the door. Sometimes it is a matter of having to tie and untie, or the hands are full of groceries, or blah blah blah. It is always something to excuse our forgetfulness or is it just a matter of not caring enough about our health and what we are bringing into our homes. It struck a cord with me when I read an article on honoring your home. A humbling concept. If you remember your Bible studies about Moses on the Holy Mountain of Sinai. He took off his shoes in the presence of God on Holy Ground. Maybe we should consider our homes as Holy Ground too. The sacred space in which we live with our loved ones. Let's start today by taking off our shoes at the door as a symbolic acknowledgement that our homes are sacred ground therefore by taking off our shoes, we leave the soils and negative energy of the day outside where it belongs. This effort must be undertaken by the entire household to achieve the goal and then there are the guests.

A comment shared by a person in the article stated, "Stepping out of shoes becomes a subconscious step in creating your energetic sanctuary. In fact I noticed yesterday when I stepped back in the house with my shoes on to grab something how odd it felt to have my shoes on in the house. It felt like I was tracking in more than dirt. It was a reminder to me why we don’t wear our shoes in the house in the first place."

Post a sign at all the entrances to Remember To Take Off Your Shoes. Wipe off your dogs feet when possible especially when muddy or damp as everything out there sticks to the paws and hair. Put a tray outside on the enclosed patio or right inside the door for shoes. Put a stool to sit for easy removal and putting back on. Children will have to be constantly reminded when in a hurry to speed through the door, especially when the bathroom is the destination. Buying shoes that slip on and off more easily can also be less of a deterrent even for adults. Stay firm and everyone will eventually remember the new house rule. It is just like the smoking outside rule that you likely enforce. I am sure your designated smoking area is acceptable for the family and for your guests, just add shoe removal to the agenda.

If honoring the house by keeping it cleaner or saving yourself hours of extra cleaning because of tracking more dirt is not enough, well maybe the following information will be more convincing. In some countries a shoes off policy is not necessary because removing shoes is the cultural norm and no one would consider not doing so. It would be extremely rude not to remove shoes before entering. When visiting countries like Japan, Thailand, Czech Republic, Africa, Indonesia, middle east, India, Dutch, Scandinavian Countries like Norway and Sweden, and so many more please remember to take off the shoes. Canada has a very common policy to remove shoes at the door. What is the problem with the United States? Well, Hawaii follows suit with the rest of the planet by leaving the flip flops at the door. Some people do not like walking around without something on the feet, so have slippers available at the door to slip into. As for the rest of the population....well I think it comes from Britain. For some reason the Britts like keeping the shoes on. When thinking about this, I am perplexed. So what I am reading here is that the so called more civilized sophisticated British society leaves the shoes on whereas the supposedly less civilized sophisticated nations on the planet remove their shoes?

Hmmmm... I am thinking again. What is wrong with this picture? What does the rest of the planet know that the British want to avoid thinking about. Or maybe it was a protested policy only deemed needed for the riffraff of society. Whatever the case may be....I say let's get over it and share the conviction of the rest of the planet. Smell the coffee Americans and TAKE OFF THE DANG SHOES and be healthier. How many of our children are taking overloads of allergy medications and have breathing problems because we have a home full of dirt, bacteria, mold, pollen and other unmentionables mostly from tracking them in on our shoes. Is it plain laziness? Do we not care about our health? Is the process of changing a habit just not worth the effort? What then? Okay maybe the answer is a financial motivation. How often do you get your carpets cleaned? You will obviously save money on cleaning products and services to maintain the flooring in the home. Even with wood and laminate flooring the bacteria still enters your home, bacteria and molds are not as invasive as with carpeting, but still remain on the flooring.

It is only polite to accept the responsibility of shoe removal when a guest at someones home. Do not force the host to request removal, that is totally rude and inconsiderate on your part. You would not light a cigarette in someones home without asking permission, do not assume it is OK to where your shoes inside. Once you get into the habit of doing it at your house, you will automatically do it at everyone else's house too. Just do it.

It is also considered good party ettiqette to remove shoes for any occasion when entering the home. In some countries people actually take a spare pair of shoes for putting on when getting into the party home to replace the shoes that were worn at the party. Leaving the traveled pair at the door to change back into when leaving. Interesting cultural protocol if I might say so.

1. Carpets are not easy to clean and cost a lot of money to replace.
2. Carpets absorb dust and become breeding gf rounds for dust mites causing development of asthma and allergies.
3. Regular hardwood flooring doesn't trap the dust therefore becoming airborne they enter your sinus cavity and lungs.
4. Shoes pick up contaminants while outside and leave marks and scratches on flooring.
5. Your family's health is very important.
6. Taking care of your largest asset is very important.
7. How many insects do you think you have squashed on your shoe today?
8. When inclement weather, the water is coming in on the flooring
9. Shoes pick up excrement from animals as well as other toxins in the environment,
10. It teaches your family respect for property and personal health.
11. Most Importantly, no one will holler at you to TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES!

• Taking off one’s shoes at the door can be a simple celebration of everyday life, as easy as kicking off your shoes at the front door to symbolize leaving behind the harried outer world and entering your holy sanctuary.
• Less dirt and small rocks gouge our floors, gently buffed by bare feet in the warmer seasons and by softly slippered feet in the cooler months.
• Bare feet are treated to the comforting sensation of walking on smooth wood, or other flooring, an uncommon experience in itself.
• Less time and money is spent cleaning the floor.
• Infants and young children with sensitive immune systems inhale cleaner indoor air.
• A healthier home is ensured because shoes track in lead, pesticides and other pollutants, contaminating carpets and floors, turning a home into a toxic place for pets and young children, especially, who spend more time on the floor.
• Home is seen as a separate, special place to be honored by the family, a sanctuary.