Deodorizing Stinky Shoes

Recently, by hubby and I had the chance to visit our nation's capital... Washington D.C. is an AMAZING city!  Full of wonderful monuments and museums, many of which are free to explore.Some of my favorites included the Spy Museum (free!), the National Portrait Gallery (free!) and Ford's Theatre (also free, with a free-will donation encouraged).We put MANY miles in each day we were there and had a fabulous time.

BUT...... Washington D.C. is incredibly HOT and HUMID in the summertime, particularly in August, when we visited. Haaving worked in D.C., I was prepared with several clothing options and many shoes, but my husband brought just ONE pair of walking shoes... his closed-toe sandals. I guess he was attempting to limit his baggage. Big mistake! 

We were there five days .... and on the last day, the skies opened up and doused us with an incredible amount of rain as we were walking back to our hotel. We were headed to the airport that night and looked like a couple of drowned rats. But that's okay... no one knows us here, right?! (ha!)

However... the hubby's shoes were so full of SWEAT and rainwater that they were just plain RANK. I mean nasty, nasty, nasty.... on the airplane, we had an empty seat between us and I could STILL smell those things from where I was sitting! UGH!

When we arrived home, he was ready to throw them out. But I begged him to give me a chance to save them. Surely I could find SOME way to get the nasty stank out!

The offensive shoes!

I decided to try a home remedy I had once heard of and hey... it couldn't hurt to try, right?  He was just going to throw them out if it didn't work.

Here's the recipe I used:

• 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch 
• 1 cup of baking soda 
• Essential oils - I used Rosemary, Orange and Lemongrass (about 10-15 drops each)

I mixed them all in a bowl, then spooned them into two pair of his socks, tying off the ends tightly with rubber bands.

I flattened them out, then molded them into the shoes, leaving them (in the garage, because they WERE stinky) for about 24 hours, before checking the results.

Happily... we were THRILLED with the results!!!!! The shoes no longer smelled nasty and were once again wearable in public. And because of the scents I used, they weren't "girly" smelling, which my husband appreciated. And, as an added bonus, the garage smells GREAT!

He doesn't have to throw his favorite shoes out and he now thinks I'm brilliant, which is a plus (ha!).