Recipe 90 of 100 · The Country Cleans Mix Book
How to Get Rid of Shoe Smell and Gym Bag Funk
Baking Soda Sock Trick
Sneaker smell is bacteria eating sweat, so you need two things. Pull the insoles and spray both sides, plus the inside of the shoes and bag, with 1 cup 70% rubbing alcohol and 1 cup water, then let it all dry. Stir 1/2 cup baking soda with 1/4 cup cornstarch, fill two old socks, knot them and leave one in each shoe overnight. Never zip a damp bag shut. Spray outside or by an open window.
What it fixesSour sneaker funk, damp gym bag smell and gear that stinks up the whole car.
You need
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon dried coffee grounds, optional
- 5 drops tea tree oil, optional
- 1 cup 70 percent isopropyl rubbing alcohol plus 1 cup water
- 8 oz spray bottle
- 2 old socks or thin cloth bags
Mix it
- Stir the baking soda and cornstarch together in a bowl. The cornstarch handles moisture, the baking soda handles acid, and sneaker smell is both.
- Add the coffee grounds and tea tree oil if you are using them and mix well so the oil does not stay in one clump.
- In the spray bottle, combine the rubbing alcohol and water and label it.
Use it
- Pull the insoles out of the shoes and hit both sides with the alcohol spray until damp. Insoles hold the majority of the bacteria and most people never take them out.
- Spray the inside of the shoes and the inside of the gym bag lightly, then let everything air dry completely, ideally outside in the sun.
- Fill the socks with the powder mix, knot them tight, and drop one in each shoe overnight. For the bag, leave one sock in it whenever it is not in use.
- Shake the powder socks out and refill them every couple of weeks when they stop pulling smell.
- Never zip a damp bag shut. Leave it open with the sock inside, because a closed damp bag grows the bacteria back overnight.
Dale's noteThe smell is bacteria eating sweat, so the alcohol kills the colony and the powder removes the moisture they need to rebuild. Doing only one of the two is why the smell always comes back by Thursday.
Don'tSkip the tea tree oil if there is a dog in the house too. Tea tree is toxic to dogs as well as cats, and a shoe on the floor is a chew toy. Do not use the tea tree version if you have cats. Tea tree oil is toxic to them, and a shoe left on the floor with oil in it is exactly the kind of thing a cat rubs its face on. Do the alcohol spraying outside or by an open window too, and keep it away from a pilot light, a heater or a lit cigarette while the shoes are still damp.
This is 1 of 100 mixes in the Mix Book
Glass, wood, bathrooms, mold, kitchens, carpet, couches, laundry, floors, metal, odors and more. Every one with the same exact amounts, steps and warnings. A PDF in your email within a minute.
GET THE MIX BOOK · $12.99
Free: Dale's Fall Deep-Clean Checklist
19 jobs to do before the house closes up for winter, room by room, plus 3 recipes printed in full. Print it and stick it on the fridge.
SEND ME THE FREE CHECKLIST
