It just seems unsanitary to me. Very unsanitary. I’ve searched the internet for reasons, but all of them seem silly.
“It’s cold”? No. Wear socks and you’ll be fine. “I don’t want to step on things”? Why would you leave small pointy things around your house in the areas you walk through anyway? They can break and it’s not a big deal to have to shove them away or just pick them up. I never step on things that hurt to step on. “I have dogs so it’s dirty anyway”? Come on. It will take you literally 10 seconds to wipe your dogs feet when you come in after it’s been raining. “I have kids and they leave toys around”? OK, this makes a little sense. But why would you want your kids to play on filthy floors? They will make all your furniture filthy and get this filth into their mouths. You could have stepped on poo without knowing it.
Someone please explain to me how this makes sense. You’d have to clean so much more often and it would still be a lot filthier.
Here, we do not wear shoes in side the house either. Especially bc it is wooden floor. But sometimes I tell guests to leave their shoes on if they want. When I wear flat slippers/sandals I do not remove them bc I do not want to walk barefoot in someone else’s house OR I take little slippers with me which will be in my purse to wear them. Most homes are no longer carpet.
Where I come from, the buildings are actually all cement. so the floors are types of ceramic/ marble/ Nobody removes their shoes.
My sister, my mom cleans the floors almost everyday - with water and soap. The city is dirty itself and very dusty. So you can not really walk barefoot.
That first reply says that us Scandinavians remove our shoes to protect the floors. That’s not true though. We do it no matter what kind of floors the house has because shoes are dirty and floors are supposed to be clean. If the floors are dirty, other things get dirty too.
Here it’s considered very rude not to take your shoes off in someone’s home. But if people haven’t cleaned in a while or your shoes are relatively clean and you’re just going inside to get something, it’s OK to ask if you can leave your shoes on. Otherwise, don’t ask. That’s rude too because Scandinavians don’t like saying no.
I also don’t like it when especially it is raining outside and you can not really walk with wet shoes on the wooden floor. Here we have a lot of snow, so
I usually take my shoes off because its more comfortable. And now that I have a little teeny kitty I wouldn’t wanna be swepping on his fweet so definitely take my shoes off right away.
He also loves to play with my shoes when they’re off my feet.
Sometimes when I’m pacing around I wear flip-flops though.
When it comes to other peoples houses I ask if I should take it off or not. If they say “You can leave them on” I guess I will leave them on. If they say “Take them off” I will take them off. If they say 'either one" I will gauge how long I’m gonna spend inside their house. If its over 15 minutes I will take them off. If its less AND they are clean I will not take them off.
Like my new therapist is out of her house and I’m gonna leave them on when I’m in her house. I usually don’t tell people to take their shoes off at my place but once my friend did anyways.
I always remove my shoes. I find it gross not to.
I also vacuum and mop obsessively.
In winter I wear socks or slippers at home, and in summer I’m usually barefoot, even outside. Except when going to the store. They don’t let you go barefoot in stores, and some public places.
I always wash my feet when I come inside, too.
I tend to be a cold blooded person. I’m always cold. Even in the summer, because of air conditioning. And I keep the thermostat at 78 or 79 degrees. Anyway, the more I have on, the more comfortable I am. So, I wear two sweaters, year round, and shoes all of the time. And also at other people’s houses. Unless they tell me to take them off. Shoes keep my feet warmer.
People leave their shoes on because the floor is dirty. I don’t want to ruin my clean socks on a dirty floor. If I had young kids I would take them off. But I also get a better grip with shoes and can run faster. In my bedroom I take my shoes off cause I’m usually in bed but then I put them back on if I’m going to the kitchen.
That’s such a bad reason to wear shoes inside. It’s like crapping your pants because you don’t want to wash the toilet. If you didn’t wear shoes, it probably wouldn’t be dirty. And if the floor is less dirty, everything else is too. You’d save yourself a lot of cleaning.
But if people haven’t cleaned in a while or your shoes are relatively clean and you’re just going inside to get something, it’s OK to ask if you can leave your shoes on. Otherwise, don’t ask. That’s rude too because Scandinavians don’t like saying no. 
it’s just comfortable