Take off your shoes for a healthier home

While I was cleaning my office tonight and transforming it to my home office I came across this article I tore out of the USA Weekend and thought I would share.  What a great article to show why we should not wear shoes in the house :)

 

Take off your shoes for a healthier home

You can reduce dirt indoors — and save time and money, too.

Priscilla Totten • March 21, 2010

• • FReddiNewsvinBuzz up!T

If you adopt a “no shoes indoors” policy, you can reduce the amount of dirt brought into your home, and you'll actually save time and money, according to Shift Your Habit (Three Rivers Press, $14), a new, tip-filled book by Elizabeth Rogers. That policy can produce a big payoff: Rogers estimates that eschewing shoes will result in annual savings of $10 on cleaning products and at least 25 hours shaved off your housekeeping routine.

“Floors and carpets will look newer longer,” she writes, “postponing the need for deep-cleaning and/or eventual replacement.”
Your health may improve, too, if you live in an area with high levels of pollen, dust or other allergy triggers, because you won't track all that sneeze-inducing stuff into your home. If you have indoor-outdoor pets, restrict them to a few areas of your house to cut allergens further.
To shift your shoe-wearing habit, Rogers advocates wearing slippers or socks indoors to keep your feet and your floors clean. “Walking barefoot can lead to carpet stains and premature wear,” she says, because “dust and dirt mix with oils on the soles of the feet.”