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April 5, 2024
Minutes To Read: 3

5 reasons to take off your shoes before you go home

What is your family's habit of wearing shoes indoors? Do you usually take off your shoes when you get off the street or don't even think about it and keep walking with them until you decide to take a bath or sleep?

So be aware that taking off your shoes before you go in, as the Japanese do, really helps to clean the house by reducing the number of waste and microorganisms from the street we carry inside.

But is the risk of contamination offered by shoe germs so high? The truth is that for a healthy adult the chances of getting a serious infection because of this are low.

However, these chances exist and are relevant to toddlers, especially since they often put their hands in their mouths. Thus, if you have young children at home, it is best to remove your shoes before entering. Here are some good reasons for this:

1. Footwear are excellent breeding grounds for bacteria.

Our shoes are very fertile ground for the multiplication of bacteria. While the inner side of a shoe can have about 3,000 bacteria, the outer side can have more than 400,000 microorganisms (1).

Read also: Know which everyday objects are the ones with the most bacteria

Among these germs are the Escherichia coli (causing intestinal and urinary tract infections, diarrhea and meningitis), Klebsiella pneumonia (which can cause infections in the bloodstream) and Serratia would be (causes rare infections of the respiratory system).

2. Shoes may carry toxic waste from the environment.

If you walked in the grass, your shoes may be covered with pesticides. If you have crossed the street, they may be carrying fuel waste.

Although the amount is small, these substances are volatile and come off the air shoes. Thus, when taken into the home, they contaminate the internal environment cumulatively, causing harm to health.

3. You will spend less time cleaning the house

In addition to reducing the amount of bacteria, leaving shoes outside will also decrease the amount of dust, dirt, animal feces and other waste entering your home.

As a result, you'll have less work to keep the floor clean, spend less time cleaning, and keep your home safer for young children.

Read also: Is it safe to reuse the disposable bottle of mineral water?

4. Some shoes spoil the floor

Ok, the reason may not be something related to health, but nobody wants to have the floor all marked because of a shoe, right?

Some types of heels contain small nails that can scratch the most delicate floors, especially wooden ones. These nails can also pull yarn, tear or even leave a permanent crease mark on some carpets. In addition, rubber-soled shoes often leave dark spots on the floor.

5. It will take you less time to get ready

Do you know when it's time to take the kids to school and they can't find their boots or boots in the middle of their wardrobe? This problem is solved when shoes are stored in an exclusive closet near the entrance of the house.

The same thing goes for you: instead of spending precious minutes searching your room for the perfect shoe, you know that they are all in one place. That way, you won't have to take bags, belts, hats and other accessories off your sneaker collection until you find the one you wanted to wear.

Tips for implementing the policy? No shoes? inside home

In addition to the tip of installing a closet at the entrance of your home to store your shoes, another idea is to put a rug near the door to deposit the shoes that will be used again in a few minutes.

Also read: 4 Secrets to Cleaning the Carpet at Home

That way you can take your shoes off, do what you need to do, and put them on again quickly when you leave. This trick is especially recommended for those who have kids who love to go out and play and always run home to go to the bathroom, have water or something.

If you do not like to walk barefoot, this can easily be solved by designing a slipper in summer or a slipper in winter for use indoors only.

If you get visitors and they make no move to take off your shoes, you can kindly offer a slipper at the entrance, giving the hint that you expect them to leave their shoes outside.

Of course, you can always make an exception, have fun with your friends, and fix the house later if necessary. No need to be paranoid all the time, as they are likely to just get a little dirt on the floor, but without a high risk of bacterial contamination.