It Works!

As a teacher who works in an environment requiring professional dress, I was anxious to retire last year - not because of the kids, politicians or parents but because my feet were making me miserable.  My maternal grandmother had lifelong problems with her feet and cautioned me to buy good shoes. She used to say you could wear cheap clothes but should invest in shoes.  Our feet were the same size, so I was the recipient of her failed shoe choices which I never fully understood until my own feet started screaming at me over everything.  I really thought I was taking her advice.  No matter how cute, or comfortable shoes appeared, I avoided cheap shoes and sought out sturdy, lasting good shoes, but even those failed me last year, and I was miserable.  I then started dabbling in expensive shoes starting with Vionics.  I bought Vionic boots last year that I wore every single day from the end of sandal season to the return of it, and my feet stopped screaming and started whining.  Thinking I had found my ticket, I bought wedge sandals made by Vionic.  The foot bed worked for me, but the strap across my toes (another problem area for me), had me anxious to get home and out of my shoes on the daily.  I found a pair of Abeo sandals that I loved and made them my go-to work shoes, but they didn't match everything.  I found myself dressing for my shoes and determining how I would dress based on how much I would be on my feet.  I finally looked for life hacks to fix my shoes so that I didn't struggle so much.  I learned online that I could fill bags with water and stuff them into the shoes or under the straps then freeze them to stretch the shoe. It took a couple of tries, but this really works.  My feet only dislike me now.  When I bought the Abeos pictured above, they did not have my size in the store, so I tried on a similar style and placed my order.  They came and slid off of the backs of my feet, so I had to go down a size.  The area across my toes turned red the first time I wore them, and they hurt, but the foot bed was great!  It took three tries with water bags in the freezer, but these are wearable now.  I most likely won't find a perfect pair of shoes. I thought I had with some Taos sneakers until I logged 15,000 steps in them the first time I wore them for any length of time.  While the left one was great, my right foot suffered two painful blisters.  I can't wear orthodics because I have a  wide foot with a high instep and high arch.  This combination makes for very bad, no good days for my poor feet, so wearable is a huge plus on those days that my go-to shoes (Chaco sandals) aren't appropriate for the setting I am in.

So if you have some shoes that need a little more stretch...