If you own a pair of tall boots like I do (you’ve seen mine in this photo and also on my About Me page), then you know that left to themselves, they tend to do this in your closet.
(this is not my closet. It’s my deck. That’s because my closet is dark and not at all suitable for picture-taking. And you may remember that I am a big fan of moving objects for photography purposes).
This tendency to flop isn’t that great for the boots and it makes my closet kind of messy. Boot shapers would take care of the problem, but my boots cost a whole $10 on clearance a number of years ago, and that makes me loathe to pay another $10-$20 to make them stand up.
So, I take a pair of clean flip-flops (really, these ARE clean. I scrubbed them with Fantastic and a toothbrush. It’s just impossible to get white flip-flops completely clean.)…
and put them down inside my boots (this might be a good use for flip-flops that are completely past their useful life as footwear. )
While this doesn’t fill them out as nicely as real boot shapers would, it does keep my boots standing tall.
And, it saves a bit of shoe space in my closet, which is always a happy thing.
If you are desperate to have your boots firmly filled out but don’t want to buy boot shapers, you can always go the route of stuffing old t-shirts down inside your boots. I cut up my old t-shirts to use as rags, though, so I don’t know if I have enough to give that trick a try. And besides, I’m not worried enough about boot wrinkles to deal with stuffing and unstuffing my boots every time I want to wear them. Sticking a flip-flop down inside of them is much easier.
Janet
Thursday 11th of January 2018
Coffee creamer bottles work well too.
Nancy
Saturday 8th of April 2017
Great ideas, here! I bought some thin, plastic/flexible chopping mats (about the size of a place mat) at the Dollar Store (2 for $1) in the kitchen section, and they work great! Roll them up a little tighter than needed, place them in the boot, and they expand to the shape of the boot. It's pretty similar to the pricey flexible boot forms. They don't fill the entire length of the boot, but enough to keep them upright and formed. Plus, if you end up not needing them, at some point, the cutting boards can be used for lots of other things, as well - chopping mat, counter protectors, place-mat for my dog's bowls, surface protector under plants, gardening mat, etc.
Darnell
Saturday 23rd of January 2016
I shove a couple loaves of bread in mine. Works like a charm.
SJM
Friday 8th of January 2016
All the ideas are so creative and great. I will wait until I guy 2 more bottles of wine and then use them in one pair. Don't wear flip flops, so don't have a pair of those. But I'm a magazine hound so will try the magazine idea too. Thanks to everyone and to Frugal Girl for posting.
TLM
Monday 17th of August 2015
16.9OZ plastic coke bottles! Can fill with sand if you need a bit of weight.