Very important problem...mental health depends on solution

[Rich with Kids]

Socks. They are about to be the end of me. The sock basket grows daily, yet none of them seem to match. I need a system, a method, a plan. I am willing to toss the entire basket and start from scratch, but I need a way to organize the chaos. HELP!!!! AAAGHHHH!:svengo: **suffocates under sock pile**

[Mama Geek]

Buy multiple packs of the same socks for each person in the family and make sure each persons socks look different. This helps to make it easier to match socks.

[Paintedlady]

I try to buy one kind of sock for each person and that way their socks always match. Of course, it tends to get ruined a bit b/c no one can have just one kind of sock (everyone needs dress socks) but for the most part it works. The only other solution I can think of is the Sock Pro. I've never tried it but it could work if you could get everyone to use it every time. Yeah right! :glare:

[Mynyel]

Buy all the same color and place the initial on the toes? My sister did that for her kids. Worked like a charm :)

 

Or just place initials on the toes of current socks. :) Hope that helps!

[Tutor]

Buy multiple packs of the same socks for each person in the family and make sure each persons socks look different. This helps to make it easier to match socks.

 

We started doing this, and it has helped tremendously.

[pooh bear]

I know this may not help, but I never wear matching socks.

 

I just pick two out of my sock basket and off I go. My socks range in color from black, purple, blue, grey, green. Lots of shades of those colors; stripes and patterns on them as well.

 

Where is it written that socks must match?

[1bassoon]

My pediatrician is a homeschooling mom of 4 - she had a brilliant solution:

 

She doesn't sort socks. They all live in a basket in the laundry room. If her kids want socks - they have to go get them.

 

Not that I've tried this method. Note the wallpaper border in my laundry room:

[Wyndie]

Throw away socks. Wear sandals and flipflops. Problem solved.

 

:lol:

[AuntieM]

Ask the kids to go through their drawer and bring you any single socks. Check dh's drawer, too. I ask them not to keep single socks, but they do...

 

I always have a few singles in my basket because I throwbout socks with holes. It all depends on whether there are an even or odd number of remaining socks, kwim?

[Rich with Kids]

But where do the odd socks go? They almost always return after I throw their partner away. :leaving: What's their motivation?

 

I do like the initial thing. Any storage ideas? At the moment, we put all of the socks in the basket and hope for the best. Maybe I should wash socks seperately. And just do them a couple of times a week. I am aware I am over thinking a bit here, but I am so tired of tripping over than d*#n basket.

[2squared]

Only paired socks get put into drawers at our house. They are matched when I do laundry (which is daily so there isn't ever tons of socks in the pile) and folded together. Unpaired socks live in the laundry room until they find a mate. The kids have sock baskets in the entryway by the shoes. All their socks live in the entryway, and my 6yo puts away all their socks as part of his chores.

 

For socks that look alike but are different sizes, I put numbers on them. The littlest socks get a "1," the next size a "2," and so on.

 

The best method is to just have different socks for different people and to do laundry daily so the socks don't have a chance to multiply.

[Miss Peregrine]

My kids each have a sock drawer in their dresser. If they want to fold them and match them, more power to 'em!

 

When folding clothes I put the socks in each kids pile and they put them in the sock drawer. They just dig around if they want matching sock. More often than not, the little don't.:D

 

DD 14 and DS 12 only wear white socks so who cares if there is an extra in the drawer?

Edited July 29, 2010 by Miss Peregrine

[OnTheBrink]

I know this may not help, but I never wear matching socks.

 

I just pick two out of my sock basket and off I go. My socks range in color from black, purple, blue, grey, green. Lots of shades of those colors; stripes and patterns on them as well.

 

Where is it written that socks must match?

 

My dd does this. It makes sock sorting obsolete!

[thessa516]

Colored Sharpie markers and white-only socks! Each person gets their own color (a nice thick stripe down the middle of the sole - it's much easier to see than reading initials on toes). I only buy one brand/cut so all socks match. I don't fold socks together - they just get put into each person's sock drawer.

[charmama4]

Buy multiple packs of the same socks for each person in the family and make sure each persons socks look different. This helps to make it easier to match socks.

 

this is what I do. gotta love Hanes, and Fruit of the loom, they have different styles, grey toes and heels, and all grey bottoms.

