Dear Home-Ec 101,
How do you get the foot-stink out of shoes? Specifically, leather shoes, since those make your feet sweat like a fat guy chasing after an ice cream truck in August?
Signed,
Ivy says:
Stinky shoes are no laughing matter, and neither are fat guys and ice cream trucks. We on the internets like to call that “serious bidness”.
There are 2 ways to control shoe odor: make the feet less stinky and make the shoes less stinky. Before you put your shoes on in the morning, make sure your feet are washed and dried. You can actually apply an antiperspirant to your feet and that may help. Soaking your feet in tea, odd as it may sound, can help, as tea has tannin in it, which is a drying agent.
Now, to make the shoe itself smell better, I have always taken old pairs of tights or pantyhose (the thinner pairs tend to leak a bit, so thicker like tights is usually better) and filled them with baking soda and left them in the shoes overnight. It also helps to wear shoes on alternating days to give them time to thoroughly dry out. You can also put dryer sheets in the shoes, but I find the baking soda works the best.
Submit your household questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.







[...] part of this question has already been answered. Have your son try some of the tips mentioned in this post. That should cut out some of the smell, for [...]
[...] 101 is a sweet blog about all things domestic. Let Ivy help out with those stank shoes. Ph33r Heather’s mad dishwasher repair skillz. Get some quick tips, or even ask a stupid [...]