Socks! - Granby,CT

When moving to a new house a few years back, my husband and I unhooked the washer and found a pile of socks back there. I keep unmatched socks and pair them up for exercise socks, so I still had many of the mates.

Anyway, I wouldn't throw out the socks. Have an unmatched-sock day for the kids, use them as exercise socks, make puppets on a rainy day, etc.

I have a friend who buys her kids all the same color sock. One color per foot size. That way she can easily match socks and get them to the correct foot. Plus, when a sock goes missing there are plenty more that look just like it.

Updated

When moving to a new house a few years back, my husband and I unhooked the washer and found a pile of socks back there. I keep unmatched socks and pair them up for exercise socks, so I still had many of the mates.

Anyway, I wouldn't throw out the socks. Have an unmatched-sock day for the kids, use them as exercise socks, make puppets on a rainy day, etc.

I have a friend who buys her kids all the same color sock. One color per foot size. That way she can easily match socks and get them to the correct foot. Plus, when a sock goes missing there are plenty more that look just like it.

It's not just you! I swear I have a little gnome that goes through my hamper in the middle of the night and steals socks as well:) I have a bag that I keep in my closet with unmatched socks-some of which I really l love-and after a while I pull it out and go through it. Sometimes I find matches, sometimes now...and usually not on the super cute ones!:( Eventually I throw them away or start using them as rags, but I never like it. I also have a problem having all of my laundry done at once. On the rarest occasion when I am able to kick it into the highest gear (usually right before we have company) I am able to get all of my laundry done. That's a RARE occasion though and most of the time my hamper is overflowing though I feel like I always have a load in. It's just life-it's not you!:) Have a great one!

I have concluded that those missing socks turn into the dust bunnies we find under everything else in the house. :)

I save bag of unmathced sox for about 6 months, I try to match them and if they dont match they are rags or trash! I like the idea of it being a leprechaun, it is either that our my 2 year old or dog that is taking them and hiding them!

I do a load a day (wash, dry, put away) and that makes the process of laundry so much less daunting. I use to feel like my laundry was haunting my life and I would spend days at a time getting it all done, but one load a day has made it easy and every night I put my empty laundry basket back into the laundry room with a smile on my face! I am a FLYbaby, try FlyLady.net, it is eye opening!

That is the question of the ages, lol! It happens to the best of us.

Just a suggestion for all those unmatched or outgrown kid socks -- I am a teacher and all of our students have individual white boards. Socks make the absolute best dry erase board erasers. I bring in all my kids' old socks and let the kids use them as erasers. I have two bins -- one for clean socks and one for dirty. When the sock starts getting yucky they get a new one and put it in the dirty bin. When the dirty bin starts getting full I bring it home and wash them all (a little bleach works wonders!). See if your kids' teachers have white boards as well and I am sure they would love the donations.

I hate unmatched socks! I do our laundry on a weekend night when I don't have to get up for work in the morning. We are a family of 4, kids are 8 & 11. I do our laundry just one night a week and I do, do it all.
In the summer it's about 3 large loads 1 white, 1 light and 1 dark. in the winter it's 4 - 5 loads, which is time consuming, but worth it to get it all done and start fresh. My husband and I have a hamper in our room and so do each of the kids. I empty all, and collect all towels in bathrooms and in kitchen, sort and start washing. Summer wash takes about 4 hours start to finish and winter about 5 - 6 hrs. I start around supper time and finish by midnight. Washed, dryed, folded and put away. The only things left are the items air drying on the rack. My laundry room is wonderfully located near my kitchen and family room so if I can't sit and fold right that minute I throw it in a pile on the chair so I can get the next load going right away. Once the kids are in bed, I can go to town, and fold and put it away. I do all our sheets and throw rugs on their own, and about every 10 days. Because laundry is done that one night a weekend I don't even think about it otherwise. If something gets stained I hit it with stain stuff as soon as it's taken off, that way the stain isn't left to set over the course of a week or few days even. Our clothes last well because they are worn less and laundered less. You just gotta have enough to last a week and even spare sets of undies and socks. The sock thing - when I do ALL the laundry at once I know immediately if I'm a sock short UGHH! I start looking in the usual sock hiding spots in my house, usually to find it. I have maybe 1 or 2 in everyone's drawer waiting for a match but a half a garbage bag, start matchin and tossin baby.
So you can have litterally, all the laundry done and only a coulpe socks in waiting. I always get a movie to entertain my self and don't put it in until later cause there's nothing on tv as it gets later. My hubby stays up to hang often too, and there's plenty to do while waiting for a load to finish lol!
So here's to gettn er done ladies!

I have the other matches to your socks! It's about 35 by now. I know as soon as I throw them out i will find that match in the corner of a little used fitted sheet! Some of the adult mismatches get tossed as I know the match has worn out, and there is no like pair, but most go into the sock puppet bin. LOL. And no to the laundry question...it is a never ending task, but I would rather someone cleaned my bathrooms!

I've found them under dressers, under beds and under couches. But yes, it definitely happens over here.
People always ask me, your doing laundry still....its definitely never ending. Just when I feel I'm getting caught up, there is a new pile or two at the bottom of my laundry chute.

i have one too. actually, i know the problem,,, its that every time i do laundry, i put the unmatched someplace and tell myself that THIS is the spot. but its never the same spot. so i have little piles of single socks stuffed into the corners of various drawers that i keep finding. which leads to more unmatched socks. a vicious cycle!

I know what you mean. My son takes his socks off in the van on the way home from school. He puts his shoes back on without when we get home. I have to clean out the van ever so often to replenish the sock supply. I am assuming you have girls if you are matching socks. We buy athletic socks by the bag full for the boys. So far I have been able to keep up with my daughters (2 years) socks although she takes them off where ever she pleases and I find them in the oddest places. My mom used to say the dry ate them. When you find the leprechaun tell him we want ours back too.