 

But where do the odd socks go? They almost always return after I throw their partner away. :leaving: What's their motivation?

 

I do like the initial thing. Any storage ideas? At the moment, we put all of the socks in the basket and hope for the best. Maybe I should wash socks seperately. And just do them a couple of times a week. I am aware I am over thinking a bit here, but I am so tired of tripping over than d*#n basket.

 

I have a dryer that eats socks and occasionly gets indigestion and upchucks one or two :lol:

 

I do *whites* once a week. Any inside out socks gets piled in the living room floor for the kids to right side in for. That's *my* pet peeve.:glare:

 

Colored Sharpie markers and white-only socks! Each person gets their own color (a nice thick stripe down the middle of the sole - it's much easier to see than reading initials on toes). I only buy one brand/cut so all socks match. I don't fold socks together - they just get put into each person's sock drawer.

 

this is a great idea! Especially now that my older ds and dh wear the same size....12!!!:scared:

[elegantlion]

Throw away socks. Wear sandals and flipflops. Problem solved.

 

:lol:

 

:iagree:Unless I'm wearing tennis shoes I rarely wear socks from March to November.

 

Dh buys Hanes with matching toe colors. Ds has a different brand with different colored heels. I stack all the matching socks together. Inevitably there is an odd number of one kind, but it will balance it out by the next load.

 

For colored socks buy 3-4 in the same color/brand so they will be a group.

 

Then hand the basket to the kids and tell them its a matching game. If they don't want to play show them where the flip flops are.

[naturegirl7]

I moved to FL and we only wear sandals/tivas. :D

 

 

Seriously - pitch all the socks and start over - one brand/style only per person. You can either do different styles for each person - like my socks are way different from DH or DS, so it is no biggie to pick them all out. But if you have multiple kids and they like the same kinda sock - get different colored sharpies and put a little line on the heel or toe of each sock - colored coded per person. Then you can just sort colors. Then can fold their own, or throw the socks in a drawer and pull out two as needed (cuz with only one type you KNOW they will end up matching!).

 

GL!

[Lara in Colo]

I buy all the same socks----white.

 

For each size (not person) I put a different symbol on the bottom .Usually one size IS one person so DD1 has 1 dot, when she out grows the sock and it passes on, dd2 gets 2 dots etc. I like one color so that as one gets worn out, there is an easy replacement.

 

for the solution of where they go????? All I know is if one gets FINALLY thrown away (because its been in the "odd" basket for EVER), then the other found is within a week!!!!!

 

I learned the write on the bottom of socks from my SIL, she had teens who stole all her socks. I was at her house and she put her feet up on the table, I said "Why is WOW on the bottom of your foot?" She told me is was MOM. I still laugh when I think of that.

 

Lara

[Desert Rat]

My MIL stitched different colored thread into each sock toe. They had 7 kids and 2 adults. It worked great for them!

[naturegirl7]

I know this may not help, but I never wear matching socks.

 

I just pick two out of my sock basket and off I go. My socks range in color from black, purple, blue, grey, green. Lots of shades of those colors; stripes and patterns on them as well.

 

Where is it written that socks must match?

 

 

I love colored and patterned socks! I would also wear totally mismatched socks - fun and funky to mix and match like that - my only concern was whether they were low,ankle socks or higher, thicker wintery socks. As long as length and thickness were similiar and my toes were warm, I was happy. Especially since the laundry goblins seemed to love to eat my pretty socks!! When give them up just cuz there is only one? Just pair it with another orphaned sock!

It drove my mom crazy when I was younger :tongue_smilie:

[justasque]

After 20 years I have stopped keeping an odd sock basket. All socks are returned to their owners, paired or singles, and the owners can figure it out. I cannot tell you how good this feels!

 

We also do color coding for different people - one has mainly red socks, etc.

 

I use the dot system for shirts and pants. (One dot for oldest, two for next, etc.)

[OnTheBrink]

If you decide to toss the old socks, let the kids have them to make sock puppets and sock animals!

[ChristusG]

I don't do socks....ever.

 

All socks go into a laundry basket in the laundry room. If you want socks, you get them yourself.

