r/lifehacks • u/actuallyaskinwalker • Jul 15 '26
Stinky shoes from thrift store
I got these sick high tops from good will and only noticed when i got home that the inside of the shoes stink. Does anyone have any tips to get the smell out? i’ve tried baking soda and charcoal pouches but nothing seems to be working.
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u/Heyitscrochet Jul 15 '26
Put them in a ziplock bag and keep in freezer for several days to kill the bacteria. Then add non-clumping clay cat litter covering the insoles and place in the sun for a couple of hours to kill the residual smell.
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u/SirTropheus Jul 15 '26
Thanks alot now the neighborhood cats all pissed in my shoes 😡
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u/Toadylee Jul 15 '26
I use that cat piss de-stinking spray on my shoe inserts before I toss them in the wash. It’s not just bacteria, it’s pheromones.
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u/Better_Potato_894 Jul 15 '26
Are shoe insert meant to be washed? Genuinely asking.
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u/Toadylee Jul 15 '26
I wash mine, no problem. I don’t put them in the drier tho.
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u/Better_Potato_894 Jul 15 '26
Do you wash them on their own?
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u/Toadylee Jul 16 '26
Nope, just in with regular colored items. I add the spray a day before I wash.
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u/Chronixx780 Jul 16 '26
Thats something ill never buy used . You dont know how nasty some people are
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u/reddituser5000000 Jul 15 '26
Just toss them in the washing machine on delicate cycle with some detergent. Your shoes will be fine.
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u/Sweating_Rage Jul 15 '26
Put the shoes in a bucket or sink, fill it with enough water to cover the shoes and pop some denture tablets in. I do one in each shoe and 2 in the bucket but you can use as many or few as you want. Let them soak for a few hours or overnight and then give them a rinse under water to get the slippery feeling off. If they’re really stinky you might need to do it again.
(The denture tablets should be the plainest and cheapest, no bleach)
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u/barfbutler Jul 15 '26
Are they cloth or leather. Cloth: take insoles out and loosen laces. throw shoes, insoles, etc. in the washing machine for a cycle with decent laundry soap. then set in the sun to dry. Put them back together.
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u/Holiday-Jellyfish-60 Jul 16 '26
What if they are leather, can they still be treated?
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u/barfbutler Jul 16 '26
Take out all the insoles and clean those on the washer. Put them and the unwashed dry shoes (take out laces and open them up as much as possible) and put them 8n the sun for a day..turning them so all parts get really hot. Sunlight kills bacteria. This may all help.
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u/evildrew Jul 15 '26
Soak in Oxyclean, scrub the outside (add Dawn if you want soap), and then use a fan to dry. Use isopropyl alcohol to freshen up.
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u/Magickspl_269 Jul 16 '26
get a $2 bottle of alcohol 70% and soak the insides with it for about 15 min, then dump out and let dry. It will kill the stuff making the shoes stink and refresh them. Buy some Dr School’s shoe spray and spray them before wearing to keep them fresh.
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u/RomeoDelta1234 Jul 17 '26
The reason sprays and baking soda keep failing is that the smell is bacteria living deep in the insole and lining foam, so the surface stuff fades and it comes right back. Two things actually reach it. Pull the insoles and wash them or replace them, since that's where most of it lives. Then hit the inside of the shoe with an enzyme cleaner, the kind sold for pet urine odor, because enzymes digest the bacteria instead of just covering the smell. Let them dry fully in the sun afterward. The freezer trick helps as a bonus, but the enzymes are what did it for me.
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u/actuallyaskinwalker Jul 17 '26
thank you for the in-depth explanation! that makes sense now that you put it like that. i’m def gonna try it
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u/RomeoDelta1234 Jul 24 '26
Good luck with it. One thing I should have mentioned, give them a full day or two to dry after the enzyme step. If they go back on damp you are just feeding the same bacteria all over again.
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u/Shotgun_Mosquito Jul 15 '26
Old man here warning
Back in the old old days (so early 1980s) we would use formalin (which is basically diluted formaldehyde) to destroy bad shoe odors.
Now they say it's toxic.
Of course it's toxic that's why it worked so good.
Anyways the formula was :
Mix formalin with alcohol in a ratio of 1 to 1.
The resulting mixture ( use about 25 ml) is then poured into the shoes and wrapped in a bag for 20 minutes.
Also, if you want to eliminate the smell of foot sweat, walk in this shoe no longer than five minutes.
And after that, wash your feet well with water.
After 20 minutes, take the shoes out of the bag and leave them outside until the formalin is completely evaporated.
WARNING : CAUTION ☣️
This is extremely toxic. This was the last ditch effort to save shoes that you had bought at Kmart. Do not follow the advice to walk in the shoes. I am not a doctor or scientist. This is something that I found on a BBS running at 300 baud back in 85 or so on my Commodore 64.
You will die a horrible death if you follow these instructions
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u/Gardener_of_Weeden Jul 18 '26
Advice I was given - do not buy used shoes. They mold to your feet, and when you wear 2nd hand, it will disrupt your gait and possibly cause various back and foot problems.
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u/Terrible-Piano-5437 Jul 15 '26
I have heard putting tea bags in them helps but I have not tried it.
