The $49 winter must-have item from Bunnings shoppers can't get enough of: 'Game changer'

As wet winter mornings sweep across Australia, a $49 gadget from Bunnings is going viral - and for good reason.
Shoppers say the Mistral Shoe Dryer has transformed their cold-weather routine, drying soggy shoes in hours and saving families and workers from putting on damp, smelly footwear day after day.
The compact unit, which uses gentle heat to dry shoes from the inside out, is designed to tackle everything from soaked school sneakers and muddy footy boots to rain-drenched work shoes and even gloves.
And according to Aussie parents, it's nothing short of a seasonal saviour.
'This is a game changer! No more standing around for ages with a blow dryer on my kid's shoes,' one mum wrote.
Another agreed: 'Oh my god I need one - my son plays in puddles at school and comes home with waterlogged shoes. This is awesome.'
The praise hasn't just come from parents.
Aussies working outdoors say it's a must-have for staying dry and comfortable between long shifts in the elements.
'For the working class men and women who work in the rain - who need to have dry shoes in the morning - this is a lifesaver,' one person said.
Another added: 'It would've been nice to have that instead of walking around work with soggy boots.'
Priced at $49, the Mistral Shoe Dryer is proving to be an affordable luxury for households across the country, especially those juggling active kids, outdoor jobs, or just trying to avoid musty-smelling shoes during winter.
The unit is suitable for boots, sneakers, sandals, and gloves, and works by gently warming items from the inside out - helping to reduce moisture, eliminate odour, and prolong the life of your footwear.
'Perfect for people with kids who play sports or partners who work outside in the rain,' a shopper explained.
Others noted its unexpected bonus: 'Great for footy boots or people who have shoes that smell.'
While some high-end dryers can retail for well over $100, Bunnings' budget-friendly version has struck a chord with value-conscious Aussies.
One shopper even described it as the product they 'didn't know they needed until now'.
With rave reviews already stacking up online - and many warning they're quickly selling out in stores - it seems the humble shoe dryer has become this winter's surprise cult buy.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Independent

an hour ago

• The Independent

Experts hacks for helping parents with children save money

Families are facing significant financial strain due to persistent inflation and escalating childcare expenses, making strategic budgeting crucial. Experts advise regularly reviewing personal finances, checking for better deals on services like insurance and streaming, and actively switching providers for utilities such as broadband and energy. To reduce spending on children's items and activities, families should embrace pre-loved goods, utilize loyalty cards and railcards for discounts on days out, and seek out free local events. Parents should explore available support for school expenses, including council uniform grants and school-recycled uniform schemes. Significant government support is available for childcare costs, such as tax-free childcare and Universal Credit childcare claims, which many eligible families are not currently utilizing.

Wales Online

3 hours ago

• Wales Online

How much do British Lions players get paid?

How much do British Lions players get paid? The Lions begin their summer tour preparations with a match against Argentina in Dublin on Friday night Maro Itoje and his Lions team-mates are set to make a lot of money this summer (Image: 2025 Getty Images ) The British & Irish Lions kick off their summer tour this evening with a warm-up game against Argentina in Dublin. It is the first time in their history that the touring side have played a match in Ireland and head coach Andy Farrell is certainly taking the curtain-raiser seriously. ‌ The Lions boss has named a strong XV to face the Pumas at the Aviva Stadium, with Wales skipper Jac Morgan starting and Welsh scrum-half Tomos Williams being selected on the bench. ‌ Both will have an opportunity to lay down a marker for the upcoming Test series against Australia, with excitement now building for the trip Down Under. Being selected for the Lions is widely regarded as the ultimate honour for players in the northern hemisphere. Former skipper Sam Warburton said during his playing days: 'To finally get that Test jersey playing the first match against Australia, which we managed to win, that is the only jersey that I have hanging up in my house – that's how proud I am of that one. 'For me that was the biggest and single most important game I have ever played in. Article continues below 'When you are playing club rugby, yes you want to play for Wales and I wanted to play for Cardiff but in the back of my mind I always set my sights really high on playing for the Lions. 'There was pressure on the players and as captain I felt a lot of responsibility. That was why it was such a relief to get the Test series win against Australia – an amazing feeling but we also knew that people would be optimistic about the Lions moving forward to the next series.' Along with the honour of representing the Lions, players also get rewarded financially - and quite handsomely too. ‌ According to the Telegraph, this summer's tour is set to be a record-breaker, with a £10million profit expected. A new profit-sharing agreement will see selected players pocket £100,000 each for their contributions in Australia. That is a 25 per cent increase on the tour to New Zealand in 2017, which saw players pocket £80,000 for their efforts. The trip to South Africa in 2021 was played behind closed doors due to Covid. "We know that players love playing for the Lions, and it is the pinnacle of their professional careers, and this landmark agreement highlights how they are at the centre of our thinking," said Lions chief executive Ben Calveley. Article continues below Simon Keogh, Rugby Players Ireland chief executive, added: "Players are central to the ongoing success of the British and Irish Lions Tours and we are delighted that their views – including those of Lions heroes of the past – have been heard throughout this process. "I'd like to thank the British and Irish Lions for their honesty, transparency, and genuine consideration of the players' voice. "As a result, I believe that we have reached an agreement that is both fair and reflective of the strong collaboration between all stakeholders in rugby."