 

I have better things to do than sort socks and try to find their matches. :D

[justlittleoldme]

I just buy the same Hanes socks every time. DS1 likes the tall ones (crew?) and DS2 likes the ankle ones. I wash them and toss them back in the drawer. I don't match socks, if they want them matched, they can match them themselves! When my SD lived with us, I bought her hanes socks and underwear and I wore fruit of the loom, so we kept ours separate.

[Marsha]

You could buy some small mesh Lingerie washing bags and have them put a pair of sock in it when they take them off.

[Mommyof4ks]

You could buy some small mesh Lingerie washing bags and have them put a pair of sock in it when they take them off.

 

This is what we have. I have a mesh bag for colors, whites and darks, and the whole bag gets tossed into the wash with the appropriate colored load. No socks go in there without a match, and so far none have come out without a match. I have only been doing this for 6 months, but so far so good!

[3lilreds in NC]

My grandma told me she put safety pins in the toes for washing. Made lots of sense and probably less expensive than those other thingies.

 

I make the kids match socks. They get irritated, but then, so do I - and I have a LOT more laundry to do than just socks! So there!:D

[MaMa2005]

My grandma told me she put safety pins in the toes for washing. Made lots of sense and probably less expensive than those other thingies.

 

 

I do the safety pin thing. DS's navy socks and black socks are sooo close to the same color that it was driving me crazy. So when they come off, DS must safety pin them before putting them in the laundry. No sorting when they come out :001_smile:.

[Lara in Colo]

the laundry doesn't lose socks, children do. Dh ALWAYS has the same # in and out. Children have socks in couches, under beds, in the yard---this is why I have all the same sock. When one is under the bed--we have lots of the same in the drawer--when a child runs outside in socks and comes back with a hole, I have more in the drawer. BECAUSE THEY ALL THE SAME. the most I'll ever have unmatched is one per person. That works for me.

 

Lara

Edited July 29, 2010 by Lara in Colo

[FO4UR]

We own about 30 pairs of the EXACT SAME STYLE/SIZE sock. My 3 dc share them.

 

I do not sort or fold socks. I wash, dry and dump in their (shared) sock drawer.

 

dd has a few pairs of pretty socks to wear with dresses, and the boys have a couple pairs of black socks for church. I do fold these together, but it's a highly manageable amount.

[myfunnybunch]

Let the kids wear mis-matched socks. They won't care, and if they do, they can be in charge of keeping track of them! ;)

 

Cat

[Pippen]

We started doing this, and it has helped tremendously.

 

Ditto. And I always get rid of all the old socks when I buy new.

[AndyJoy]

My mom's method was to throw any that weren't easily matched straight out of the dryer into a bin. If you sat down to watch TV you had to work at sorting them.:D

[PinkInTheBlue]

All socks go to the owner's stack with all the other clothes. They take them to their rooms and put them up. Matches or not, I don't know. :) You keep up with them or you wear mismatches. :)

[blessedwith7]

We have 5 girls in a row, then 2 boys - I totally get the frustration with socks! I started with new socks for everyone - packages of 10 each - the oldest dd gets 1 dot with a sharpie marker on the bottom of her socks, the 2nd one gets 2 dots... it does look pretty funny to see the bottoms of dd # 5's socks - with 5 dots going down the middle, but it sure has helped my sanity. I haven't had to dot the boys socks yet, but will probably start over with 1 dot instead of making them wear socks with 6 and 7 dots :D I do have to re-dot them occasionally - if I wait too long to do it, it gets frustrating again.

[hsm6kids]

My pediatrician is a homeschooling mom of 4 - she had a brilliant solution:

 

She doesn't sort socks. They all live in a basket in the laundry room. If her kids want socks - they have to go get them.

 

Not that I've tried this method. Note the wallpaper border in my laundry room:

 

That is what we do, the only person who has "special socks" is my DH. He has socks specific to his uniform so his socks are separate from our HUGE sock basket. LOL I also agree with the "who says socks have to match statement" If no one can see them than who care. When they ware shorts or skirts then we get all matchy matchy otherwise just grab two socks and put them on. :) Should I be embarrassed to admit this :blush:

[PiCO]

Buy multiple packs of the same socks for each person in the family and make sure each persons socks look different. This helps to make it easier to match socks.

 

And anyone who can wear the same size socks shares them.