4Kiddos Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I've noticed that a lot of you have multiple children in your house as well as little ones. I was wondering if anyone could help me with my sock problem. What system does everyone use for keeping socks straight as they go through the wash? I have three boys (almost 4, 2, and 4 months) who go through socks like crazy and they are always getting lost. Seriously, today at the doctors office none of my kids had matching socks. My middle child was wearing one of his and one of his older brothers. I consider myself to be a good housekeeper but can't seem to handle the sock problem. Any ideas? I would be incredibly grateful for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I've noticed that a lot of you have multiple children in your house as well as little ones. I was wondering if anyone could help me with my sock problem. What system does everyone use for keeping socks straight as they go through the wash? I have three boys (almost 4, 2, and 4 months) who go through socks like crazy and they are always getting lost. Seriously, today at the doctors office none of my kids had matching socks. My middle child was wearing one of his and one of his older brothers. I consider myself to be a good housekeeper but can't seem to handle the sock problem. Any ideas? I would be incredibly grateful for any help! Different socks for each child. I get ours at Target and get a different colored stripe for each child. It's worth spending hte money on new socks for each child each season so that I can keep it straight!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cortana Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 :iagree: We have issues with socks, too. Other than that all 3 wear different sizes, the only thing to do is to either buy the each different color socks or different brands or different styles. For the baby, I have always washed the baby socks in a lingerie bag, otherwise they seem to disapear in the washing machine. I hated that. Using the lingerie bag was the only way to keep that from happening. The other things I've had suggested is pinning socks together with safety pins before washing, washing each child's socks in a seperate lingerie bag (one bag for each kid), writing names on socks with non-washable marker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 We now have one large sock basket. I match what I can and they share socks. I also have a single-sock basket. I throw in any socks without mates. Every so often, I (or one of the boys) go through the basket to find any matches and toss matched sets into the regular sock basket. If there are no matched socks, they wear mis-matched socks. :) Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassoonaroo Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Just some thoughts. 1) Buy different brands of socks for each child. Gold Toe for boy 1, Haynes for boy 2, Fruit ot Loom for boy 3. They will use that brand until married and out of house. There will be no hand-me-downs -- they will all wear out. This goes for underwear too (allowing for that training phase where Hot Wheels, Buzz Lightyear, and Superman reign) -- one brand per kid. 2) Enjoy the mismatched look. My dd's do this all the time but it tends to be more of a girl thing. Match up what you can and then pair of the singletons however you want. If your children are always mismatched others will admire how laid back you are, how you only focus on the important things in life! 3) Huge basket of unpaired socks. Just reach in and grab two that will do. If they match, bonus points for you. 4) Only buy the same brand and color (white) for the boys for now. Try to match size. Or don't worry about the brand and try to buy the same approx style. If you want to really be adventuresome, buy a few pairs of black to for going to weddings and funerals. 5) Flip-flops or clogs without socks for as many months of the year as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Different socks for each child. I get ours at Target and get a different colored stripe for each child. It's worth spending hte money on new socks for each child each season so that I can keep it straight!!! This is how I handled it when the boys were younger. As they got to be teenagers, they had different sock preferences so I always knew who they belonged to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 All white tube socks. Sort by size. Easy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgo95 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Right now we have some sort of gold toe brand for Target that marks sizes by the number of stripes on the toes of the sock. In the past, I've also taken different colored permanent markers and marked the bottom of socks to help sort sizes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHowell Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Different socks for each child. I get ours at Target and get a different colored stripe for each child. It's worth spending hte money on new socks for each child each season so that I can keep it straight!!! :iagree: I have different socks (well I have one boy and one girl so it's easy for the most part) but anyway next to the hamper I have mesh laundry bags I got from the dollar store. All socks are to go in the bag. The kids have gotten really good at it. I throw the whole bag into the washer/dryer then pair them before putting them away. Each kid has two bags so I can take my time washing also. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
********* Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I was SO happy when I finally figured out that my two little boys now wear the same size sock! They share a room, so that was a double no-brainer; one sock drawer for the two of them. I just try to get a LOT of whatever kind of sock I buy, that way if one rips a hole/gets lost, it doesn't matter, because ALL the socks match, KWIM? So, if maybe if you can find a size/brand your 2 and 4 year olds can both wear, that'd cut down on the socks for you? Thinking back to my childhood, three of us sisters are within 3 1/2 years in age. And we each had our own sock drawer and our own socks, even though we share a room. I have NO idea why my mom didn't give us ONE sock drawer and we all shared the socks, since I'm sure we all wore the same size! