I read on one of those household website blogs that one way to deodorize your shoes and sneakers is to leave them out in the cold, or place them in a freezer over night. As I recall the story said that most smells in a shoe is caused by bacteria from the foot, that can lead to fungal foot infections. The bacteria will die if it is left in a cold place and the smell will go away when the bacteria dies. I tried this with both my boots and my shoes and it seems to work. Luckily I live in a cold climate so I just had to set the shoes & boots out on the porch overnight Afterwards I just gave a good spray of Lysol on the insides to kill off whatever was left. Seemed to work fine.
Deodorant hasn't worked for me. I sometimes use perfume. I am going to try the baking soda though because it makes sense. I use it for my refrigerator and it works. It also works in my deodorant. I also like the tips about keeping the shoes dry. I need to air out my shoes more too.
I never would have thought to do that. Thanks for the tip! I only use baking soda because it is so inexpensive. I think spray deodorant isn't that cost effective.
I've tried it in the past with mixed results. You tend to get a really weird concoction of smells (well, I did with my feet!), and it doesn't really mask the shoe smell entirely. Better for me is to use talcum powder which really clears the smell. The small problem with that is the unseemly white powder residual left behind. But it works well with white running shoes.
