The Sweet Smell of a Bargain

I  was in a store a couple of months ago and found some really lovely shoes displayed on the shelf and was startled when I saw the price.  $19.99.  I tried one shoe on. It felt really good.  I put the other shoe on and walked around a bit.  Gee, they were comfy! I wondered if at $19.99 the heel would fall off the first time they got wet.  Oh well, they are under $20.00, I would give them a try.  Box under my arm, off I marched to the check out counter.

Next day, on went the new shoes. 

 Driving to work I noticed a definite smell of gas and worried that perhaps the fuel pump was going on my car.  I arrived at work , grabbed a coffee,  sat at my desk and noticed that the smell of petroleum was still with me.  After thirty minutes or so I had a headache and my nostrils and throat were burning. 

 I decided is wasn't residue from my car.    I took a shoe off my foot and gave it a sniff . 

 Just as I thought - it was my cheap shoes that smelled.  

I had a meeting to attend out of the building  and as I was walking along the street I worried that any small  spark would ignite the gassy shoes and I would burst into flames.

Since that day the shoes have been airing out  on my deck.  

I have sprayed them with Febreze,  I have washed them in soap and water,  I have filled them with activated charcoal.  They still smell like petroleum. 

They are just so cute and so comfortable and so impossible to wear!

$19.99 shoes now on a direct path to the trash bin.  It is a sad day.


This is not my shoe - this is a Jimmy Choo shoe.