This was another fabulous question that came from a YouTube viewer. I love these questions because it gives me a chance to help the viewers out and it opens up conversations in the comment boxes where I always seem to learn more tips, or get asked more questions. A mushroom, if you will!
Well, here’s the question:
I have a question, My wife is a nurse and her shoes get contaminated. My shoes, lets just say they smell. I have thought of throwing them in the washer and dryer,but then thought against it. How do you recommend we clean the inside and outside of our shoes? Thanks! By the way, your videos are awesome.
Aww, love that. Just love when people comment about my vids, it really makes my day!
Here’s my answer:
That’s a terrific question actually! Thanks for our kind words about the videos My recommendation for smelly shoes: sprinkle baking soda inside them overnight. The next morning, shake out the white stuff and the shoes should be deodorized. You can also wash the exterior of the shoe with some dish soap and hot water with an old toothbrush. Putting certain shoes in the washing machine can deform them (not a good idea). you can also replace the shoe liners as those are the part of the shoe that absorb the odours. For your wife, she can disinfect them by keeping a bottle of disinfecting spray with her and lightly misting the exterior of her shoes and the soles after each shift. Depending on what she likes, she can make up a spray bottle filled with 10 drops of lavender or tea tree essential oil (natural disinfectants) in distilled water, or she can use plan hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle and spritz her shoes with that. Just check an inconspicuous area to make sure the shoes are colourfast first! Let me know how this works. I’ve received a lot of shoe-related questions! Thanks again
Essentially, the key takeaways are:
1) MOST shoes can’t go in the wash (canvas shoes can i.e. Tom’s or Keds), so you have to hand wash them
2) Prolong the life of the shoe by deodorizing, replacing the liner/insole and cleaning the outside gently
3) Disinfect shoes with a home made spray so that you don’t track germs everywhere.
Melissa Maker is the founder of Clean My Space (a well-known Toronto-based cleaning service) and editor-at-large of CleanMySpace.com.
Melissa is a business school grad who happened to start up a cleaning service back in 2006. Her initial cleaning knowledge ranked about a 2/10 (and she didn't really enjoy it either) so she learned everything about cleaning from the ground up.
Today, she teaches her staff of 25+ about her favorite techniques and they have helped her build Toronto's best cleaning service. Further, she shares this information with the public via this blog, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter and many Canadian news and television shows.
Melissa knows that like her, there are a lot of people who don't really know how to clean (or perhaps don't like to clean either). She's known for her simple and effective cleaning tips.
My recommendation for smelly shoes: sprinkle baking soda inside them overnight. The next morning, shake out the white stuff and the shoes should be deodorized. You can also wash the exterior of the shoe with some dish soap and hot water with an old toothbrush. Putting certain shoes in the washing machine can deform them (not a good idea). you can also replace the shoe liners as those are the part of the shoe that absorb the odours. For your wife, she can disinfect them by keeping a bottle of disinfecting spray with her and lightly misting the exterior of her shoes and the soles after each shift. Depending on what she likes, she can make up a spray bottle filled with 10 drops of lavender or tea tree essential oil (natural disinfectants) in distilled water, or she can use plan hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle and spritz her shoes with that. Just check an inconspicuous area to make sure the shoes are colourfast first! Let me know how this works. I’ve received a lot of shoe-related questions! Thanks again
