#Microblog Monday 475: Indoor and Outdoor Clothes
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We’ve always been a shoes-off-in-the-house home, but during the pandemic, we instituted indoor vs outdoor clothes, which we still do. I felt so seen by this recent article in the Washington Post because I didn’t know other people were doing this, too.
To keep things mentally straight, I made jeans my outdoor clothes and cargo pants my indoor clothes. So if I’m going to the store, I change into jeans and a sweatshirt, and when I return home, I change into cargo pants and a different sweatshirt. We never sit down on furniture or get into bed with outdoor clothes, though we’ll sit at the foot of the bed in outdoor clothes in a hotel room because… the whole place is kind of an outdoor clothes space. (Though I still want to keep outdoor clothes away from my face and the pillow, which is why the foot of the bed.)
Do you wear indoor and outdoor clothes?
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9 comments
We are (mostly) shoes-off, and use house slippers or flip-flops. Except when grandparents come – they can be shoes-off or shoes-on, whatever is most comfortable.
I like changing out of “outside” clothing when I get home. It just feels more comfortable. Totally with you on not sitting on or getting into beds in outside clothing! I’m OK with outside clothing and regular furniture, though – it would be kind of hard to avoid when we have guests, anyway :). Our kids don’t cooperate, though, and often will get onto their beds in their school clothing. They just don’t get it why I think it’s, for lack of a better word, non-hygienical. At least we managed to train them to take their shoes off as soon as they get into the house.
There is a mantra I learned when they were little, loosely translated from Russian: “Every piece of dirt contains a vitamin” – or, basically, dirt is good for you 🙂 That saved me a lot of nerves when I saw them licking shoes, or eating things off the ground during the baby and toddler years.
Still, getting into bed in the same clothing as going outside -or vice versa, going anywhere in pajamas – not my thing.
The Midwestern version is: God made the dirt and the dirt don’t hurt. (Though I suppose God also made arsenic so maybe not the best aphorism.)
We have indoor clothing that we don’t wear outdoors (but like, yoga pants, not cargo pants), but we definitely wear outdoor clothing inside. What is the actual worry? Allergens? E-coli (but that seems like a shoe thing, not a pants thing)? Staph (but that seems like a going to the hospital thing, not a being outdoors thing)? Keeping things easy for the roomba?
Hmmm. I’ve never really thought about keeping “indoor” and “outdoor” clothes strictly separate, especially re: germs, etc. — although I recall stories of hospital workers who shed their clothes in the garage and went straight to the shower when they got home (and I don’t blame them, especially in the early days of the pandemic when we had no idea what we were dealing with…!). When I was working, I always changed out of my work clothes when we got home, partly to keep my work clothes clean for another wear (I tend to wear things two or three times before they go in the wash, unless they’re noticeable dirty or smelly)(underwear excepted! lol), but mostly because it was just far more comfortable to get into a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt or sweatshirt for cooking dinner and lounging around the house later.
Now that we’re retired, we both wear yoga/PJ/track pants and T-shirts or sweatshirts around the house all day, and only put on jeans or pants and a nicer top when we go out. (And I do NOT wear a bra around the house!)
P.S. Shoes are NOT worn in the house.
We are a shoes off in the house always home. And we never get in to beds with outdoor clothes on because yuck. I like to change when
I get home for the night because pajamas are so much more comfortable.
I am shoes off, but haven’t done inside/outside clothes since the first school year we were back (hybrid) during heavy pandemic times. I wore scrubs, and then changed out of them, put them in a sealable tub, took a shower, and then put regular clothes on. I don’t do that anymore, but I do have yardwork clothes that I change out of as soon as I step inside.
It seems like a very hygienic practice, especially if you are on public transportation or in germy spaces. I typically change into pajamas when I get home, but now I’m sitting on my couch thinking about how the butt of my jeans has been on questionable school surfaces… Ewwwww.
Love this idea. I implement shoes off, but we have usually waited to change clothes until bedtime. Now that you mention it, I think changing clothes when we get home is a winning idea.
My pet peeve is when my husband puts a rolling suitcase on our bed when he gets back from a trip. Maybe I’ll get him a luggage rack or race upstairs to empty the contents of his suitcase on a blanket on the bed before he comes upstairs to unpack.
I grew up on a farm, so we were definitely a shoes/boots off house, although not for visitors. After my husband and I lived in Asia, shoes off inside at our house became the norm. Though again, I don’t ask visitors to take their shoes off. As a kid, we always had “home” clothes, and “going out” clothes – and the difference between the two was stark! Life’s not that different now. Home clothes are comfy, but I’d rather not be seen in them in public!
My husband used to do those things. I see his point, and it was nice to come home from work and jump straight into pajamas. But now we have dogs, who are constantly dragging in a leaf or trying to roll in something, so I have become more lax. Not much point when you don’t have an instant dog bather at the door.