A Treat for Your Feet

There is an old saying that "You can tell a man by his shoes."  If that is indeed true, then I'm in trouble.  Often at home when it is dry out in the pasture I break all fashion trends by wearing Crocs with socks.  I know - it is a horrible, unforgivable fashion crime, but they are comfortable.  When it is wet and muddy I wear some old Lacrosse rubber boots that have several years's worth of encrusted milk petrified to the sides of them.

For church and work, however, I do try to keep my shoes looking nice.  I read an article the other day that stated that "you should polish your shoes more often than you think you need to because people really do judge you by the condition of your shoes."  Although the shoes below were purchased at Jos. A Banks a number of years ago and aren't Johnston & Murphy's or Allen Edmonds, they are comfortable and can be worn with khakis or jeans.

It was embarrassing to look down the other day and see both of them looking like the one on the right.  It actually looked like I had been gardening in them.  Although I wasn't gardening in them, at work today, I did climb a roof with a 10/12 pitch with them on.  I don't think they were designed fo that!  Time to do something about them!

A couple of years ago I wrote a post called 24 of My Favorite Smells and looking back I should have put 25 and added Shoe Polish.  I like the way that shoe polish smells.  There are many ways to give your shoes a shine and my way is not the best way, but it works for me.  I use an old cut up t-shirt to liberally run some shoe polish all over the shoes, rubbing it in in a circular motion.

Then I use a stiff-bristled brush to brush the polish into all the little nooks and crannies that naturally occur in leather shoes.

Then I use an old cotton sock turned inside out to buff all the polish off.  Then I repeat the process of polishing the shoes with another layer of shoe polish and then buff that second layer off to achieve a nice shine.  It makes the shoes look semi-new again versus the embarrassing dirty shoe you see in the picture at the top of this post.

Finally, since these shoes are casual and will be worn some in the rain, I spray some Protect-All on them to repel rain & stain.

It darkens them up a bit and removes a bit of the shine, but it will protect the shoes and enable me to get more mileage out of them.  If you are a man (or woman) that appreciates instant gratification, shining your shoes provides just that.  You can see the fruit of your labors almost immediately.