DIY tips for cleaning and maintaining shoes

You always want to put your best foot forward. That's why following these shoe cleaning and maintaining tips are essential.

If you've picked shoes you like, you want to keep them at their best. If you're serious about that, you may want to make your own shoe shine kit. You'll need: a fairly stiff brush for cleaning shoes, some soft rags for applying polishes (one for each colour) and a soft brush or cloth for polishing. Here are some other cleaning and maintenance tips:

• Repel water from leather soles by occasionally coating them with castor oil.
• Smear stains on smooth leather shoes with an onion cut in half, then buff them.
• Rub stiff calfskin with a mixture of water and milk to make it soft again, then polish.
• Remove scuff marks from patent leather shoes by rubbing them with a cotton ball dabbed in acetone-free nail polish remover.
• Produce a bright shine on patent leather shoes by rubbing with either petroleum jelly or mineral oil. Old patent leather also recovers its shine when rubbed with half an onion. Remember to always buff well afterwards.
• Warm up patent leather before wearing in the winter to keep the finish from cracking.
• Keep patent leather flexible with glycerin.
• Clean deerskin, nubuck and suede with a rubber eraser or crepe brush.
• Carefully remove stains on full-grain leather shoes with a rubber eraser.
• Waterproof deerskin with a mix of 15 millilitres (one tablespoon) of glycerin, 15 millilitres (one tablespoon) of fruit vinegar and 75 millilitres (five tablespoons) of water. Put the mixture in a spray bottle and carefully spray your shoes with it.

You can make colourless shoe polish for smooth leather in a flash. What you need:

• 150 g (5 oz) petroleum jelly
• 10 g (1/3 oz) beeswax
• 10 ml (2 tsp) boiling water
• 5 g (1/6 oz) soap flakes

1. Melt the petroleum jelly and wax in a double boiler.
2. Add the boiling water and soap flakes.
3. Stir with a cooking spoon or a whisk until blended.
4. Store in a glass or a can. The mixture will keep for about six months.Now you're ready to add some pep to your step!