Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Great Sock Dilema

We have an ongoing problem in our house:  What in the world to do with all the socks???  I have 4 "men" in this house that all wear the same size socks.  I figure we average, with sports, that they wear an average of 6 pair of socks a day (collectively).  Times 7 days equals 42 pair of socks each week!!!!  42!!  That means 84 socks (assuming they all make it to the wash :)

I have tried many different systems, but for the past year, this is my system:

April 2012-7687

Let me give you another view:
  April 2012-7688

I wash clothes for 7 people!! I do not have the time or energy to sort through socks...even if I could tell them apart! I have tried buying different brands for each person, but that doesn't work because they steal each others ;) To be honest, this system doesn't bother me a bit. I don't spend my time turning socks the right way or matching them up. I throw them in the basket and let the boys fight it out themselves. The other day, Bryce was digging in the basket looked at me and said, "This sock system isn't really working for me". Makes me laugh just thinking about it :)  Richard said the same thing :)  He even resorted to buying himself more socks (that are now in the basket) lol...  I think I'll make the boys sort socks this weekend, but unless one of you has a better idea...I'm pretty sure they're stuck with the sock basket :)


30 comments:

Tracee said...

I have only one male, but Lilly now wears the same size as do I. So I too am a sock hater and I got tired of missing socks!! I buy one color, one style ONLY. Black Nike ankle socks for everybody! No one needs or wants anything different. I like the black obviously because they don't show dirt so everybody is happy!! Lots of times JCPenney's and Kohl's will have them buy 1 get 1 50% off.

3 Peanuts said...

I have no advice at all. I will tell you that I dump the kids clean clothes in the hall and they fold, sort, put away their own. Works for us but of course we have less people and socks than y'all!!!!

Kim

P.S. I have to go read and catch up on the other posts later today---cause I have to get kids to school!!!! But a quick glance at those dance photos---adorable!!!!

Charity Strang said...

This made me laugh! I hate to sort socks too. My solution was to buy 2 kinds of socks: white and black. All the white socks are identical and all the black ones are identical. It makes finding the right sock very easy. I realize this would be extremely expensive if you were to replace all 42 pairs. Good luck!!

elisa said...

I have the exact same sock system. And my husband has tried to buy himself new ones too- and they just end up in the bin. Glad I am not the only one!

Sophie said...

same thing goes here. I have 5 boys and my hubby and I gave up on figuring out which socks belong to who 2 years ago.

Laundry is crazy around here with 8 of us, I wish I could do what 3 peanuts does with the clothes, if I left my kids clothes in the hallway and waited for them to sort, fold and put away there would be mountains of clothes in the hallway.

Amy said...

I have been meaning to mark each kid with a different color thread (just 2 stitches) or maybe fabric marker. Though never done it. I don't like matching socks one bit.

Unknown said...

I not only have a sock problem, but a laundry problem. My grandmother says we have too many clothes! I don't know what to do. I think this weekend, we are going to get rid of everything but our favorites ...I am drowning in laundry.There are 6 of us and laundry is all consuming and not my favorite chore. Thank goodness, my laundry room has a door that can SHUT so that no one can see the chaos! LOL

Kristi said...

I only have 2 boys (son & hubs) - they wear the same size socks. On that note, how is my almost 11 yr old son in a men's size 9 already?

My plan - throw out all the old socks and buying 6 pkgs black, 6 pkgs no-show white, 6 pkgs crew cut white for the "boys". All the same brand - will make folding much easier because no guess work. Now of course the baseball & football socks are different but not as many pair of those.

Laura said...

Maybe use fabric paint and everyone gets their own color dot on the sole of their sock? Good luck!

Jennifer O'Cain said...

We use the same system. 5 boys and 8 people I have no time for it! Dumped in a basket. I laugh everytine I see my kids head out the door with two different socks on. I have tried numerous ways to handle it and nothing works. Long live the sock basket, it's all mine are gonna get unless they keep up with their own.

