I have a reasonably young pair of decent brown work boots. They used to look pretty good, but not so good lately. Wife won’t let me wear them to the grocery store, saying they look awful. Well, they don’t look THAT bad, but maybe a cleanup is in order. So, what would you fellows do? I’ll clean them, for sure, but what works best from there? Saddle Soap? Mink Oil? Shoe polish? Dye, followed by something?

Saddle soap the clean. Mink oil to preserve

Clean with saddle soap, I use a neutral cream to get a quick shine but it won’t hide deep scuffs or scratches as well as colored polish.

Saddle soap to clean and then tan them again.

Scrub or spray the dirt off, ant then saddle soap. I clean mine up about every other month. They will also last longer that way.

Your wife won’t let you do what? Wear shoes of you’re choosing?

Try some Bick 4 leather condition. I've used it for many years on my boots and leather jackets. You can get it on Amazon.

That's my routine.

^^^^^
Same.

Only have found Montana Pitch Blend to be superior to just Mink Oil

Great on leather holsters too.

I did not realize that Groesbeck had a dress code.

The wife fusses when I look too scruffy. Groesbeck has no dress code (maybe in the schools though). I wore a jacket and tie to a big funeral in Groesbeck once and I had the only tie (and jacket) in the very big packed Baptist church. It was during hunting season, and half the congregation had on either camo or motorcycle jackets. The preacher had a ‘relaxed’ appearance too. This is not an upscale town. A few of the lawyers dress up, and the DA is a dapper dresser.

Bottom line…nobody in town cares what my boots look like, but they do need a little freshening up. They even look bad to me.

After 35 years in Houston wearing a jacket and tie every dang day to work maybe has me tending to underdress in retirement. So, if my boots look bad to me, it’s time to shine em up a bit.

I have saddle soap somewhere around here.

brush dried mud off

Sounds good. I like to grab them by the heels and loudly slap the soles together, then I grab them by the toes and loudly slap the heels together. Gets most of the mud out of the tread. After that, good to go.

I might hose them down if they get real muddy, and leave them by the door to dry first.

I went to a sheep producers meeting Saturday wearing my Red Wing workboots. Dusty, dirty, and blood-stained as they sometimes serve double duty for hunting. Not sure whether to feel bad or not.

I’ve been really impressed with this stuff.

https://leatherbetter.ca/collections/natural-beeswax-leather-conditioner

I was gonna clean em up today, but instead did some barn cleaning. Gave aways some stuff and threw away some stuff. And haven’t found my saddle soap yet. It’s around here somewhere…

Same. Don’t dye or tan them if you wear them outside when it’s wet, unless you want your socks and feet dyed…

Edit to add: sounds like you just have your work boots good and broke in.