I hate socks!

[Katy Belle]

I hate socks! I do. We have so many mis-matches, old, small, etc socks and they are taking over the house! I am seriously considering throwing away all of our socks. All of them. And buying new ones in the USA when we visit there this summer.

I think I will buy specific socks for each family member, to help keep us straight... even though 3 of us have the same size feet.

So how many pair would you suggest per person? I'm thinking at least 10 pair of white, sport socks per person, and perhaps 3 pair dark/church socks? What do you think?

 

[golfgal]

All of us have different brands of socks to keep them straight. It is so much easier. We probably each have about 15 pairs of athletic socks-dd probably has 30-she likes socks. I have probably 15 pairs of dress socks for work, DH has about the same. The boys have 2 pairs of "church" socks.

 

[HM]

My DDs solution is to wear mis-matched socks all the time. They just have to be the same length. It's really ideal for her, because matching pairs never seem to make it into the laundry at the same time. And if one sock get a hole, you just toss it, and not worry about it's mate, since they never got worn together anyway.

 

[HelenePA]

socks are my nemesis I hate them.. I hate them I hate them... off to go try to pair up some socks for SIX people.. Ugh ugh ugh!!!!

 

[wdwfan16]

I have winter socks and summer socks as well as dress socks. I keep about a 12 (since socks are sold in 3, 6 or 12 packs generally) of each kind.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Anytime I buy new socks I get rid of the old socks. If one sock gets holes, two socks are thrown away.

I buy socks that look different. My husband has the tall socks with the grey heel and toes while I purchase smaller socks all white for myself.

One thing I've also done especially with dress socks is to put all my dress socks in a lingrie bag when washing and drying. I have no patience for sitting trying to match socks and decide whom the owner is.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

still trying to conquer the sock mess here- but things I've done:

My kids' clothes are washed separately. It's easy to tell DD's (kid) size 12 colorful socks from DS's (men) size 12 white athletic socks. His all match (excluding the couple wool pairs he has for scout trips and a couple dark dress socks.) As another poster said, DD wears whatever she grabs for socks, heck there is a company that sells mismatched socks.

That leaves DH and I- our socks are easy to tell apart as he wears white sports socks or black dress socks. Mine are a little bit of everything, but my sports socks all have a pink or light blue or such trim that make them obviously not his.

The biggest thing was DS agreeing he wanted only low sports socks and DH wanted only the calf high ones. Makes it easy to tell theirs apart!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Our socks sit clean in the laundry basket until I need to use it. Daily I dump them on the bed, never get to them and at night get dumped back into the basket. Everyone wears a different style, so it should be easy-actually it is. But for some reason I would rather clean toilets than sort socks. I don't even WEAR socks! I prefer au naturalle, which is why my feet are so beat up on the bottom.

 

[HelenePA]

Our socks sit clean in the laundry basket until I need to use it. Daily I dump them on the bed, never get to them and at night get dumped back into the basket. Everyone wears a different style, so it should be easy-actually it is. But for some reason I would rather clean toilets than sort socks. I don't even WEAR socks! I prefer au naturalle, which is why my feet are so beat up on the bottom.

I use to have a sock basket! Then I bought a plastic 6 drawer (one drawer for each of us!) thing that sits in my bathroom. I thought YAY this will solve the never ending sock disaster... It didn't... all of the mismatched socks now sit atop the drawers in a basket..

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

No socks... ew.

It's easy to tell my socks from DFiance's socks as I am a size women's 7 and he is a men's 13. Our socks are of the same kind a lot, especially the athletic socks. It's kind of fun separating out 20 pairs of my Nike socks and his Nike socks, sometimes I just make him put them on and try.

The trouble is sometimes, those Nike socks are right foot and left foot specific so when going through the laundry, you can find 8 right socks before finding a left sock.

My mom and I have the same size but we have different kinds of socks.

 

[GAGirlInVA]

My kids sort socks while I read or while they watch TV. DH is the usual sock wearer so it's easier. The girls wear crocs or sandals and I wear sandals most of the time.

Every now and then I throw all of his away and start fresh with ONE package of white socks and his dress socks. Socks are SO not worth the stress they like to cause.

 

[Katy Belle]

Thanks everybody! I'm glad I'm not alone in the war against the socks.

I'm going to do it. I'm going to throw away all socks the day before we leave for the summer

And I'm going to get a specific brand per person! Hopefully that will help. It sounds like many of you have had success with that.

But wait... someone said there are socks that are LEFT and RIGHT... ugh! I certainly don't want those!

It is seriously driving me crazy right now. Every morning before school we are digging for a match!!!

