Practical Fashion: Removing Stickers From the Bottom of Shoes

As you’ve probably figured out by now, I can’t resist a good shoe bargain.  On the weekends, you’ll frequently catch me prowling the shoe aisles in my favorite discount retailers looking for a sign that reads those magical words: Additional 50% off!

Unfortunately, those steep discounts often come with an annoying little side effect… Shoe.Sticker.Residue.

Case in point, my new Members Only boots that I got on sale at Daffy’s for $50 (marked down from $260).

Pretty cute, right? The angled side zipper detail is what got me.  But check out the underside…

Le sigh.  And this wasn’t even the worst of the two shoes.  The other foot had at least 3 additional stickers on it.  Below is a pic of my first attempt to carefully peel away those pesky little buggers.

Now for some folks, this may not seem too terrible. But for someone like me, who obsesses over the smallest details, this leftover residue was a real shoe bargain buzzkill. So rather than ruin a perfectly good manicure by scraping off the remnants with my fingernails (which I’ve done in the past), I decided to grab my two trusty sidekicks:

You can also use plain old baby oil or whatever oil you have on hand.  Just soak up a few drops with your cotton ball, rub it across the sole of your shoe, let it absorb for a few seconds, and the yuckies just rub right off.

Just like new!