Why you should think twice before wearing outdoor shoes indoors

Wearing outdoor shoes indoors can bring in more than just a bit of dirt and blades of grass. Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

My mother has always had one unbreakable rule: no outdoor shoes inside the house. It didn’t matter who you were – family member, neighbour, or guest – you had to take them off before crossing the threshold. As a child, I thought it was just one of her many quirks. But as I’ve grown older (and wiser), I’ve come to understand that this wasn’t about obsessive tidiness. It was about health...