7 Quick Tips for Organizing Socks
source: Telstar Logistics
This post was originally published on January 27th, but I think it’s worth reposting for all of our new readers. If you have other tips to share, I’d love to add them to the list!
One of the most time-consuming, frustrating and puzzling aspects of laundry for most people is…socks.
Where do all of those missing socks go? How do you sort socks when you have a half dozen tiny feet who wear just slightly different sizes? Why don’t both socks of a pair ever make it into the same load of laundry?
Below are seven tips you can mix-and-match to help you keep those socks together!
1. Use a mesh laundry bag for all socks.
The downside to this one is you have to actually get all the socks in there in the first place, because who wants to go digging through the dirty laundry for socks?! However, I do love to do this for baby socks, especially after we learned that those tiny socks are small enough to get sucked into the drain pipe of the washer and clog the whole thing up!
2. Use small clothes pins to clip pairs of socks together.
Again, you’re going to have to make sure you do it as the pairs go in the basket, and I’m afraid this could be a noisy solution as well! Depending on when you do laundry and where your laundry room is, though, the potential noise may be worth a try!
3. Buy a different type/color sock per child.
For example, buy your 2-year-old daughter pink ankle socks, your 4-year-old son black socks and your 7-year-old son white socks with a grey toe and heel.
4. Label each pair of sock with a “dot system.”
Take a permanent marker and make one small dot on the underside of your oldest child’s socks. Add two small dots to your next child’s socks and so on. You will be able to quickly see which socks belong to which child. And if you pass socks down (if your socks last from one child to the next, I’d like to know how you get them to do that!), you can simply add a dot.
5. Buy Old Navy’s children socks.
I love these socks, which are labeled with the size as part of the no-slip grip on the soles. This is the way I do it, and even my 4-year-old can help me sort the socks, practicing her number recognition while she helps!
6. Keep a basket for lonely socks in your laundry room.
There’s no point in putting a lonely sock away without its missing half. Keep them in the laundry room so that you’ll be able to quickly match them when the other sock shows up!
7. Only buy one type of sock and just buy 1 or 2 colors.
This is similar to Tip #3, but also works for adults. Rather than having to worry about sorting and matching the socks, you can simply stuff, pile or neatly lay them in your drawer (depending on your personality type!) and still be able to quickly grab a pair when needed.
Do you often end up with missing socks? What tricks do you use to help keep socks together?
Visit We Are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday tips!
I have been trying the mesh bag. I put the baby’s socks in the bag when I take them off her and my four year old son is supposed to put his socks in a bag when he takes them off. It works okay. He doesn’t always get both socks in the bag and so sometimes I still have unmatched socks in the bottom of the bag. Then I throw them in my laundry basket and hope to one day find the match.
Upstatemomof3’s last blog post…Sharing my bed works for me
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thanks so much for posting! I hate doing socks – but now I have some tips to help!
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We have a plastic container imside a dresser for the single socks. Being that my husband is military, the container is labeled AWOL socks
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My thing for socks is EVERY ONE wears white socks in the house except their own kind style (one style per person). Hey we live in Florida and only use socks for sports every where else it’s sandals and flip flops. What’s even better…my girls where the same size right now so I sort the socks and half their pile.
LOVE THE ORPHAN SOCK BOARD IDEA!!!
Dawn’s last blog post…SOMETHING DIFFERENT
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Ha, we do almost all of these!! Baby and kid socks go into a lingerie bag upon undressing; each kid gets a different color of Old Navy socks (boy is gray, girl is white). Lonely socks get attached to the washing machine with a magnet until the match shows up, which is usually the next load since all of our socks are exactly the same. In fact, DH and I share socks, which wouldn’t work for a lot of people but is fine for us since I rarely wear socks at all, we have similarly sized feet, and he prefers ankle-length athletic socks that fit me fine.
I grew up with a “sock basket” where all socks lived, unmatched, and we all foraged each morning to find a matching pair. I have to say I like my current system better.
Chicky Mama’s last blog post…Pantry Challenge
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Hi! This is my first visit to your site from another site, but I just wanted to share how a few years into our marriage I commented on how much I disliked laundry because of matching up socks folding them together. My husband said that he didn’t care if they matched or not. I got to thinking and realized that there was no reason why I should be doing so much work! So, now (for our family of 6) I just grab the sock out of the laundry pile and I can instantly tell whose it is because of size (although as the younger boys get bigger this might be harder!)and I just place it in their pile.
If you look in our sock drawers you will just find a bunch of socks in a big pile. The hubby’s are all white, so he just grabs two, and the kids can either find the other pair or wear two different socks. I really don’t mind (and if we are going somewhere special, I will ask that they find matching socks). It has helped them to learn how to match colors and if they don’t feel like finding a match it’s ok because unmatching things are totally “in” and it is just adorable when they don’t match!
Hope this can help a busy mama out there!
tarena’s last blog post…
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We use Supi-sock holders: http://www.help-tuote.fi/supi/indexen.html
They are excellent, everybody clips them on when they put their socks in to the laundry. They don’t make noise in the washing machine, so I find them perfect!
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Andrew Reply:
August 8th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Can’t seem to find these in the US, anyone know of where to get these here State-side?
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Anuma Reply:
August 8th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Why don’t you try to contact them directly? I’m sure they sell to overseas as well. help-tuote@help-tuote.fi seems to be the e-mail adress.
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Thanks for the tips. I would love to win a copy of the new cookbook.
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DID NOT KNOW about Old Navy socks. TOTALLY shopping there. I have a sock basket (not a bag, not a drawer, a whole laundry basket). Gonna turn those old ones into cleaning rags and get myself to Old Navy. Excellent!
Debbie´s last blog ..Works for Me Wednesday: Take A Nap
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Great ideas – I especially like the bulletin board. We used a basket over the dryer and accomplished the same purpose. Better yet, each child did their own was at age 12!
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LOL I am laughing because I am avoiding to match socks at the moment! I have bought the same socks for everyone in my family, but in the past couple of months my three daughters have been given lots of “fun” socks and NOT fun for mommy. I think they might go away and we go back to boring socks
Kat´s last blog ..Clinic Day.
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