When I first bought my home in 2006 my cousin made a great suggestion, make sure people leave their shoes at the door. "Why?", I asked. Wouldn't people feel uncomfortable walking around your house in their socks or bare foot? That couldn't possibly be ok for adults could it? Actually, yes! That could be the right move for your house.

In 2016, researchers at the University of Arizona found nine different species of bacteria on the shoes of randomly selected participants. In a period of two weeks, they found 440,000 units of bacteria on a single pair of shoes. (Today, 2019). Furthermore, this bacteria was transferred to clean surfaces in your home and around your family. Now, this is not to say that your shoes are the only germ producing materials that help spread diseases. Your clothes have germs, your coats, and any other products that you take outside with you. 

Therefore, the goal is not so much to eliminate outside germs, but to help reduce them as much as possible. Leaving your outside shoes, coats, and even clothes by the door, in the laundry, or mud room may not create a complete sterile, laborotorial type environment for your home, but it can help reduce the amount of harmful germs that invade your home.

E Coli and fecal matter can float around in the air, and can be transferred to clean flesh and internally. Although, we cannot stop microorganisms from floating around and invading our bodies we can try to reduce the number as much as possible. Subsequently, will removing your shoes ensure that you will never get sick in your house? Maybe not, however, taking off your shoes and outer wear and leaving them by the door will reduce the spread of those germs around your home, and you can focus on the fun invaders that are already there :-)

So its raining outside and you have nothing to do? Here are a few ideas that you can do to keep yourself occupied and keep your unit looking great!

1. Create a Photo Box 
Take this time to collect all of your photos and keepsakes and decorate a old shoe box for storage. You can use old wrapping paper to decorate your shoebox and attach anything you would like. You can then label your box to easily retrieve your fav pics!

2. Make/Create a Gourmet Meal
Many times there will be plenty of items in our refrigerators that are in minutes of the expiring. On a rainy day it's always fun to surf the web or read a book. While reading, look for interesting recipes. Then go into your kitchen and try to recreate those recipe with the items you already have. If you don't have something, just use something different. You never know you may stumble upon something extraordinary!