Quick And Easy Way To Get Rid Of Stinky Shoes
Here is my quick and easy way to get rid of stinky shoes ASAP! Of course, you can throw out the shoes or buy some expensive spray but I looked high and low for a cheap way to do it. And this works! I wanted to use something I already had in the house but wouldn’t make my shoes or in this case, my husband’s sandals smell like vinegar or something worse. I tried it on my sandals and it worked great. Here’s the deal, if you are lucky and you don’t have stinky shoes or your kids don’t, you are very fortunate! I have found that some shoes don’t smell at all. Then I discovered certain brands always have an odor. My husband and I shower every day and we wash our feet so it was getting frustrating when you go to someone’s house and they want you to take your shoes off. I personally do not have that kind of house. I have 17 grandkids, need I say more. I tend to buy decorations that are not collectibles and are not breakable. I can’t have an hour glass house, my house is welcome to all that enter with or without shoes.
Well, I was determined to figure out how to get the smell of these stinky shoes and I did! If you have good old baking soda, a bowl, water and make a paste you can do this. It’s cheap and we all have baking soda in our pantry’s, right? I actually did a pair of my sandals that I love and they were still in good shape so I did my practice test on them. They smell great and if they get stinky again, I will redo my baking soda paste on them. You have to decide if your shoes can get wet, I figured these were going to get wet or I would throw them out. Enough said. I removed the closet doors years ago in the master bedroom and every time I would walk past the closet I would smell the stinky shoes. My husband could not. Well, I could! So this is what I did.
Stinky Shoes
I made a medium thick paste using only water and regular baking soda in a bowl stirring it with a spoon. I spooned it on the footbed of the sandals and rubbed it in with my fingers. I let it soak for maybe two or three minutes. I then used my kitchen sink sprayer to rinse them completely.
You can see in this picture how I spread the baking soda paste onto the sandal for a couple minutes before rinsing.
The sun was shining outside so I took the wet dripping shoes in a towel outside to dry. These no longer have a smell! WooHoo! Please let me know if you have done this with tennis shoes. I had some tennis shoes I tried this baking soda test and threw them into the washing machine. I thought, what do I have to lose? They came through fine, I dried them outside. Make sure you feel comfortable washing tennis shoes as they may not be washable. Just giving you the heads-up here.
If I can save money by cleaning old sandals I will try it for sure! This works great and it’s cheap. Let me know your tricks for stinky shoes. May God bless you for your efforts to be prepared for the unexpected.
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Readers Tips:
Teresa: shoes that aren’t washable can be put in a plastic bag and throw in the deep freezer overnight. it kills the bacteria that creates the stink.
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I wonder about my stinky work boots. I’ve tried just dusting baking soda in them, leaving them outside for the weekend, and shaking out the baking soda for Monday. It helps a little, but doesn’t make them un-stinky.
Hi Christine, It’s so frustrating to me to have stinky shoes! I tried the dry soda and it didn’t work for me either. I tried the water and baking soda paste and then spray them with the kitchen sprayer. The bad thing with boots I wonder if they can get wet. Dang it! Could you make a paste and scrub them and them use several wash rags with clear water to remove the paste? Then could you put them out in the sun to dry? It’s so frustrating!! I have seen some sprays but I wanted to save some money and use what I had at home. Let me know if you think that would work. Linda
shoes that aren’t washable can be put in a plastic bag and throw in the deep freezer overnight. it kills the bacteria that create the stink.
Hi Teresa, oh my goodness I wonder if this would work for boots?!? I better add this to my post to see if it helps other people! Thanks for the tip! Linda