How to Reuse Old Shoes
How can you get new life out of old shoes? Why throw them in the garbage so that they go to waste. Try recycling. There are a great many places that collect shoes to give to the needy around the world. There are also lots of local charities that are a good place to invest a small donation. Then there are the time-honored traditions of selling or consigning your shoes, giving them away to an individual or finding some interesting uses for them. All are worthy causes, so you can pick and choose something different with each pair.
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Instructions
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Resole them. If you have a really good pair or just a real favorite pair of shoes that are a bit worn out, you can get them resoled for a song. If the tops are scuffed, a bit of elbow grease and shoe polish can do wonders. Eyes can be replaced inexpensively if your laces have pulled them loose or out.
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Donate your shoes so that others can use them. There are a lot of thrift stores, such as Goodwill or Salvation Army, that raise money to help others. They would love to take your old shoes. Homeless shelters, battered women's shelters and halfway houses for people with mental health or substance abuse problems would also love to have them. You can also put them on Freecycle.com or give them away to a local person who needs or would just like to have them.
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Consign or sell them. Look in the yellow pages under consignment shops for a great way to get some bucks for your shoes and boots. They have to be in great condition but you will get a lot more for them--even with the store commission--than you would in a garage sale. You may get your check and turn around and buy something else for yourself there.
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Donate your shoes to Soles4Shoes, which sends them to needy people all over the world. They also provide ways to donate shoes as a fund-raiser for a church or school. Donate running shoes to Hope Runs and Shoe4Africa. Nike turns old running shoes into playground surfaces and One World Running sends athletic equipment and shoes around the world. The shoe bank donates 20,000 pairs of shoes a year in the US and other countries, and Heart and Sole gives to world's poorest. See all the information you'll need on these and others through the link listed below in Additional Resources.
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Make something new out of an old pair of shoes or boots. Use boots for doorstep planters. Slip a plastic plant container with pretty flowers inside the boot. Add some dirt or other type of filler in the bottom if the boots are kind of tall. Work boots and high-topped sneakers are also great for bird feeders. Staple a shoe's tongue to a piece of wood--a paint stirrer is good--and you have a really great fly swatter.
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Make heavy-duty slipper socks. If all that's good is the soles on your old shoes, cut them off and stitch them to heavy socks with a carpet needle and heavy thread. These will last for years and then you can replace the sock tops again if you want to. Fill your old shoes up to the end of the toes with plaster of Paris and paint the shoes with clear resin or acrylic and you can make doorstops or bookends.
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Tips & Warnings
Get some friends together and send a box of shoes to one of the charities. The shipping cost will be cheaper and they'll get a bigger donation.
When you cut the sole off of a shoe, use a razor blade utility knife. Take your time and be very careful.
