Four quick tips dry those winter boots (or shoes)!

Happy new year, folks! At the time of writing this article (with windchill) it is currently a balmy TWO degrees in Richmond, VA. That being said, it is a crucial time of year to be wearing all the winter gear you can muster, especially boots! But what happens when you, or your child, inadvertently get those bad boys wet? Maybe you got some snow inside them, maybe your child stepped in a giant semi-frozen puddle, whatever the case… We’ve done the research to save you some time, check it out!

• First, something to avoid: high heat
  
  Don’t be tempted to blast a hair drier set at high heat inside those boots! Similarly, don’t put them over a floor register or in front of your heater. All of that high heat will dry your footwear quickly, but it can also greatly reduce their lifespan. All of that dry heat quickly leads to leather and other fabrics shrinking and pulling away from the rest of the shoe, and, at the same time, this method will also weaken the glue holding your footwear together — a brutal combination! Now let’s get to what you should do.
• Use a fan
  
  Airflow is the name of the game when it comes to effectively drying things! This method pictured actually uses a couple of “S” hooks to hang the lace-less footwear from the fan. This method may not work with the bigger, bulkier boots — but you can still set the footwear down and aim the fan toward the wet boots. If you’re able to hang the shoes or boots from you fan, be sure to place a towel underneath everything because there will be a good amount of dripping water as everything dries!
• Use balled-up newspaper
  
  The tried-and-true method of balled-up newspaper! In this writer’s opinion, the best way to dry footwear with this method is to loosely ball up newspaper and pack it into your boots loosely enough that there is still some airflow. Really tightly-packed newspaper won’t leave much room for osmosis to work its magic, and your boots will take way too long to dry! If you’re doing things right, the “newspaper method” will work fairly quickly and you’ll need to be changing newspaper frequently until everything’s dry. It sounds like a lot of work, true, but avoiding wet feet in the winter; or stinky, mildew-y footwear is worth all the work!
• Consider purchasing a boot dryer
  
  Consider investing in a boot dryer! If drying boots and shoes is a hassle you run into often, especially if you have a lot of young ones running around outdoors, consider making this investment. Boot dryers on major retail websites like Amazon run about $35, and you can even get much smaller insertable boot dryers — these cost even less and pack away well enough when not needed. These work their major at a very even, low heat — reducing the chances of damaging your footwear in the name of dry feet.

There you have it, folks! We hope you can put this wisdom to good use and keep feet (and footwear!) clean, dry, and odor-free. Stay warm and dry out there this winter, and if you’d like to spend more time relaxing and less time cleaning: consider giving us a call!