Neat as new pins

I would take my shoes off when viewing a house for sale. It is still someone's home and they would probably get many people trooping in and out.

It's shoes off in our house!

I can't get comfy shoes or trainers. The oa in all the joints of my feet and ankles make them tender to even light touch. As well my feet ate EEE fitting and deformed so that in fact I'm almost walking on the inside of the ankle. I had the left one operated on and that if anything made it worse.
I just have to get on with it.
I use an electric scooter on cruises and sometimes a wheelchair round the house.
I'm currently looking for a pearl encrusted wheelchair!

I live in a very tiny cowshed (converted). Dust from the surrounding fields blows in. I have given up trying to keep it clean. In my mind it is though...I have an amazing imagination

I suspect that too have an immaculate home you have to have very tidy minded people living in it. My DP's sister has always managed to have her house looking like a show house, even when she had small children, but she's ruthless about throwing things away. I recall her throwing out a pair of child's socks because they hadn't come out of the wash completely sparkling white all over (they looked clean enough to me..)

I'm moderatelty tidy, but a terrble hoarder, and my DP leaves everything lying around (he never ever completes a task) so we've no chance in our house.

Don't be afraid of cream carpets or furniture!

Have had a really light cream carpet throughout which has been through 5 grandchildren so far and still looks good. It has survived a bowlful of spaghetti sauce, squashed peas and other culinary delights and comes up like new with a little spot cleaning, and have had it professionally cleaned twice in 11 years. Also have had a very light cream leather suite for the last 14 years and it too still looks really nice. I used to clean it with the proper leather cleaner but for several years now only wipe it when necessary with a baby wet wipe!

The shoes off thing is the cultural norm in the middle east, and as a family we have always done it in our own and other people's houses. I find people usually say 'oh I'll take my shoes off' when they see the cream carpet, but if they don't I never ask them to.

Galen the last thing you should do with painful feet is walk barefoot. I suffer too and my Dr said never walk around barefoot. The best footwear is trainers because they are made for feet not fashion. They don't have to be expensive, I've got slip on ones from Asda £6.

Aside from that, I hate pristine houses, not really homes are they?

I'm with you inishowen. I'm always on at DH to stop worrying about our grandchildren 'living' in our house when they visit. We only get the opportunity once to enjoy their childhood. I'm just glad they love staying at our house. There are five aged from eleven down to two. They grow up quickly. I know I'll look back so fondly at their stays.

Bet they haven't got choccy labrador! He gets vacuumed daily!

Since we had grandchildren we no longer have a clean and tidy home. Our sofa is so shabby but I won't replace it until they are all over five years old. We also have felt tip pen marks on the walls. The kitchen table is ruined with paints. You know what? I don't care. There's plenty of time in the future to have a fancy home!

Left to my own devices, I would probably be knee-deep in creative clutter, but for the sake of domestic harmony, I keep a very tidy home (just don't open the door of the office/study/generaldumpingground!).

Suzied, when did you come to my house and spot my stuffed carrier bag collection??

i mean her mother not my friend

my friends house was immaculate ( this is when we were teenagers) If we were having coffee we had to keep hold of our mugs until we finished because as soon as we put them down she swept in picked them up & washed the mugs up & put them away even if they weren't finished

Thank you everyone for your nice comments. My older sister is a nightmare to visit. She has a fabulous big house, perfect in every way (she never had children). When we visited when my daughter was small, my DD would always refuse a drink when my sister offered in case she spilled any. I wouldn't want anyone coming to my home and feeling like that.

Family always remove their shoes before walking on carpet in their own houses, in mine and other people's houses. I don't mind people keeping their shoes on in uncarpeted area, but I do object to those who clump mud onto my living room carpet. Mud - and who knows what else from outside in the street.

When we move back into our house after it's been 'reinstated' I'm having Karndean in all downstairs rooms so it can be given a good clean and I don't have to fret.

Yes, I do like things clean, even if there a bit of untidiness but not too much!

One of the women I used to work with keeps a row of slippers just inside her front door. She asks you to take your shoes off when you visit, and put the slippers on!
My house is 'homely' - in other words, rather messy! I have a basket on one side of my chair that contains paperwork that I should deal with, earphones, charger, magazines, my current book and the cat's tin of treats, etc. On the other side of the chair is an overflowing knitting basket.
Now and again, I shampoo the carpet (now 25 years old)! When I bought it, I followed my mother's way of thinking - she used to say, "got that colour, because you can't see the muck in it". I'm always quite fascinated at the amount of 'muck' the shampooer brings out!

We are fairly untidy but books are kept in the study unless it's the ones I'm reading . DH only reads non fiction books and I think memorises them word for word. But my sewing is messy. I'm cooking only every other day though I'm sometimes twice in that day so the kitchen is much tidier than normal but we are kick shoes off at the door family but don't expect visitors to do so. If we are expecting visitors we do wear shoes. It's the drop in visitors who tend to kick off their shoes too.

I like my house to look clean and tidy, I can't stand loads of clutter , but I'm not obsessive about it. My "vintage"(old) mid century furniture looks great with bright throws which are easily washed. Wooden floors ( and stairs) are fantastic as you don't have to worry about muddy feet or cat hair , It's all easily cleared up. I did go to someone's house recently and their sitting room, hall and stairs ( the only bit of the house I saw) was full of carrier bags stuffed with papers, magazines, music, wool, books etc, obviously not disturbed for sometime. I couldn't live like that, nor could I live with plastic covers on the sofas! There's got to be a happy medium.

Spot cleaner makes me feel I've made an effort!

I wouldn't dream of asking someone to take their shoes off, although my friends do as they fling their feet up on the sofas getting comfortable!

We don't wear shoes in the house as DH prefers slippers and I wander around in bare feet most of the time or slippers/slipper socks sometimes. I used to travel for work and often went to factories in Germany and Scandinavia. If someone came into the office buildings from the shop floor, they'd slip giant slip on slippers over their shoes or boots to protect the floors. The slippers were left by the doors and it always looked like a giant lived there!

In Finland you are handed a pair of those thick knitted sock-like slippers to wear indoors - as you shuffle around it also dusts the floor

vq that's her, Elizabeth from Keeping up Appearances!

"Spot cleaner"
I use that on marks on the carpet, but the marks always come back in the same place, even though the product is called 'vanish'.

It would make me nervous like Hyacinth Bucket's next door neighbour - shaking hand and tea cup spilling over!

I do want a new carpet and suite though (perhaps in the New Year after all the Christmas spillages), so if you come to my house would you mind taking your shoes off at the front door please.
and

"Spot cleaner" !!!!!! - who he??