The Guardian

5 hours ago

• The Guardian

Labor eyes ambitious tax reform but it must be ready for vicious backlash from vested interests

There was a hint of frustration in Anthony Albanese's voice when he spoke to the Canberra press gallery for the first time after Labor's thumping election victory on 3 May. In the prime minister's courtyard at Parliament House, he was asked if he planned to use his soaring political capital for major reforms of the tax or superannuation systems. Badly needed, and often talked about in the abstract, this kind of action had waited for a long time for the necessary political ambition. Albanese said he wouldn't get ahead of himself in the opening weeks of his second term in power. He insisted Labor had already been bold, delivering on its promises in the first three years. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Fast forward to Wednesday, while the PM was pressing the diplomatic flesh at the G7 summit in Canada, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, showed the first signs of that reform ambition. In a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra, Chalmers signalled Labor was willing to consider changes to the tax system at the looming productivity summit in August, recognition that fixing longstanding problems was needed to right the budget's structural deficit. The speech was an implicit recognition that Labor's tax changes in the first term barely touched the edges of deeper structural problems in Australia's tax system. Chalmers, a student of economic reformer Paul Keating, said any progress on productivity or budget sustainability would be impossible without proper consideration of tax reform, a challenge he conceded would be 'hard and contested' with benefits that were not always immediate. Even someone with a passing interest in federal politics should know the scale of the problem is vast: some $1tn in government debt and soaring spending, held up by a system overly reliant on income tax from an ageing population – a problem that will only get worse due to the ageing population. For years Chalmers has been eager to point out the five main pressures on the budget are not going to get any easier without proper attention. Spending on health, aged care, the national disability insurance scheme, defence and interest from government debt will keep treasurers and finance ministers up at night for years to come. The government's revenue base is being eroded from declining fuel and tobacco excises, and in the long term will take a hit from lower tax receipts from fossil fuel extraction. The early stages of Labor's plans seem to include lower income taxes, but no changes to the 25-year-old GST. Chalmers is upfront, saying tax overall needs to rise. Whether it is indeed possible to meaningfully lower income taxes without broadening or raising the GST is unclear. Economists argue taxing consumption through mechanisms such as the GST is efficient, while taxing incomes isn't. Parliamentary Budget Office figures show the GST causes about 8 cents in economic loss for each dollar gained, compared with 24 cents for income tax or 40 cents for corporate tax. Two major pieces of work should be the starting point, acknowledging that any change which makes it into law will inevitably create some winners and some losers. Chalmers was working for then treasurer Wayne Swan when Ken Henry handed his landmark tax review to the Rudd government in late 2009. Both men marked up copies of the document over the course of the summer, leaving them to 'disgorge' sand from the beach by the time they made it back to Canberra. Many of the review's 138 recommendations never saw the light of day. Today, the former Treasury secretary says, the system is in even worse shape. Henry has called for wholesale reform, including increasing the GST to pay for company and personal income tax cuts, as well as comprehensive road user charging, replacing stamp duties, increasing taxes on super profits from the mining sector, an economy-wide price on carbon and changes to fringe benefits and superannuation taxes. Henry's review is best remembered for recommending the mining tax, an idea which prompted a furious campaign of resistance against the government. Chalmers has acknowledged the politics of the review were mishandled, that it was kept secret too long before ultimately crashing into Labor's leadership wars. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The second substantive report with proposals ready to go is the white paper released by teal independent Allegra Spender in the last term of parliament. In a different political reality, Spender would be part of the Liberal party's economic team, and her significant work comes with buy-in from Henry and other leading tax voices including Robert Breunig from the Australian National University's Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, and Robert Carling from the Centre for Independent Studies. Chalmers assigned a staffer to monitor the white paper process, at a time when Spender was one of the few MPs actually prepared to talk about meaningful tax reform. The Wentworth MP wants the coming reform push to look at business investment and corporate taxes, the under-performing petroleum resource rent tax, road user charging, indexation of income brackets, unhelpful state taxes and the GST. Spender has more guts than either of the major parties in one specific area as well. She has called for a review of Western Australia's insanely generous GST deal, which respected economist Saul Eslake calls the worst public policy decision of the 21st century. WA's state Labor government handed down a budget with a $2.5bn surplus this week, but taxpayers from every other state are paying $54bn to the state due to perceived unfairness in the grants commission process. This special treatment agreed by then treasurer Scott Morrison and locked in by Anthony Albanese to maintain Labor's political stocks in the West will see the nation's richest state receive an extra $21.1bn from federal taxpayers over the next four years alone. Family trusts, the legal tax structures used by millions of Australians to lower their tax liabilities, also look likely to come under increased scrutiny as part of the latest reform push. Chalmers and Albanese will convene their productivity summit in the cabinet room on 19 August. If they want their record to be considered alongside the Hawke-Keating and Howard-Costello governments, the political conditions could hardly be better. Labor must prepare itself for the predictable backlash from vested interests unwilling to countenance changes to cushy arrangements and handy loopholes. Only a serious government prepared to expend political capital will be able to make the system fairer and fit for a 21st century country facing major demographic and economic challenges. If Labor really has the ambition Anthony Albanese insists it does, meaningful tax reform might become the make-or-break test of the government's second term.