According to a study in USA Today, our shoes have an average of 421,000 units of bacteria on the outside and nearly 3,000 on the inside! And you might not want to hear this, but the transfer rate of nasty bacteria from shoe to tile can land as high as 90-99%. There’s a lot of bacteria on our shoes, and it’s hitching a ride wherever we go.
Do all these stats make you want to go clean your shoes yet? Yeah, us too! But to do so, it’s important to make sure you know how to clean the inside of your shoes (and the outside, too) without damaging the shoe itself.
Keep reading below to learn how!
Shoe Cleaner
The first step in cleaning your shoes? Finding the right shoe cleaners. So, let’s take a look at some of the top, most-trusted shoe cleaners available today.
For about seven dollars, you can buy Reshoevn8r Shoe & Sneaker Cleaner. It’s cheap, you can use it at home, and you can apply it to nearly all shoe materials. But, if you’re looking to really clean a specific type of shoe material, you can also invest a bit more in products like Angelus Foam Tex Sneaker Cleaning Kit (great for suede) or Saphir Medaille d’Or Leather Renovator (great for leather).
On a much larger scale, though, you can even invest in mass quantity shoe cleaners (learn more about those here), which allow you to disinfect the bottom of your shoes in seconds to accommodate large crowds.
Cleaning the Inside of Your Shoes
Let’s face it. The more you were your shoes, the smellier they get! So it’s important to perform routine maintenance on your most-frequently worn pairs of shoes.
To clean each pair, you could go one of two different routes.
First, you could go with a more natural, homemade cleaning method. It’s easy! Just mix a 1 to 5 ratio of white vinegar to water, wet a sponge with your solution, and dab the inside of your shoes. Let them air dry and then shake baking soda inside to deodorize them.
Or second, you could go with magic in a bottle: Windex! Most people don’t know, but you can actually spray Windex into your shoes to clean, disinfect, and even help deodorize them!
Cleaning the Outside of Your Shoes
Sure, it’s important to clean the outside of your shoes because they track bacteria. But beyond basic cleanliness and hygiene — it’s also important to keep your sneakers clean if you want them to last and look good when out in public.
Again, you have two main methods to clean the outside of your shoe: homemade or store-bought. If you go with the store-bought method, we recommend using any of the cleaners mentioned above, industrial or otherwise. But if you’re going homemade, the answer is still pretty simple.
Take a brush and clean off any external dirt or debris from your shoes, then create a warm, mild mixture of water and laundry detergent. Gently scrub and wipe until you’re satisfied and let stand to air dry.
Did You Know How to Clean the Inside of Your Shoes (and the Outside, Too)?
Now you do! And now, you also know which shoe cleaning products to use and even have a schedule to get you started.
But don’t hoard this information! We’ve got shoes to save! And now that you know how to clean the inside of your shoes and the outside, too — you can share it with others.
As a result, we’ll all be walking a little cleaner and be better for it! For more tips, tricks, and advice for your everyday lifestyle, be sure to visit our site and check back daily!
