Two Wet Pairs and One Dry Patch of Floor

Both pairs came in wet. There is one clear strip of floor by the window. You set your keys down on the low ledge of the Doorstep Bench first, the edge that never catches rain even in the worst downpours. The rain still drips off the hem of your rain jacket onto the doormat, and you can feel the cold damp seep through the cuff of your sock where your left shoe leaked on the walk up.

This Suede Casual Pair and This Leather Work Pair Both Need Drying

The suede casual pair is the light tan pair you bought last month for weekend walks and coffee dates, the nap is still soft and fluffy where it hasn’t gotten wet, and you paid a little extra for the water repellent spray you put on them when you first bought them, so most of the water beaded off when you stepped in that puddle earlier, but the edges of the toes and the heels still soaked through. You wore them out this afternoon to meet a friend for iced coffee, and you didn’t think the rain would pick up as fast as it did, so you didn’t bring an umbrella, and by the time you got back to your apartment building you were soaked head to toe. The leather work pair is the black leather pair you’ve had for 6 months, they’re broken in perfectly, the toe cap is reinforced so you don’t stub your toe on stray lumber at the job site, and the sole has enough grip to keep you from slipping on wet concrete. You wore them today because you knew the site would be muddy after last night’s rain, and you didn’t want to ruin a nicer pair of shoes, but you ended up standing in 2 inches of rain water for 10 minutes while you waited for the site foreman to unlock the gate, so the water seeped in through the seam where the sole meets the upper. Neither pair is ruined, but both need to dry properly before you wear them again, or they’ll start to smell like mildew, and the material will break down faster than it should. The dry strip by the window is only 12 inches wide, just big enough for one pair to sit without touching the damp tile that runs the rest of the entryway, and the heat vent under the window blows warm air straight onto that patch for 15 minutes every hour overnight on your apartment’s programmed heating schedule.

You Choose the Leather Work Pair to Set on the Dry Floor Strip

You weigh the options for 10 seconds, no more. You need the work pair tomorrow for a full 8-hour shift on the site, no exceptions, you don’t have a backup pair of work-appropriate shoes that are broken in enough to wear for that long without rubbing blisters. The suede pair you can swap for your old canvas sneakers tomorrow if they’re still wet, no one will care if you wear canvas to the bookstore run you have planned after your morning meeting. Illustrative example: The 2-minute choice saves you 20 minutes of scrambling for appropriate work footwear tomorrow morning, and keeps you from having to buy a cheap replacement pair at the gas station on your way to the site. The suede can handle sitting on the dry edge of the doormat for a night, it might take an extra day to dry but you don’t need it as urgently, and the water won’t permanently stain the suede if you brush it out once it’s fully dry, which you’ve done a dozen times before with older pairs of suede shoes. You don’t have to overthink the choice, it’s as simple as picking the pair you can’t go without tomorrow, and letting the other one dry more slowly on the doormat.

Prop This Damp Leather Pair at a 45-Degree Angle to Drain First

You don’t need any special tools to dry the work pair properly overnight, just a couple of paper towels you keep under the sink for small messes, and the window frame to prop them against. Follow these simple steps to make sure the pair dries as evenly as possible:

1. First, knock any clumps of caked mud off the soles of the leather pair over the trash can by the door, so you don’t track construction debris onto the dry floor strip.
2. Pull the soaked insoles out of each shoe, and set them flat on the left end of the dry strip, so the warm air from the vent hits them directly while the heat runs overnight.
3. Fold two sheets of paper towel in half twice, tuck one folded square into the toe of each shoe, so it absorbs the pooled water sitting at the front of the toe box that would otherwise take hours to evaporate on its own.
4. Prop each shoe at a 45-degree angle against the window frame, with the sole facing out toward the room, so air can circulate through the entire inside of the shoe while the vent runs overnight.

You check that neither shoe is touching the damp tile around the dry strip, and that the insoles aren’t overlapping so they both get full air flow. You tuck the extra edge of the paper towel that sticks out of the toe of each shoe in so it doesn’t blow off when the vent turns on. The suede pair you set on the highest, driest edge of the doormat, laces untied, so they can air out a little even if they don’t get the direct warm air. You don’t have any shoe trees handy, but you know propping them at an angle works almost as well for draining excess water without warping the leather shape, as long as you don’t leave them that way for more than 12 hours. You can’t be sure the shoes will be 100% dry by morning, but you know they’ll be dry enough to wear without soaking your socks through, as long as the heating runs on schedule.

Tomorrow You Wipe Down This Restored Leather Pair Before You Grab Your Keys

When you wake up tomorrow, the first thing you’ll do when you walk to the entryway is check the leather pair first. You’ll pull the damp paper towels out of the toe boxes, run a clean microfiber cloth over the leather upper to wipe off any leftover water spots, and slip the now-dry insoles back into each shoe. You’ll leave the suede pair right where they are on the doormat, and you’ll tuck a small bright yellow sticky note to the window frame right above where the work pair sits, so you remember to grab the suede brush from under the sink after work tomorrow to brush out the dried nap on the suede pair before you wear them again. You don’t have to do anything fancy with the leather pair tomorrow, just give them a quick wipe down before you put them on, and maybe tuck a dryer sheet in each one if you have a spare lying around, to get rid of the damp mildew smell that tends to stick to work shoes after they get soaked. You know you’ll have to condition the leather at some point next week to keep it from cracking after getting so wet, but that’s a task for when you have 10 extra minutes to spare, not something you need to worry about before you head out to work tomorrow. The sticky note is impossible to miss when you’re half-asleep grabbing your keys in the morning, it says “brush suede” in big messy letters, so you don’t forget that the other pair is still damp and needs attention later. You make a mental note to pick up an extra cheap shoe dryer the next time you’re at the hardware store, so you don’t have to choose between pairs the next time you come home with two wet pairs of shoes in the rain.