My mom loves them…but thats another story.
We didn’t grow up with the habit of taking shoes off when entering a home but some how my sister has instilled that rule in her household. She has many other clever ideas but that one is on my mind today.
I read recently that removing shoes before entering a home is the public health equivalent of hand washing.
The truth is, the dirt we track in makes our homes more than simply “dirty”. We track in a cocktail of toxins from lawn pesticides (from your neighbors yard, of course not yours) and other outdoor pollutants (traces of animal waste, residues from the lead in car exhaust, etc.). Imagine the amount of pesticides and other toxins on shoes that are being dragged into the home and then being exposed to your family (especially children that are crawling, eating, playing on the floor).
By removing shoes not only can we improve the indoor air quality, we will spend less time cleaning it and less money paying for more cleaning products. In addition, it can lower noise pollution in your home by keeping it a bit quieter. Those rocks that get stuck in shoes can leave marks in wood floors, but not if you don’t have your shoes on!
Even if you don’t have a mud room, put a basket near the door(s) so folks can leave their shoes there. Some households even put out some socks to encourage visitors to be comfortable without shoes.
Tread Lighter without shoes inside,
-Phyllis, Green Expert
