I’m not very good about throwing my shoes away.  This partly because I’m cheap, and partly because I find old worn shoes extremely comfortable.  At any given time I usually own 4 pairs of shoes - sneakers, brown shoes, black shoes, and some boots.  However, I almost always wear only wear set exclusively, the black or brown ones.  Currently it’s the brown shoes. I’ve been wearing them for about a year and half now.

I actually have some replacement shoes for my trusty old brown shoes, but I still tend to wear the old shoes. I have a hard time letting go, and I feel the longer I wear my old shoes, the longer my new shoes will last.  In college I duct taped my sneakers together after the sole loosened and flopped around.  I can’t bear to throw away shoes that have anything less than a major hole through the sole.  Why?  As I’ve seen it a shoe as long as it encloses my foot, it’s good enough to be worn. Neither my girlfriend or my parents feel this way.  My girlfriend threw away my old sneakers, and my parents did the same back when I was in high school.

Slowly, I’m coming to realize that they might be right. When wearing the same pair of shoes days in and day out it’s difficult to discern inadequacies in the shoes.  However right now as I still have my old shoes and my new new shoes, I can make a direct comparison. My old shoes really don’t offer much support or protection (the soles have small crsck which means they get wet when the sidewalk is wet).  I think I need to bite the bullet and transition to new shoes more often I do right now.