Sock Matching and the Mystery of the Lost Socks
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Where, oh where could their socks have gone? Where, oh where can they be?
Singing the Sock Matching Blues
Are you singing this song while you do laundry? I am. It’s an occupational hazard in “life as MOM.” Socks will go AWOL.
I have this childhood memory of a huge duffle bag bulging with mismatched socks. Obviously, my mom knew this song as well. And every once in awhile I would cringe when she’d call us all to come help sort. Five million socks strewn around the living room? Good times.
It left scars, I tell ya. I told my husband that I wanted it written our wedding vows that I would not have to match socks.
The Sock Matching Code
He came through. As a carpenter, he only needs one color socks – white. So, he bought all the same kind, and I never had to match his socks. I could just toss them into the drawer, and he’d find two each morning.
So, I think I am the one to blame for the above mess. What happened that I have such a pile of mismatched socks?!
Well, to be honest. Some of those I bought when FishBoy13 was a toddler! (And yes, I do use bleach on my whites. Who knew?) Truth be told, the frugal fiend in me has been afraid to part with them. If they’ve still got wear, I’ve been hesitant to part with them. But, this weekend I did a sock cleanse. And it felt good.
The sock companies have wisened up to the woes of mothers everywhere. Over the last year as I’ve bought new socks for the boys, I’ve noticed that Hanes and Fruit of the Loom have started color coding each size. At my husband’s encouragement, I’ve purchased each boy his own brand, size, and color.
FishChick even has her own brand:
Problem was I still held on to those decade old socks that did not fit the Sock Matching Code. Well, no longer. I ditched them this weekend. Yes, yes, I did. I figure that if five children had worn most of them, surely they’d done their duty. They were released from service. And it feels good.
We have a sock matching bag! When one of the kids has a bad attitude or needs some extra “thinking” time I give them the bag and they get to sort! But I hadn’t purged in forever so the ones that don’t match I put in our family recyclable tub that the kids use to make creative items. So they’re really not gone after all!
When my kids are in 3rd grade I teach them to do their own laundry. Works like a charm! jana
I gave up trying to separate different kid’s socks. We all get hanes (just easier to all have the same brand). We get a few nice dress socks, but having just a few of those for the eight of us is easier than having to worry about matching each sock with its exact partner. Oh, and my husband only has 1 kind of dress sock, and so do the big boys. Those 3 all wear the same size, and it is so much easier to find a match when there is a more than one pair. And if one gets a hole, I don’t feel so bad about tossing it. It still has a match somewhere!
I either toss my own socks at the first sign of a hole (usually in the heel, can’t stand holes in my socks!) or cut them up for rags. I have two brands of white ankle socks so mine are easy to match up.
My husband’s socks are a mish-mash of at least 20 brands- very frustrating and I’m the only one who pays attention enough to try to match them together. I toss singles into the drawer of the owner- no sock graveyard in my house- so my husband and older son can just grab two socks and hope for the best! I think when their sock inventories have dwindled down to pathetic levels I’ll replenish and each will have his own brand and color!
I do the same thing:-)
SOCK COP
I found these nifty little plastic things about three years ago when I followed a link from Crystal (Biblical Womanhood). I love these things.
I put them all on his socks when the clips arrived. They help my husband differentiate between navy (blue clip) and black (red clip) socks in his drawer. This is something he has trouble with.
When he takes off his socks, he clips them together before throwing them in the hamper. I wash and dry the clipped socks and return them to his drawer.
This system works amazing for our family and you could also just use pins I am sure…or maybe clothespins? Hmmm…maybe this is a good WFMW post for tomorrow? LOL
I tossed out all socks last year and got the color coded Hanes. It has worked wonders for my sock sorting routine! However, I’ve found they get holes so easily… is it just my sock destroying boys??
I hate socks. Really, I do. We’ve been blessed with lots of hand-me-downs and I almost always throw the non-white socks away. I mean, those baby socks with puppies and butterflies on them are cute, but I don’t really have time to match together single pairs of socks.
My girls are 16 months apart and I’ve almost given up on keeping their socks separate!
I have a sock dilemma too! I will be reading some of the other links. My mom used to buy each of the boys their own color sock as well. It made life a little easier. I had more fun socks though, being the only girl.
We have similar sock woes in our house 🙁 Unfortunately it is mostly my husbands socks that seem to lose their partners. I have a small plastic bin that sits on one of the shelves above our dryer that I toss unmatched socks. Every so often I’ll rummage through it. I really should just go through all of his socks one day and pick out his best pairs and toss anything else. The man seriously has about 100 pairs between dress socks and all his others.
As for my little girls’ socks. I do have a few stragglers roaming around, but I figure I’ll come across it’s pair soon enough. I hate parting with money I’ve spent on such things. As my oldest gets a bit bigger, maybe we’ll resort to just plain whites of a brand and stick to those.
~ Michelle