Slippers hack

June 1, 2011 5:35 PM

Sometimes when I get out of bed I forget to put my slippers on..

Then I end up walking through to the kitchen where I inevitably get crumbs on my feet. Even if I have recently swept there is still the cold floor and I HATE the feeling of a cold floor on my feet. How can I prevent this from occuring, is there a hack?

posted by fire&wings to society & culture (23 answers total)

Wear socks to bed.
posted by jamaro at 5:37 PM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

leave your slippers in front of your bedroom door in such a way that you must encounter/move them to open it.
posted by radiosilents at 5:38 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

A hack? Not sure what you mean.

Things you can do to alleviate cold feet getting out of bed:

Put mats down on the floor.

Move to a different house/apartment with carpets.

Have hydronics installed under your floor.

Though I like jamaro's answer best- wear socks to bed.
posted by TheBones at 5:41 PM on June 1, 2011

The easiest hack is to PAY ATTENTION. You don't want to walk in crumbs then REMEMBER.

This gets easier over time.
posted by Max Power at 5:43 PM on June 1, 2011 [7 favorites]

When you feel the cold on your feet immediately and I mean immediately return to where your slippers are and put them on. Do not finish what you are doing, don't wait until the coffee is done, do not wipe off the crumbs--go and put them on. That is the behavioral hack. Your feet will soon be warm and crumbless.
posted by rmhsinc at 5:50 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Where your feet would first hit the ground when getting out of bed, put something that you don't like stepping on or that would otherwise remind you to put your slippers on (either because you did step on it, or because you had to make a conscious effort to avoid it). For instance, a large sheet of crumpled paper. Put your slippers on top of that. You should remember quite easily to put them on.
posted by holterbarbour at 5:52 PM on June 1, 2011

Slippers belong in a place on the floor where you trip over them on your way to the kitchen. (Not a good hack if you live with others, but it works here)
posted by kmennie at 5:53 PM on June 1, 2011

hang socks or slippers over the door. wear roller skates to bed. put a rug down outside of your bedroom door where your slippers and puppy await you.
posted by anya32 at 5:55 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Assuming your bedroom door opens in, then place it right in front of the door before going to bed. Then it would be impossible not to notice when you open the door because something is in the way.
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 5:56 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Slippers belong right next to the bed, in the spot that your feet will land when you swing your legs around as you sit up. Easy peasy.
posted by spinturtle at 5:57 PM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

Slippers at entrance to kitchen, or where your feet land in the morning. Mats on kitchen floor. Bedsocks. Cleaning up crumbs immediately after they happen.

There are multiple solutions here.
posted by ysabet at 6:17 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also, make them slip-on slippers, so there is minimal effort/coordination involved.
posted by ysabet at 6:18 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Your brain doesn't want them until it hits the cold, crumby kitchen floor. Put them there.
posted by titanium_geek at 6:22 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Go for long walks on rough pavement barefooted every day for six months. This will both desensitize the soles of your feet and cause a thick, sandal-like callus to form. Cold, dirty floors will not tyrannize you any more if you do this.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 6:28 PM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

My hack is having maybe five or six pairs of slippers which are basically nearby every doorway in the house. Slippers are cheap. Alternately you could hang a pair on your doorknob at night before you go to bed as part of your go-to-bed routine
posted by jessamyn at 6:38 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

You could very easily adapt the trick loving parents use to keep small (forgetful) children attached to their mittens.

Take a very long piece of elastic thread, double the length on one of your legs, plus about eight or ten inches extra. Attach a slipper to each end (a few firm stitches should suffice). Take one slipper and feed it & the attached elastic up one of your pajama legs, across the crotch, and right down the other leg. You should now have a slipper dangling 3 or 4 inches below each pajama hem.
Go to bed.

When you put your feet on the floor in the morning, your slippers will be right with you.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:00 PM on June 1, 2011 [4 favorites]

Have a dog? Train it to fetch them. Not only does it work, it's adorable.
posted by condour75 at 7:16 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Slippers are pretty cheap. Buy a pair of "kitchen slippers" to put on when you reach the kitchen, should you forget them in the bedroom.

I keep a pair of "running outside shoes" next to my front door for the same reason. I always forget to throw on shoes if I have to run outside, and it's just easier than going back upstairs to my room and digging a pair out of the closet just to put out the trash or whatever.
posted by xingcat at 7:23 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Put your slippers where you will trip on them when you get out of bed. I do that. It is kind of funny, but I am happy someone else has the same problem.
posted by wandering_not_lost at 7:50 PM on June 1, 2011

Mine naturally end up there, since I take them off last thing before I get into bed.
Is there some reason you take them off somewhere other than the bedside?
posted by bink at 7:57 PM on June 1, 2011

Put your slippers square in the kitchen doorway so that you have to actually step over them to enter the room. Your annoyance will remind you of why they are there.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 10:43 PM on June 1, 2011

I find a specific trick really helpful: when I'm stood in the kitchen*, thinking about crumbs stuck to my feet, I make a HUGE FUSS about going back and fetching my slippers, wiping the crumbs off my feet and putting the slippers on. I do it really mindfully, so it really sinks in. Next morning, I repeat the same trick until my brain realises that this is what I want to happen every morning.

*I don't do this, because I don't ever actually wear slippers, but I have successfully built a habit or two this way.
posted by Solomon at 2:51 AM on June 2, 2011

To solve the stepping in crumbs problem, if it's a really big deal for you: sweep the kitchen floor before bed.

To solve the cold feet problem: keep slippers at the point where you step onto cold floor, so you can immediately backtrack to them. So if your bedroom is carpeted but your kitchen is tiled, keep them at the kitchen door. Or if you step out of your bedroom and onto cold wood in the hall, keep them just outside the bedroom door.
posted by Sara C. at 6:29 AM on June 2, 2011