I have to say, my kids love the idea of wearing unmatched socks -- as long as they are about the same weight and length, and as long as they have pairs as well to wear when they want to, they are perfectly happy picking 2 from the singles basket when they are in the mood. Seriously, it's all about personal expression, right? LOL!

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!! That being said, not sure where the lost socks go. I have, on occasion, found a sock or two stuck to a towel or sheet. I have a front loading washer, so I can't say it's the agitator. I do know that my kids have a habit of taking off their socks in random places, so I am thinking that some of them never even make it to the wash.
As for being "caught up", doesn't ever happen in this house. I have a friend who does a load every night, and she swears it is the only way.
Happy laundering!

PS. Oh, yes, teachers do love to use those socks for the white boards! :)

When I was little I remember my dad had to repair our washer. When he took the agitator out, there were socks all ripped apart under the agitator (and the pieces get sucked down the drain.) So we concluded that the agitator sucks the socks underneath and they disappear, eventually down the drain.

I'm hoping to resolve this problem when I get my new front loading washer!

Oh and I never have all my laundry done, and it seems that I'm doing laundry every day! I don't stress about it, as long as everyone has clothes to wear it's all good!

Where does everyones loose socks go!?! MY HOUSE!!! I have them!!! HAHAHAHA
Just kidding! ;)
I do laundry every other day and sometimes every third day. It is against my grain to start laundry and stop without it all being done. I'm a tad OCD like that.
I started on Monday with a "deep clean" to my house. I started with the laundry room. I pulled out the washer and dryer to mop under them and found 3 socks...(all my husbands :0) There is one possibility. Today, I did my bathroom and linen closet...found one more sock...(stuck to a towel) Tomorrow is the living room....we'll just see about THAT one!!!!
I have a "organizational" problem...things HAVE to be in place...thats where my laundry falls....when we come back from a long trip...I will stay up to the wee hours finishing it...weird, I know.
As for the "4" found socks? they got tossed...after all, their mates died a long time ago. (cant have 'loose' socks in the drawers!!!)
As far as your question about getting the laundry done? For me, every two to three days.

I have a laundry basket that is just for mismatched socks.. and nope.. can not tell you where they all go. Hahaha. I keep trying to do the "everyone is going to where the same exact type of socks" but seems it never works. Hubby will come home randomly with new "different style" socks from the store or my kids borrow from friends (ewww....hehe) and so forth.

And no.. there is no such thing as being current on laundry! haha. At least not in our household! haha.

I think a lot of them are behind the washer. I think others are between the tub of the washer and the outer shell - either they get sucked under by the agitator, or they go over the top when we fill the washer to the brim. I saw a t-shirt a while back that showed a "close up" of the rings of Saturn - it was made up of luggage the airlines lost! So I have a theory that the rest of the rings are made up of lost socks!

Give them to teachers to use as erasers for kids' white boards, use them as dust cloths, use them to wash the inside of the car windows and the dashboard (less lint than paper towels, and you can get into the tight spots), and keep the weird ones for funny Halloween costumes or 3rd grade Crazy Dress Day. I also use a lingerie bag (net with a zipper) for my bras so I don't have to hand-wash them but the hooks don't get caught in the other laundry. Then I pull the whole bag out and line dry the bras - they last much longer when the elastic doesn't go thru the dryer. You can use those bags for pairs of socks. If you have one bag for each person in the family, it makes sorting faster. You can buy bags cheaply at Target.

Also, when it's time to throw things away, check with the organizations who collect used clothing. Sometimes they have a source for things that people donate but which are beyond usable. There are rag companies that take beat-up and mis-matched items to convert to shop rags.

Try sock locks. They're clips that keep a pair of socks together in the laundry. Also check behind / under your washer and dryer.

Dunno, but they're great for making puppets.

I use all the "unmatched" socks and the ones with holes to clean the bathroom with. They work great, especially around the toilet where my guys always "miss", and I feel better knowing they served an extra purpose before getting tossed.

hahahaha!!!!!! my husband was laughing at me the other day at how excited I was that I had a load of whites that contained an entire load of matching socks....not one unmatched sock! he thought I was nuts, but that has seriously only happened to me like 3 times in my entire life!

I do laundry every 3rd day, that way I am able to get it all done - every last basket and it isn't overwhelming.

I just got a new washer and dryer and moved them upstairs...I can't tell you how much easier it is to get the laundry done. I'm done in a matter of hours rather than taking the entire day to get it done!

There is a company out there called Little Missmatched it is all about miss matched socks :) I always have laundry to be done seems as though once the kids is done ours is ready to be done again. Endless cycle!! You are not alone!

ALL moms can relate to this one. I have a drawer that I keep for unmatched socks and then about once a year, get rid of them and start again. Single socks make great dust cloths that fit great over a child's hand, too.
There are days that I have all of our laundry done, every last basket. With 9 people, it is still possible. But we have a system that works for us. And I have someone that helps me with laundry part of the week. I learned from a mother of 12 that if you do 2 loads of laundry a day (I do have a large-capacity, high efficiency washer, which changed our laundry life, a great blessing for a large family), that she could keep up with the laundry. That has, for the most part, worked for us. We do one load of whites/lights and one load of darks a day. Sometimes there are overloads, and let's not talk about vacation or sick-week catch-up, but I have learned it is better not to measure your life by how caught up you are on laundry. Children and motherhood is to be savored, and laundry is "one eternal round." So we do the best we can and keep on moving forward.
Happy folding,
L.