Simple (<5min) daily shoe care

[adam7788]

I appreciate wealth of knowledge you guys have (and share) about shoe care - great reading and learning. However, I am looking for simple shoe care routine that would take 3-5 minutes per day - not more. At work I pull late hours and finish at 2-3am (almost) ever day. The last thing I want to do at that time is to engage in 15-30min shoe care routine. I bought decent shoes (AE) and I want to take care of them, but don't have time or willingness to spend on that longer than few minutes.

So could you please be so kind as to advise what I should do at the end of the day? (I have 3 pairs of shoes to rotate - 2 in black, 1 in brown; I plan to wear them in the office only and commute to work in something else; I also bought shoe trees, shoe polish and shoe conditioner).

Thanks in advance!

 

[md2010]

Mate use conditioner/polish once a month. And just wipe off dust everyday with an old towel. Use shoe tree. If shoes get wet air dry it and use conditioner/polish.

 

[Nicola]

Since you're rotating them you don't even need to wipe the dust off. Just give them a wipe when you put them on.

 

[adam7788]

Thanks - that brings my routine to 20 seconds So I should not apply cream and/or polish after every use?

 

[UberDyologzz]

For the work week:

Wipe all the dust off with a clean, lint-free cloth.

Do a cursory check to see if there are scuff marks, stains, etc. that need to be taken care of immediately.

If all is well, then put your trees in and store.

Otherwise, use a bit of wax, water, and a lot of elbow grease for touch ups.

You can condition and polish on weekends and days off, no worries.

 

[DWFII]



Since you're rotating them you don't even need to wipe the dust off. Just give them a wipe when you put them on.

As inconsequential as it may seem, leaving dust on your shoes will tend to pull oils and conditioners out of the leather. And since dust accumulates in the creases, the leather in the creases becomes dry faster than the surrounding leather....a factor in cracking.

 

[Nicola]

My feeling was more if he doesn't stick them in shoe bags they'll get dusty anyways. So he'll need to wipe them off before wear.

 

[DWFII]



My feeling was more if he doesn't stick them in shoe bags they'll get dusty anyways. So he'll need to wipe them off before wear.

Never a bad idea. But really, if there's that much dust settling on a pair of shoes that are in a weekly rotation, the OP either needs to get a vacuum cleaner or a new cave.

The Dyson Animal is on sale...

 

[Nicola]

You should see my cave this time of year . With all the windows open there is a good breezing blowing in enough sand to build a beach

 

[bjornb17]

I currently have 2 pairs of shoes in rotation. I just put them in shoe trees after i take them off. Once a week I'll dust the uppers and welting off with a polishing brush (but with no polish). Once a month, or if they start to look a little scuffy (whichever comes sooner), i'll apply a little conditioner, light polish, and edge dressing. You don't want to polish them too often as the polish will build up. The weekly brushing without polish will redistribute the residual polish and help prevent buildup.

 

[Gus]

I have one of these. I must have purchased it back in the mid 80's and it still works like a charm. I give my shoes a quick buff before heading out and can go for many days without a shine. The sheepskin buffer gives a nice finish to my shoes.

I always polish my shoes and buff them well with brushes before using the sheepskin. That way color and wax or polish don't accumulate on the sheepskin.

http://www.electricshoeshinestore.com/

 

[Gus]

I only use wax occasionally. I use a colored cream on a regular basis to preserve the color and to give a nice, elegant semi gloss finish. I used to use neutral but found it began to leave a cloudy film on some colors of shoes.