Elastic Shoelace Solution!

So we have had a few shoelace conundrums lately...shoelaces are my nemeses, and quite frankly {judge if you will}, I am quite finished with the whole shoelace "SCENE".  I will no longer be privy to the headache and drudgery that they bring into my life.  If I can gain control of one area of my crazy world and rebuild even an ounce of my sanity, I say why not!

Our first conundrum was that my oldest son {Peter} grew out of his dress shoes  recently, and so I have been searching for his bigger shoes, only to finally find them...{get this}...shoelace-less!  The same day I found the dress shoes, I got a call from the kid's school asking if I could PLEASE send some slip on or velcro shoes to school for my next oldest son {Wilson}, as he is struggling with tying his shoelaces.  It appears that after an exciting summer of flip-flops and fun, he has apparently forgotten how to tie his shoes {sigh...back to square one}.

And so...deciding that it must not be a coincidence that I ran into two shoelace problems in the same day, I decided it was my duty to come up with a solution...and here it is...GIVE UP!  Who needs shoelaces anyway?!?!  With four little kids running around, I can attest that shoelaces and kids equals nothing but headaches and problems.  So as I said, judge if you will, but you all know you're just dying to give up right along with me, and to help you jump on that bandwagon, I have a handy little tutorial to tempt you with {c'mon, you know you wanna}!  May I present to you...the elastic shoelace solution...

Step 1: Remove that pesky, awful, cumbersum looking shoelace!

Step 2: Find some sewing elastic that is approximately the same width as your shoelace, and 

                   cut to the same length as your old shoelace, minus the bow length {I used 21" of elastic 

                   per shoe}.

Step 3: Tie a knot {or two or three if you need it} in one end of the elastic.

Step 4: Pull the length of your elastic through the top hole of your shoe from the inside out, 

                   to hide your knot.

Step 5: Wrap the opposite end of the elastic with scotch tape to make the lacing process

                   easier. 

            

Step 6: Lace your shoe using the lacing method of your choice.  If you're stumped at how to tie 

                   shoes {like I was}, this site has several interesting lacing options to choose from {I    

                   went with the Hidden Knot Lacing}.  Remove scotch tape and secure opposite end 

                   of elastic with knot{s}.  Repeat for second shoe.

Here's how Wilson's turned out...

I love them!  So much cleaner looking and super sleek, plus they are a breeze for him to put on, which makes him happy, me happy, his teacher happy...everyone just seems happier...even the sun seems like it's shining a little bit brighter than it was yesterday...

I repeated the same process for Peter's dress shoes, using a fine cording type of sewing elastic, and they turned out equally as lovely.  My husband {Jordan} even suggested that we do it to all our shoes, and make our house a "Lace-Free" zone, where people can gather and congregate in slippers, moccasins, elastic-laced shoes, velcro shoes, slip-ons and the like, feeling safe in the knowledge that the burden of shoelaces cannot weigh down upon them within the walls of our home...like a sanctuary from shoelaces really {hehe}...

Enjoy!