5 Walking Sandals With Arch Support + 2 for the Pool

Merrell Women's Sandspur Rose Leather Sandal

No longer do I make the mistake of wearing unsupportive sandals. Sure, I aim for cute and stylish, yet I've become a sensible shoe woman. I've crossed the rubicon, and there's no turning back! All my shoes, including my sandals, must be fit for walking miles on unforgiving concrete and thus support my feet. It's the numero uno quality I look for in footwear and will forgo style if necessary. That said, if I can find both fashion and foot doctor approved sandals, I'd buy them, but the shoes don't go home without function!

Nowadays all my shoes including sandals must have 4 details: 

1) Arch support - I have high aches. They scream for structure!

2) Stable heels - 1 & 2: Like peanut butter and jelly or locks and bagels. 

3) Leather uppers - Any shoes I've owned not made of leather have failed me. They don't conform to my feet, and they  don't let my feet breathe, so they get hot. I'm done with synthetic upper materials in shoes. Finito!

4) A firm yet soft foot bed - Forget rock hard. Finita!!😂 After a certain age, we start to lose the fat that pads the soles of our feet, so the cushioning must be in the footbed of our shoes. 

Now that we know what to look for, the following are 5 sandals to consider if you walk a lot on city pavement:

1) Merrell Women's Sandspur Rose Leather Sandal - Luckily I found these sandals on sale last winter, yet they start at a reasonable price, and many other Merrell styles have the same arch support and stable heels construction. These are super stylish on the feet!

2) Berkenstock Women's Arizona Soft Footbed Fashion Sandal - Super pricy and popular with men and women. For the money look for 100% upper leather with the soft footbed selection. Paying $100+ for synthetic Berkenshock sandals is crazy! Like the other sandals selected by THE SAVVY SHOPPER, this one conforms to the shape of your foot and heels. Comes in women's and unisex sizes.

3) Therafit Eva Women's Leather Adjustable Strap Slip On Sandal - For women who love slides. Offers superior arch support and deep heel cups for stability. 

4) Rockport Women's Briah Perf Sling Wedge Sandal - A garden party sandal, obviously not for hiking miles and miles in, but supportive and stable enough to get you to the party on public transit without the need to carry a change of shoes to the party. Full grain leather with a soft breathable interior including cushioned heels and a supportive outsole. The upper Nubuck leather is made to look new for the life of the shoes. Very affordable shoe, as well as, shoe brand!

5) Vionic Backstrap Sandal -Vionic sandals have built-in orthotic arch support that is especially supportive for plantar fasciitis sufferers. Like the other choices, the shoes are made to ease heel pain.

Bonus sandals for the beach and swimming pool: 

1) Arches Support Flip Flops - They are bonus sandals because they aren't leather; and according to podiatrists, you shouldn't walk long distances on city pavement in flip flops ever ... and yet, sometimes you must go near the water where leather would be ruined! 

To be honest, I wear $3 Old Navy flip flops, or $10 Crocs from T.J. Maxx at the beach or by the pool, as well as, around the house, but Arches have the podiatrist-favored real arch support and are made strong to last. After a season of wear the thongs sometimes break on my Old Navy and Croc flip flops ... once causing me to walk 2 blocks home barefoot in my neighborhood. Arches are reinforced to not have such inconvenient "blowouts."

2) LLSOARSS Plantar Fasciitis Feet Sandal With Arch Support - Customers claim they are as supportive as Vionic sandals for less. At times Amazon lists them as low as $12. LLSOARSS flip flops have superior arch support and are constructed to stop heel pain. They prevent sore and tired feet too. A few customers say they experience foot odor when wearing LLSOAESS, which won't happen if you save them for the pool.

The numero uno element of supportive sandals is met in this list of 5 sandals  plus 2 for the pool ... and with style!  Looks like we don't have to skip fashion this summer!🏖

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Rain Trousers are The Bomb

L.L.Bean TEK O2 3L Storm Pants

I don't know why, but, every year on the day I have to walk across Central Park from the Upper Eastside to the Upper Westside of Manhattan for an eye exam, there's always a monsoon downpour. I mean I make the appointment months in advance and it's not always the same time of the year, but on the day I must go, the rain never relents!

