The genius (and simple) hack that will stop your new shoes from destroying your feet.

With the joy of purchasing a new pair of shoes comes the realisation that you will invariably have to put in the hard and painful yards of breaking them in. Think blisters, hobbling, and days of discomfort.

But thanks to the internet, a sometimes glorious place of invaluable life hacks, it turns out there may be a budget-friendly approach to solving humankind’s greatest woe.

Oh, did we mention it’s free?

According to the US Today Show, all you need is two zip lock bags, some tap water and a few spare hours and you should be on your way to broken-in shoe comfort.

To start, fill two separate zip lock bags with water to half way. Squeeze out any air and then seal them both off.

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Then, take your beautiful new investment and place one water bag inside each shoe, being sure to push the bag down into the toe of the shoe.

Next, pop them in the freezer six to eight hours. When the water is fully frozen, remove the bag and your shoes should be ready to go.

But why water bags, you ask?

A post shared by TODAY (@todayshow) on Jul 19, 2017 at 11:43am PDT

Well, as it happens, water expands by almost 10 per cent when it's frozen, meaning that initial stretch out that you need for a shoe to feel broken in is done for you.

Sounds pretty good to us.

Got a shoe stretching hack of your own? Let us know what it is in the comments section below.