Frugal Tip - Shoe Polish
Today's frugal tip is the use of shoe polish. I know it seems pretty antiquated, especially when nowadays it's normal to just toss out old shoes, but it's a frugal habit you might want to get into. By no means am I suggesting keeping shoes that are falling apart but polish is great to keep shoes that just have cosmetic issues last a little bit longer.
Recently, I had occasion to use some. I have this inexpensive pair of black shoes that have pretty good soles on them still. But I also have a cat with a shoe fetish. It's sort of a rule in our house that you shouldn't leave your shoes out or they'll get clawed. I forgot and left this pair out so they've been worn down before their time. They were looking kind of rough after being worn a few years but one coat of polish made them look almost new.
I found polish at the dollar store which also carries shoe brushes but I'm sure you can find it at many other stores. I just used a cloth to apply it and buff the shoes afterwards, though you can use a brush. If you want to take frugality a step further, then you might want to use a protective spray like Protect All from the Kiwi polish company on your new shoes to help cut down on wear from the elements.
You may also want to consider having shoes repaired before you buy a new pair. When I was young, there was a shoe repair shop in my home town and my grandma and mom would sometimes take shoes there. Even if you think your shoes aren't worth it, give the shop a call and see if a repair job would be cheaper than a new pair of shoes.
I couldn't find any decent looking books on Amazon to refer you to so you can do this yourself, but I'll dig a bit and see if there are any old-time books free online. Besides being frugal for yourself, it could be a good barter skill in hard times. I will refer you though to the Shoe Service Institute of America website. It seems like it's more for professionals but there are open forums to ask questions and articles on shoe care.
Update: I found some good resources and put them in my post shoe making and repair link roundup.
© P.J. Deneen
Recently, I had occasion to use some. I have this inexpensive pair of black shoes that have pretty good soles on them still. But I also have a cat with a shoe fetish. It's sort of a rule in our house that you shouldn't leave your shoes out or they'll get clawed. I forgot and left this pair out so they've been worn down before their time. They were looking kind of rough after being worn a few years but one coat of polish made them look almost new.
I found polish at the dollar store which also carries shoe brushes but I'm sure you can find it at many other stores. I just used a cloth to apply it and buff the shoes afterwards, though you can use a brush. If you want to take frugality a step further, then you might want to use a protective spray like Protect All from the Kiwi polish company on your new shoes to help cut down on wear from the elements.
You may also want to consider having shoes repaired before you buy a new pair. When I was young, there was a shoe repair shop in my home town and my grandma and mom would sometimes take shoes there. Even if you think your shoes aren't worth it, give the shop a call and see if a repair job would be cheaper than a new pair of shoes.
I couldn't find any decent looking books on Amazon to refer you to so you can do this yourself, but I'll dig a bit and see if there are any old-time books free online. Besides being frugal for yourself, it could be a good barter skill in hard times. I will refer you though to the Shoe Service Institute of America website. It seems like it's more for professionals but there are open forums to ask questions and articles on shoe care.
Update: I found some good resources and put them in my post shoe making and repair link roundup.
© P.J. Deneen
I remember that my Dad and Grandma had shoes they had used for 30 years, but taking care of them. My daughter was recently going to throw out some boots that were looking very ratty. On closer inspection, they had just been abused a bit and were dirty. I dug out a show brush and bit of polish and she set to work making them look great again. I think we are too quick in thinking of things as "disposable" these days.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a symptom of our consumer culture and it's happened relatively quickly, just a couple generations.
ReplyDelete