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meltf928 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 We only buy the same style Gold Toe and toss them all in the same basket. The exceptions are DS's socks (the older 3 are girls) DD1 is 10 and likes fun fuzzy socks, she has to take 100% responsibility for them. DD2 rides horses and has riding socks, they are all knee length and bright colored, they all get tossed in a drawer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 For the babies and boys, I buy all white, single brand socks. They don't even get matched, they get stacked. They all match, they all wear about the same. I start with a dozen pair and when they get down to 6 pair or so, I toss them all and start over. Ds wears one style of Nike, dh wears another. They are very easy to tell apart. For dh's dress socks, I apply the same principle. All one style, all solid black. I toss when he gets low and start over. DD13 wears mismatched socks. She gets KB socks and only KB (except a few obvious exceptions like toe socks). They are always the same style, just different colors. We buy the 6 packs at Costco a few times per year. She tosses misc socks that have holes. Since she wears mismatched anyways, it doesn't matter. DD5 wears only PUMA socks, and with the size difference it is easy to tell hers apart from ours. I had a friend with 3 girls. She designated all socks community property, just like towels. She put a plastic 3 drawer container in her hall closet with the shoes. Each segment had white socks, the kind with the colored bands around the toes that designate size. Each drawer had a single size. She loved it. When dd13 was little, she would lose her socks at her friend's homes. I bought a stamp with her name on it from a stamp company, and permanent ink. I started stamping her name on the socks on the bottom arch. They finally stopped disappearing, and would travel back home when the moms did laundry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I try to buy outfit-specific socks for Rebecca, so I can spot which socks are hers. A lot of times, the girls just share socks, like their play socks. It doesn't matter whose drawer they go in! I have also marked the bottom of some of Rebecca's knee socks with a small black dot so we know they're hers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Kiddos Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Thank you all so much! I had to chuckle at some of your responses as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycalling Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 We have different socks for each child. Unfortunately, each year my mil buys a new style of sock for each child. At least she's finally getting only one style per child, but next year I want to plan for the same socks as this year. I'm having a tough time remembering whose new socks are whose. I did just buy my 3yo ds new Hanes toddler socks I've never seen before. They have rubber gripper "2T/3T Hanes" written in red on the soles. They have 12mo and 4T/5T also, so that would be nice for multiple ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 My 16yo started deliberately wearing non-matching socks a few years ago. She said that way she didn't have to worry about figuring out where the strays went. It's now part of her signature style to NEVER wear matching socks. Oddly enough, I think Mr. T did this years and years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myeightkiddies Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I usually get white crew socks. If they fit they are yours. Socks are a real pain, here. We have so many unmatched socks, and I have no idea where they came from or how they got inside my house. This goes for mittens. I have a lot of unmatched gloves and mittens. We live in Florida. We don't even own coats, yet I have unmatched mittens and gloves mixed in with the socks that I have never seen before in my life. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyh Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 For babies, I buy ones that state the size on them - usually plain white and I think from Old Navy. Occasionally I can't match them to the right size and I have been able to match 2 of different sizes in a bind b/c they all match and there really isn't THAT much of a difference in size. For toddlers/kids I have been getting Hanes from Target that have a different color for each size. I don't care if I lose socks b/c all the ones of that size are the same color and easy to match. This is keeping confusion down and pretty easy. Don't see it changing any time soon. I did the same for dh and I years ago. My girls are almost in the same size, so i just went and bought more of that size so they will have more to rotate through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Lulu* Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 My 16yo started deliberately wearing non-matching socks a few years ago. She said that way she didn't have to worry about figuring out where the strays went. It's now part of her signature style to NEVER wear matching socks. Oddly enough, I think Mr. T did this years and years ago. Oh dear goodness, my six year old daughter has started doing this! :001_huh: at least all of her socks have a similar color palate, so it looks funky cool, not funky my-mom-never-does-laundry. OP- each of my kids has thier own sock bag. (zippered mesh) It is thier responsibility to get the socks in, and to zip it on laundry day. If they don't, they get to sort it out when they fold thier clothes. Yep, I am just mean like that. I tried different socks brands, styles, etc. for each, but these boys outgrow stuff so fast I wind up once a year with a set of perfectly good socks. I also tried to painstakingly sort it each week only to find the dirty ones tossed all over their rooms out of the bags. So now they police their own junk. That goes for the girls and DH as well. I am occasionally horrified at what they are wearing on thier feet, (DH included), but I am holding the line, because it was just one thing to many for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 My 2 boys can share socks so I buy white socks for all . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketgirl Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 For my 2 who are the same size, and who have the same socks, I put a dot of nail polish on the heel of each pair for my child who doesn't care about that kind of thing. It holds up for a lot of washes. But I agree, it must make things a whole lot easier to buy each kid a different kind or brand??