Dear Home-Ec 101,

My son’s shoes stink so badly it is smelling up my entire house. How do you get rid of the smell that is coming from his room?

Signed,

Need to breathe in Texas

Ivy says:

Conveniently, one 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 sure.

In the short term, let’s discuss methods of getting stink out of your house. I like to sprinkle baking soda on my carpets (especially in my stinky teenager’s room) and vacuum. This seems to take some of the smell out of the air. Also, whenever possible, open up all your windows to air the room out. I know taking a piece of bread and soaking it in vinegar and leaving it overnight will take fish smell out of your house, I expect it would work on feet smell as well.

Another cause of stinky is leaving laundry around on the floor. Teen laundry is stinkier than normal, I have noticed, so make sure he’s not leaving laundry all over the place. Chin up, it won’t be too long before you’re missing him and his stinky shoes because he’s off to college.

Submit your household questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

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,

Ron

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.