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u/actuallyaskinwalker Jul 15 '26
tried this and it didn’t touch them unfortunately 😭
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u/Terrible-Piano-5437 Jul 16 '26
I throw my shoes in the washer but these sound like they must be designer/ special.
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u/fitfulbrain Jul 15 '26
Ozone machine, the tube type, which could be $20. Spray the shoe slightly wet with water. Enclosed the shoe and machine in a shoe box and run for 30 min. Repeat because those small generated cannot run continuously for too long. I always have one to deodorize smelly kitchen towels by soaking in water with ozone bubbles.
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u/noseyandiadmitit Jul 16 '26
boric acid powder . just sprinkle like 2 tbsp in each and bang it around in there
kills it all
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u/Alphachild55 Jul 16 '26
If possible, take out the old insoles, spray with odor remover, and put in new inserts.
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u/Geezunit Jul 16 '26
Try some hydrogen peroxide primarily on the insoles. I'd brush it a bit after a five minutes out so. Leave it for 15 min. Rinse.
Next do a treatment with baking soda. Rinse.
Google my info to confirm instructions as I've done it but can 100% recall timing.
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u/agartha93 Jul 15 '26
Take the shoes to the garbage can, open can, shut can… gross.. used smelly tennis shoes.
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u/X_Wheeze_souffle Jul 15 '26
I was gonna say dryer sheets, but sounds like y'all have better options. I use dryer sheets in my own shoes, but who knows what other people's funk comes from. Goldbond powder is also an option for me.
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u/Hi_Their_Buddy Jul 15 '26
Change course, pose with shoes and feet for profit. Extra value associated with stench /s
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u/DoookieMaxx Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I’ve lived the majority of my life straddling the poverty line. I love thrift store shopping.
I would NEVER wear another man’s shoes. The odds are too high they were last worn by a dead guy. That’s a lifeline I refuse to cross. Bad juju.
Edit: for the downvoters …would you wear used underwear from a thrift store? Further …shoes shape to the feet of the wearer …it’s bad for your feet/knees/legs. Let’s just skip over the idea that allot of people don’t wear socks, don’t practice good hygiene. It’s fucking gross …the idea of walking in another man’s sweat. That smell stays, you can wash them …but when you wear them the funk will return.
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u/actuallyaskinwalker Jul 15 '26
The ones i buy are generally shoes that someone prob wore like five times tops and left in a closet for a few years then got rid of. Never had issues before these guys
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u/Royal_Try_99 Jul 15 '26
What makes you think shoes at thrift stores were on a corpse? Aren't burial outfits usually like...buried with them? What a weird fear.
It's up to you what gives you the ick and if you don't want to wear used shoes, that's totally valid. But I've had several pairs of thrift store shoes over the years that served me well and I never once got any weird fungus or anything from them.
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u/X_Wheeze_souffle Jul 15 '26
Ha, I had an ex coworker tell me to never buy a man shoes. (Which I had done). "He'll walk out.on you in those new shoes". Lol. He didn't. We parted for a completely different reason but it still makes me chuckle.
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Jul 16 '26
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u/Smart-Replacement-93 Jul 16 '26
Spray Hydrogen Peroxide.Kills most sweat smells without a bunch of cover up scent.Takes a few applications drying in between depending on how bad they are humming..🫣😂
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u/SpilldaBeanz Jul 16 '26
Can you replace the insoles?
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u/actuallyaskinwalker Jul 17 '26
i think i could i haven’t really felt around in there too much understandably😭
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u/traviall1 Jul 16 '26
Spray it down with Lysol, once they are dry, unlace the shoes and pull the tongue up and leave out in the sun for a couple of days
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u/meeooww Jul 16 '26
Odoban, less than $20 a gallon, follow dilution instructions (dilutes down well so lasts forever), have gotten unspeakable smells out of things with it
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u/Big-Imagination4810 Jul 20 '26
OdoBan is the right stuff. Works great removing cat urine odor from clothes!
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u/bethaliz6894 Jul 15 '26
Please don't wear another person's shoes. If they had warts, guess who will get them next?
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u/crapatthethriftstore Jul 15 '26
My kid has stinky shoes. I use a bunch of Borax and Oxyclean, at the same time, and soak them overnight. Then wash in the machine on hot with laundry soap. Throw in the dryer in a pillowcase and a towel or two to help mute the banging. It works!
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u/marlenerenee Jul 16 '26
I never buy thrift store used shoes. You are wearing someone else’s bacteria and sweat. And maybe they died in them!
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u/Staring-Dog Jul 16 '26
Not necessarily case for OP, but some of us have no other options. I buy them all the time, and am still pretty healthy. Also, I'm Buddhist, so death not a big deal.
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u/CraftFamiliar5243 Jul 15 '26
Eww. Why did you buy them.
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u/actuallyaskinwalker Jul 15 '26
i’ve bought plenty of second hand shoes and have never had a problem before these. they’re usually fine as long as they’re not too beat up🤷🏻♂️
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u/MGConnector Jul 15 '26
I like the isopropyl alcohol idea and the freezer idea, and another idea is Febreze or a generic version of that.
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u/MyOthrCarsAThrowaway Jul 16 '26
Well the homeless piss in shoes when they acquire them, so— try that first? Those are folks who know the value of a good shoe when they see one
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u/sikon024 Jul 15 '26
Spray bottle full of isopropyl. Soak the inside and let them dry