themagreader

Those stinky shoes can earn you a lot of embarrassment and make you feel estranged in a social gathering. They can be a real matter of concern, if they start curbing your self-confidence. Every time, throwing away your shoes is not a great idea. Some of them may be your favorite ones or you may be reluctant to leave them just because of some special memories attached to them. Then why not to give a thought over – how to remove odor from shoes? We have brought to you some of the best tips in this article, which will also give you the joy of re-furbishing your favorite footwear.

16 Home Remedies To Remove Odor From Shoes

1. Shoe Inserts

• Take a piece of cloth and lay a spoonful of baking soda in the center.
• Tie the cloth with a string, taking all its corners together.
• Keep this little bag hanging till the extra baking soda falls out. The knot of the string has to be really tight.
• Place the little bag inside your shoes. Keep it over-night and you will wake up to a fresh pair of shoes, in the morning.

2. Newspaper

• Yes, you’ve read it right. All the tricks for removing odor from shoes need not be difficult.
• Just stuff some newspaper sheets in your shoes at night and you will be happy to have ousted that stink from your shoes.

3. Dryer Sheets

• When you are not using your shoes, place drier sheets in each of them.
• This will keep your shoes fresh and you are ready to wear them anytime.

4. Cleaning Tennis Shoes

• Put your shoes in a washing machine, filled with low water level.
• Add 2 teaspoon of tea-tree oil and turn on the washing machine.
• After a minute turn off the machine.
• Let the shoes soak for 15 minutes.
• Add some detergent to the water and turn the machine on.
• Let the shoes be washed for a whole cycle.
• Dry them.
• After drying, your fresh shoes are ready to hug your feet.

5. Silica Gel

• When it comes to de-odorizing something, merits of silica gel can’t be forgotten.
• They are perfectly safe, if kept away from babies and pets.
• Just place them in your shoes whenever they are not in use.
• Silica gel keeps your shoes odor-free for longer times.

6. Proper Washing And Storage

• Wash your shoes with a good detergent and a disinfectant.
• Let them dry completely.
• After drying, wrap them in double bags and place them inside a freezer for a night. This step is to kill the bacteria that causes odor.
• Remove from the freezer and dry them well.
• Spray vinegar inside them and also rub alcohol.
• After they dry up, dust some talcum powder.
• Your shoes will surely show a magical difference.

7. Essential Oils

• Put few drops of essential oils like peppermint oil or cinnamon oil on drier sheets.
• Place these sheets inside the smelly shoes when not in use.

8. Cedar Insoles

• You can replace the insoles of your shoes with cedar insoles.
• Cedar wood is known to have fresh smell and anti-fungal properties. Thus, cedarsoles can-cut out the root cause of smelling feet- bacteria.

9. Talcum Powder

• For not so stinky shoes, sprinkling talcum powder in the shoes after every few days, is just enough.

10. UV Shoe Sanitizers

• UV light kills bacteria. Also kills the ones that cause foot odor.
• Consider buying UV shoe sanitizers or UV shoe trees for yourself.
• This is a bit expensive way to get rid of the stink in your shoes, but can work wonders with a chronic odor problem.

11. Use Alternate Shoes

• If possible, don’t use the same shoes throughout the week.
• Alternate them every few days.

12. Alcohol

• Wipe the soles and inner sides of your shoes with a generous amount of alcohol.
• Let them dry. This will kill the odor from your shoes.

13. Proper Socks

• Sometimes the main cause of sweat is your socks. Especially, those made of synthetic materials and having some specific dyes.
• Always wear socks made up of natural fibers, if you have sweaty feet. Also, wearing only white colored socks helps to keep the sweating in control.
• Wash socks after every day usage. After washing them, bleach them. This kills most of the bacteria and will help to keep your feet fresh, every time you wear them.

14. Disinfectants

• The best way to get rid of the odor in your shoes is to kill the bacteria that create the odor.
• If your shoes have non-porous insoles, spray some aerosol disinfectants like Lysol, on the insoles.
• Repeat the spraying, when the smell re-appears.

15. Tea-Bags

• Tea-bags have a great odor soaking capacity.
• Place some tea bags inside your shoes for around 2-3 days and you’ll be having fresh shoes at your avail.

16. Cat Litter

• This may sound repulsive, but you can give it a try if you wish to get rid of that annoying stink.
• Fill some clean cat litter in 2 clean socks and place them in your shoes.
• Leave them overnight and the smell will vanish.

After you finish up with the de-odorizing work, you don’t want to get that bad smell infused back into your shoes, for sure. So let’s get started with some precautions to avoid sweaty and stinky feet. Follow the tips that are useful and convenient to you from those listed below:

• After a shower, wipe your feet thoroughly. Especially, wipe in the spaces between your toes. The drier your feet, the lesser are the possibilities of any bacteria growing on your feet.
• You can clean the space between your toes with cotton damped in methylated spirit, to control the sweat on your feet and prevent them from smelling.
• Use anti-perspirants before wearing socks and shoes.
• Change socks every day and also change shoes every few days.
• If you have a severe problem of your feet sweating, always opt for footwear with some ventilating attributes.
• Let your feet breathe! So avoid wearing shoes all the time, go for flip-flops, especially during summers.
• Clean your feet thoroughly every day. You can also scrub them every few days for better results.
• Occasionally, go for a pedicure or a foot-spa. This will keep your feet clean and make you feel relaxed, the same time.

The main key to remove odor from shoes is proper cleaning of shoes and requisite personal hygiene. I hope you found this article useful and are ready to kick out that irritating stink. If you have any queries or suggestions do write to us. Wish you Happy Feet and Happy footwear!!!