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 My boys are almost 7, 3, and 6 months. My MIL often buys the older boys matching socks when she sees them on sale, and they're similar in size, enough that it's sometimes hard to tell at one glance. Plus, DS1 is gentle on clothes and doesn't tend to wear them out, so he passes them down to DS2, but they forget which ones have been passed down. So I just started putting a single dot with a sharpie on DS1's socks, and then two dots in DS2's socks. (The baby's are still tiny enough that it's obvious which ones are his.) So when DS1 passes down to DS2, we'll add a dot, and then when DS3 starts having similar socks, his will get three dots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorrainejmc Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I know a mother of 6 boys who told me she gets the older boys their own colour and the younger ones their own character. I have 2 boys who wear a different size but still get mixed up. There is a store over here that has the size woven into the inside of the cuff on all their kids socks, not just the baby ones. That would be my choice for sock shopping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 What I do is each child has a particular sock colour and type. So DS17 has all the one type of black sock, DS 16 has all the one type of black sock with grey bottom and so on. That way if a sock gets lost there is only one odd sock because all of their other socks are exactly the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 One color and/or style for each boy, based on what they liked best. They wore the exact same socks everyday so I didn't match them in pairs. Just tossed them in the bin--they got through the laundry and back to their rooms faster that way. If you start over like this, round up all the strays you can and stash them for desperate days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Okay, we do two things to help with the sock issue. The little boys all have the same sock. I just bought a few packages of one style/color and threw them all in a drawer. At the time, the boys I had were 18mo, 3, and 4 when I did this and could all get away with the same size. They *could* wear different sizes, but they *can* all wear the same size. We only match dress socks, but they each know which is their color. My hubby and 16yo also share a sock drawer and one style/color. DD and I like different styles and also make sure the toe/heel color is different. So when I separate, it is SUPER fast and easy. And I don't know that we've lost socks until we've lost 20 of them :) Recap: combine sock drawers when possible so you just don't have to worry about it. Only buy one kind/color of daily sock for each drawer. Forget about matching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureMoms Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 My daughter wears white old navy socks with the treads on the bottom. As she outgrows these, she's going into the white Hanes socks which have color-coded toes based on size. My sons (twins, same size socks) wear grey old navy socks with the treads on the bottom. They will stay in these until they are big enough for the color-coded toes. DW and I wear the same socks, white hanes socks. These are enough bigger than DD's that they don't get mixed up with hers. White kids socks go in DD's sock drawer, white big socks go in our sock drawer, grey socks go in the twins' sock drawer. I do not pair them off, since they are all the same. When someone changes sizes, I give away or throw away the outgrown socks, I don't even try for hand-me-downs. It's not worth the confusion (plus by the time they're outgrown socks around here are always pretty dingy). I may need to do something different if the boys ever need dress socks. Now they are too little to bother, and when DD needs to dress up she usually wears tights/dresses. DW and I have some dressier socks that are paired up, but they are not worn often enough to cause significant problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I buy 3 different types of sock. Each sock has different physical features. I'm lucky. My mom did not have as many alternatives. She put a colored line in each sock to designate the owner. I was red. :) When I wash socks I match them. Leftovers go in a basket under my bed. Next time I take those leftovers and match them to the basket. When I lose a sock usually there's a leftover in there for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 SOCK HOLDERS! :) Like these: They're sometimes called sock clips or sock locks. There are various makers with the same basic design. When a pair of socks comes off, just stick the two together through the clip. They go through the wash and dryer like that and stay paired off. You'll still have to know by color or size whose socks are whose, but at least you don't have to hunt down mates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 My 16yo started deliberately wearing non-matching socks a few years ago. She said that way she didn't have to worry about figuring out where the strays went. It's now part of her signature style to NEVER wear matching socks. Oddly enough, I think Mr. T did this years and years ago. My older two girls do this. I buy a bunch of socks and they go through and mix them up before they put them away. Fortunately, a lot of kids are doing this, so I don't look like the biggest slacker mom around. In fact, the girls are asking for these - missmatched . I'm not sure why I'd pay extra for socks that don't match, but they think they're awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
********* Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Just wanted to mention what I do with mysteriously unmatched socks, or even socks with holes. Once I've determined that the mate to the sock will not turn up, :D, that sock becomes a rag. Or, once socks bust a hole in the bottom, they get washed one last time and become a rag. I keep a bag underneath the downstairs bathroom sink to keep all the rags in. I use them for all sorts of things; cleaning up nasty messes, or cleaning the bathroom for example. Then I throw the sock rag away when I'm done. I like to think I'm doing some small bit of good by giving the sock a second use as a rag. :tongue_smilie: I always bleach the sock before using it as a rag, even if it wasn't white. I just feel better abut using it to clean if I know it's been bleached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennsmile Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 We do Hanes as each size has a different color, green, blue, red, and for me pink. We do have black socks for sunday, but they seem to hide no matter how many pairs we own. I have a mismatched sock box that I am getting ready to make them all into rags. They have been mateless too long. ;) ETA At least your boys had on socks, mine will wear shoes without socks. EWW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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