We would have attempted this in our old house except that we had no proper entry hall. The front door plunked you in the living room, and the back door entered into the micro-kitchen. Stopping to take off our shoes - especially as a family of four - never felt practical or possible.
Now we have the dream entry hall but find that we need something else: discipline. I find it relatively easy some of the time to stop and deshoe, but I'm stymied by a few things.
- What do I do when I need to run out the back door to throw something away or dump the compost? Stopping to put my outside shoes on seems like too big a deterrent to a short, necessary trip.
- In general, what do I do about going out the back door when we put the shoe rack in the front hall? Do I put my shoes on up front? If I do that, I'm tracking the dirt to the back door.
- What do we do about guests? Westerners who haven't made this choice in their own homes don't necessarily adjust well. I know; I've done the "Oh, should I take off my shoes?" routine as a guest in other people's houses. Many people say not to worry about it. But then what? You have to clean because you didn't tell your friends to deshoe?
- And the doozie in my life: what the heck do we do when we've gotten out to the car and then realize we've forgotten something inside? Stop and deshoe when we're already late and harried. Because we always seem to be late and harried.
I'm interested in a little dialog and feedback on this issue from those who've succeeded at the transition and those who have failed/given up.