Until I moved to New York City without a car, I never thought about just how wet a person can get walking in a storm! Certainly, I dislike wet trousers, legs, socks, and feet, so after years of going to work on a rainy day and sitting damp for hours afterwards, I bit the bullet to buy the final piece of my rain gear trio ... an expensive pair of rain trousers. They are not much of a fashion statement unless you're aiming for a bag lady look, but I don't mind ... I love them!

Today I had my eye doctor appointment and sure enough, it's been raining all day long. But guess what, readers? I returned home dry as if I'd stayed indoors, including my leggings, socks and shoes. Not a drop of moisture after removing my outerwear!

My pricey rain pants go over my leggings (or trousers). Three layers of specially constructed nylon, called TEK O2 L3, keep the rain out! Interior gaiters keep moisture out of my Merrell's Waterproof Comfort Mocs. Zippers and Velcro let me adjust the legs of the pants to fit over shoes or boots.

Since I'm very happy with my Uniqlo Blocktech moisture wick coat, I didn't buy the matching L.L.Bean's TEK O2 3L Storm Jacket. The Uniqlo Blocktech coat is only supposed to be rain-resistant, but I don't get wet wearing it. I love the L.L.Bean jacket too, but it looks more casual than my versatile Uniqlo Blocktech coat that I always wear as a raincoat. If I can save by using what I already have, great!

The rain pants, however, are the bomb and worth every penny!

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Pandemic Sheltering In Place Fashion

Uniqlo for crew-neck t-shirts here. Pair with a cardigan on cold days.

According to The Talk, an afternoon TV show, many people who are Sheltering in Place are not bothering to change out of their pajamas or sweats into regular clothes since they can't go to work. Not true of me. I rise to shower, wash my hair and get dressed each and every morning ... later than usual but still! Being clean and tidy (wearing clean coordinated clothes) lifts my spirits! I couldn't deal with feeling sloppy and dirty on top of riding out a pandemic! But since I have nowhere to go, I don't have to fuss much with my wardrobe and can wear the same things over, which I do. Who's here to see it? I bet my neighbors aren't taking notes if we happen to pass (spaced properly apart) in the lobby.

Perhaps it would be entertaining to see my pandemic uniform. Everything featured I'm wearing as I write the blog.

Aeries - cotton with a touch of spandex lightweight Chill leggings here.

I stick to casual, comfortable and easy to maintain attire. Sometimes I get wild and crazy by changing the color of my t-shirts! One day I'm Lady pink, the next day Bonnie bluebell and the day after Fire Engine Red Deb. Woo-hoo! June Cleaver had her pearls, but I live in sleek ballet flats! Whoopee!

Merrell Nubuck Inde Ballet flats - discontinued - but I hope Merrell brings back another ballet flat, as they have more support than many other brands. These are my indoor shoes. They don't have enough support on concrete, which leads to the next image. :) No link since it's discontinued - there are a few on Ebay.

Furthermore since rarely leaving home, I sometimes hand wash the leggings or t-shirts in Woolite, or dishwashing soap and hang them up in the bathroom to dry before bed. The less I have to go down to our common laundry room, the better. Being at home constantly, this bit of handwashing gives a gal a small sense of accomplishment. What is there to dooo next? Let me at it!

NAZAROO Shoe Insoles Arch Support Inserts (here) are excellent to keep my high arches happy in my Merrell ballet flats. With insoles I should be able to turn them into outdoor shoes this summer. We'll see.

To be safe I wear two sets of shoes, one for inside and another for outdoors. I also spray the soles of my outdoor shoes with 3% hydrogen peroxide at the door to kill any possible virus, and sometimes the soles of my indoor shoes because I walk down the hallway in them to put trash in the dumpster. 

Once in a while to make myself happy, I put on a bracelet in my apartment. But I stopped wearing makeup and jewelry to go outside to buy groceries. I mean, why wear anything under a face mask? It would only get the mask dirty. And rings on fingers when you're forever worrying about Coronavirus and washing your hands? I think not!

Merrell Dassie - my outdoor to the supermarket shoes here.

To be honest, if we weren't all in the same boat, I couldn't bear staying home for so many weeks. Yet I can get through this challancing time knowing how EVERYONE all over the globe must do the same to fight this disease. Indeed, we are all in this together ... and some of us are very lucky to be sheltering in a comfortable home. It turns out the things we need are quite simple!

What are you wearing at home during this pandemic?



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