We have a shoes off policy in our house and I love it.

Living in the country with 3 active children under ten years of age who race inside and out continuously, the floor as you can imagine would get quite covered with soil, sand and mud. With shoes off, I can immediately feel when the floor needs a sweep and I can clean up before the dirt gets ground in.

While I certainly sweep out the house every day, I don’t have the time or inclination to mop it daily too.  In an effort to keep the housekeeping as simple as possible, we decided when the house was built to have all hard floor surfaces and a shoes off policy – the only exception are inside slippers in winter.

When Evan and I taught permaculture in many parts of Asia, we became accustomed to the practice of shoes off inside and really appreciated it. We all spend a lot of time sitting, playing, reading, tumbling around, and sometimes eating on the floor.

Not only does the floor stay cleaner, it also helps us to keep the shoes all in one place – who knows, some of them might end up where all the odd socks go!?!  A shoe-free home also helps to keep the non-toxic floor finish looking good for a lot longer saving on the cost and resources to renew it. 

I like the feeling of a nice smooth floor under my feet. In summer time particularly, it is cooling on the polished concrete in the kids pod.