 

[ilovejack02]

Posts like this make me happy that I only have one child at home.

My oldest is 21 and when he was still at home it drove me wild trying to figure out his socks and his dad's socks.

It is so easy now that it is just DS 7 home now . LOL.

I throw out undies and socks now once a year and start fresh.

 

[phillmolly]

The worst thing is baby socks!!! I have no problem with my socks or DH's but my DS, forget about it! Right now I only have two or three matching pairs and about 20 mismatched socks! I am so glad that sandal season is starting in MI!

 

[muffyn]

what bothers me the most is how no one has solved the mystery to what happens to those socks that go missing???

where on earth do they dissapear to? guess I have to believe the borrowers tale.....

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I picked up a trick years ago from my aunt who has 8, yes 8, kids.

I have my family trained to pin their socks together with a medium safety pin before they throw them in the laundry hamper. If one is not handy, fold the tops together so they don't separate and I will put a safety pin on them before they get put in the washing machine.

That way the socks always come out pre-sorted in pairs. Just need to sort by person. DH is easy. DD8 has smaller feet, so hers are easy. DD11 and I wear the same size. Mine are plain white. Hers are white with a band of color on the top. We have no problem wearing each others sock if needed but they do get sorted by the color band into our own drawers.

Yes, there have been occasions were the safety pin comes loose in the machine but only a handful of times in 13 years and a gazillion loads of laundry. I do inspect the safety pins when putting them on or removing them to make sure the head isn't pulling loose and pin in danger of popping out.

There have been a few times when a pair of socks manage to make it into the machine without being pinned together and 9 times out of 10, the machines eats one of the socks and it comes out an orphan.

The family knows I'm fanatical about always keeping the socks together. It was my job as a kid to pair up all the family socks and I ABSOLUTELY HATED IT! Never again!

It's not that hard to do. When you take out a clean pair of socks, there will be a safety pin, pinning them together. Take it off and pin together yesterday's dirty socks before throwing in the hamper. I also keep a few extra pins on everyone's dresser and in the laundry room. They HAVE to go into the machine as a pair! LOL.

We also have an orphan drawer for the clean socks that had a matching pair go missing. Even with a seemingly fool proof system like mine, it still happens! Every time an orphan sock comes out of the dryer, I check it against the ones in the orphan drawer. After a few loads of laundry, they eventually have a family reunion. After a while, the true orphans get recruited on household cleaning missions. What a sad fate...

 

[Gwendolyn]

...
So how many pair would you suggest per person? I'm thinking at least 10 pair of white, sport socks per person, and perhaps 3 pair dark/church socks? What do you think?

White sport socks? In the Netherlands they are such a no go! Women would actually dump their dates if the guys wear white sport socks
Better grey, black or dark blue.

 

[golfgal]

White sport socks? In the Netherlands they are such a no go! Women would actually dump their dates if the guys wear white sport socks
Better grey, black or dark blue.

It is funny how things are different in different places. If someone here wore grey, black or dark blue socks with athletic shoes (unless they are black shoes with black socks) they would get laughed at. Colored socks with athletic shoes are not good here.

 

[MinnieTink]

I hate socks! I do. We have so many mis-matches, old, small, etc socks and they are taking over the house! I am seriously considering throwing away all of our socks. All of them. And buying new ones in the USA when we visit there this summer.

I think I will buy specific socks for each family member, to help keep us straight... even though 3 of us have the same size feet.

So how many pair would you suggest per person? I'm thinking at least 10 pair of white, sport socks per person, and perhaps 3 pair dark/church socks? What do you think?

Ironically there is a brand of socks called Kate Bell (or KatieBell?). My DDs and I love them. They come in all color and patterns. You can match or mismatch.

I am curious about why you are waiting to buy socks in the US? Is it pricing?

 

[NotUrsula]

I do the pin thing, too -- I use colored diaper pins. Only trouble is, DH *refuses* to cooperate with the pin system, and it drives me insane. We have an entire laundry basket of orphan socks, and most of them are his. I will NOT sort his socks if he won't take the time to pin the darned things.

I have diaper pins stashed all over the house. I kept my small Avent baby bottles with the plain screw tops, and there is one of those full of diaper pins in every room, plus a piece of rope strung above the washer that has a whole bunch of them poked into it.

What I do with white socks to determine the owner is to mark them with a sharpie under the toes. Every time I bring home a new pack they get a deliberate sharpie stain put on; it's just a streak, not initials or anything.
DH gets green, DS gets blue, mine are orange. DD is tiny, so hers don't need to be marked yet.

I really wanted to throw out the unmatched socks, but it's at least $200 worth of them, and I'm just too cheap.