Hey Freebs!

I'm currently writing this while sitting in a class at SNAP over the weekend, the blog conference here in Utah that I looooove. Check out my Instagram for all sorts of craziness. Spoiler alert: you may see an epic pranking video on there sometime soon. I may or may not be wearing a neon pink onesie, complete with butt-flap in the back. I'm just sayin'. 

I'm ULTRA inspired and realize there are SO MANY things I need to do better. Bear with me as I work to tweak, change, and improve what I'm doing…and try to figure out what I'm doing and why.

I am trying to be better at popping in with quick tips and life hacks along with my ultra-mega-makes-your-head-hurt-marathon-posts.

Here's a quick one for you to get us started!

When your shoes (or your kid's shoes!) start getting worn, broken, skuffed, boring, or old looking, don't throw them out…make them new again!

My husband has this pair of gorgeous, Italian leather, camel-colored dress shoes that he (and I) love. We got them for $60, they were regularly over $100. After a year or two they started falling apart. They got a few scratches in them, the color started scuffing and fading, and the sole started detaching.

We considered throwing them away…but decided to bring them back from the dead instead!

We Googled “shoe repair” in our area and found a hole in the wall shop nearby. We left those lovely little shoes with a cute Indonesian man who has been fixing shoes for a thousand years. $20 and 1 week later, the shoes were shined, buffed, polished, and re-soled. They were like BRAND NEW SHOES! It's been 2 years since then and they are still going strong.

Instead of tossing out old, scuffed, or damaged shoes,

here are a few simple things you can do to make ANY shoes last longer (even kid's shoes!):

• Shine or polish them. If your shoes are leather, they can be polished. You can do it by hand, you can find a shoe or department store near you that offers the service, or you can pay $8 (or so) at an airport or hotel if you happen to be at one.

• Re-sole them. As mentioned above, you can re-sole shoes! You will need a professional to do it for you, but it is relatively inexpensive. Google “Shoe repair” to find something in your area.

• Add new laces. This may seem obvious but I almost forgot how simple this is! We bought my son Reebok sneakers. They were $15, which is more than I usually spend on kid shoes…but it was my husband's fault, so you know. Whatdya do. He can't tie shoes yet, so after a few weeks of him tugging them on and off they were absolutely (literally) shredded. I bought new laces for $1.50 and it's AMAZING the difference it made! If your kids can't tie shoes consider curly, no-tie laces.

• Shoe Goo! Helps put falling shoes back together, plugs holes, caps laces, etc. It's magic.

• heel caps. If your high heels are falling apart, get some heel caps to fix it in a snap!

• Embellish them! Add bling, bows, pearls, ribbon, or even glitter to old shoes to make them look new again. I recently added a bunch of fun ideas on my Craft board on Pinterest, so check it out!

 

So next time you think about throwing away those favorite shoes of yours, just give them a little TLC and they'll give you love for years longer!

Have a fabulous day,