We do not wear shoes in our home-growing up we wore shoes inside,and never thought about it. I am not sure when I started this rule,but I think it was because I lived on my own for a few months,then moved back in w/my 7 month old. Then I started to notice her hands and knees were always dirty(crawling)and my socks(and then the inside of my shoes)were dirty.If I went barefoot,I could feel stuff sticking to my feet and that drove me crazy-and dirty feet are gross too. When I moved back into an apartment,they put new carpet in,I chose the color-it ended up much lighter than I expected. It didn't take long to be visibly dirty-so had it cleaned-and no more shoes allowed. Then next home was navy housing-brand new home,brand new carpet. No shoes rule continued. We were in that home 3 years,when we moved out,there were no stains on carpet,and,even tho it was low quality pile carpet-it was not matted in the high traffic areas.
No shoes will extend the life of your carpet-if you care.
Then I started reading many,many articles of different sources how much nasties are tracked in from shoes. Obviously,dirt and other "natural" stuff that won't hurt you-but provides plenty of food for dust mites to eat and multiply.They poop alot-and that can trigger allergy problems. And think about where you walk during the day,and what you walk on. Public restrooms and stepping on urine and poop-even if its traces of it you can't see(toilet water sprays up to 6 feet when flushed w/lid up). Or maybe a spot where a dog pooped-but you don't see it because owner scooped up the visible pieces.All of that gets ground in to the fibers when you walk on it,and could eventually down in the padding where even if you vacuum w/a good vacuum frequently,you may not ever get it out.
We own our home now,and replaced the carpet when we moved in-even tho what was in here was only 1 year old and was good quality.I would prefer hardwood thruout my home,but we have stairs so did those and the upstairs. None at all downstairs.Carpet is like a sponge,absorbing dirt and germs.
I don't look down at people who wear shoes in their home. My parents do. Just not when they visit my home.I do think it is very gross.
When people visit my home,I have a sign on my door to remove their shoes. Every one who knows me,knows my rule. If they think I am being rude,too bad. I don't want to live on the nasties they will track in. I have never had any one complain,especially when they see how clean my home is. I thought about getting booties for people to put over shoes or feet,but only place I found them,they were too expensive,and could only buy in bulk. I don't want to spend money on slippers-not to mention lack of space to store things. My 9 yo tells her friends my rule when they come over. My 2 year knows to sit down and take off his shoes when he comes in. Our house is up for sale,and even the people coming in to view my home,are asked to remove them. As far as I am concerned,if you don't want to take off your shoes-don't come in. We also don't have people over much and the only family that visit are my parents.
When I go to someone elses home,I take off my shoes-even if their house looks dirty. We do bring clean socks w/us to change before we put our shoes back on...I don't want the inside of our shoes getting dirty.
I have rambled on too much,thanks for taking the time to read my comments.