Planning on wearing sandals this summer? Don't just run out and buy a hot pair of sandals and ignore the feet that are going into them. The sandal is only one half of the equation - the state of your foot is the other.

Ditch the Dirt

If open-toed sandals are your foot cover of choice, carry wet wipes in your purse to get rid of the dirt that accumulates both on your sandal and on your foot. Switch up the wet wipes to the antibacterial kind to guard against infection. There's nothing more unsightly than "sandal grunge" around the outside of the sandal and your foot.

Pedis Are Not an Option

If you would rather not splurge on a pedicure once every few weeks, here are a couple of simple steps to pretty your peds at home.

1. Foot Bath

Fill a foot bath or the first few inches of your bathtub with warm water, a bit on the hot side. Pour a few capfuls of lemon juice into the water. The citric acid will soften up the feet. A half cup of Epsom salts will also help soften feet and neutralize odor in the bargain. Both ingredients are cheap and readily available. Soak feet for approximately 5 minutes for the maximum benefit. Add some of your favorite essential oils like lavender for some relaxing aromatherapy at the end of your day!

2. Buy a Ped-Egg

Run, do not walk, to your local drug store or wherever you know of these magical inventions being sold. Word of mouth on these little graters are hot - they don't hurt, which is a first for a foot grater, and the shavings from your feet don't end up on your floor, they end up in the egg for easy disposal.

Replace your foot file immediately with this handy, inexpensive little tool - your feet will thank you! Remove all of your yellow skin, calluses, and dry spots with the Ped Egg; unlike your file, you'll probably only actually need to do this once every few days.

3. Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize!

Regardless of your skin type, your feet are going to get dry if you wear sandals. Buy a thick Vitamin E based cream and slather it all over your feet before you go to bed. If your feet still feel dry after applying the cream, encase them in socks for the evening so that the cream has a chance to soak in. Your feet will wake up in the morning feeling just as refreshed as you!

If you don't have the time to give yourself this treatment more than a couple of times a week, don't worry about it - you are still doing much more for yourself than you would have been doing just going for manicures.

You may still want to start off the season going to see a pro for one pedicure to really get at the rough winter skin, but if you are trying to economize you just need to put aside some extra time for that first kick at the can.

Color Those Toes

It is now acceptable for grown women to go ahead and indulge in those playful colors for toenail polish like the blues and greens we've seen recently - go ahead and have some fun with it! Stick with conservative color if you are wearing your sandals at work, though.

Always be sure to carry around your nail polish in your purse - touchups are a necessity if you are wearing color on your toes and it chips.

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