Stacy said...

Oh my gosh! That is hilarious!!!!
I'm loving this post!!
Can't wait to see you in a month!!!
L,
Me

Jolene said...

Our laundry system is to do the boys laundry together and then the girls laundry...and then mom/dads laundry. I wash/dry it and then dump the loads on their bedroom floors (or beds) and they sort, fold and put away their own clothing. Its a beautiful system, thus far!

The bigger ones help with the littler children's laundry and its been pretty harmonious. And little to no sock issues.

cve said...

Throw them all away and buy lots and lots of the exact same kind of socks. Obviously, Richard will still need dress socks, and the boys will need specific socks for specific sports, but other than that, they can all wear the exact same socks in the exact same colors.

Paige said...

Hahaha, of course you made me laugh!! I have no advice as I find laundry depressing, you put it all up and then turn around and see the baskets full of dirty laundry again...ugggg!I like your system. It reminds me of when my big kids were teenagers, I put a sign next to the sink that said, "load your dishes or move out". Hank proceeded to put dishes in the sink and I asked if he read the sign. He thought it did not apply to him, goodness gracious!!!!! Still makes me laugh!

shelley said...

I think your system is brilliant. I laughed out loud at Bryces' comment....if only they knew we don't really care about what works for them. tee hee. Love your sweet family thanks for sharing them with us.

fosterflip said...

I always bought laundry makers and gave each one of my kids there own color. I put a little mark on the inside of each sock.
It worked for our big family.

Melissa said...

We have the same sock basket. I will wash, fold and put away all laundry that is deposited in laundry room. I will NOT SORT SOCKS(: I wear flip flops. Lol...socks for seven people is a lot!

Leggio said...

Jennifer,

You Crack me up!!!!!!!!! My laundry is pile high all over my bedroom floor right now and has been since last week. The maid just can't seem to get to it between having a tot in the house again and homeschooling. LOL

Kimberley said...

We have the same issue, we have baskets full of unmatched socks! Such a headache!

Anonymous said...

You're kinda lucky they all wear the same size! :)

Buy same colored, same style socks for everyone! You won't need to match the colors anymore cause there will only be one! And everyone can share socks with each other!

:)

Grace said...

Here's what I would try if I were you: buy a large lingerie bag for each guy, they each put their socks in their bag and you wash the entire bag- socks and all. I'm sure getting them to put the socks in their bag may be easier said than done but it could be worth a try! Good luck!

The Gutmans' said...

This is sooooo funny and I thought the black hole somewhere in our house that sucks most my kiddos socks into it was a problem, lol!!!

Lee and Sarah VanGrunsven said...

LOL:) I only have one man's socks( my husbands) but for Christmas I took all his good ones to Goodwill, and bought almost 250 dollars worth of the exact same socks. All black..Made my life so much easier:)

deborah said...

Your sock basket seems like a perfect solution to me. But, then, you can't expect them to agree with you and me, now can you? teeheheeeeheee

snekcip said...

Whoa that sock basket made me shutter!! LOL!! I can remember the sock fiasco vividly!! Having a household w/ 5kids and husband whom all had a LOVE of socks it was downright RIDICULOUS!! There was white ones, black ones, frilly ones, cartoon ones, tube ones, ankle ones, no-see-ums, even some w/the individual toes etc!! So, I came up with this idea. I bought HUGE packages of large safety pins. Each one of them were required to "PIN" their dirty socks together BEFORE putting them in the laundry. It took a few weeks for them to get it down pat, but after seeing it was MUCH easier than sorting thru MOUNDS of socks, the idea caught on!! After washing, I would throw them in the basket to be UN-PINNED. They would then roll them together and back in the sock drawer!! VOILA!! No more lost socks! It worked perfectly in our house.




Here was my MANTRA...it DEPENDS, if you PIN, because if lost, it will be a great cost, mismatched socks is quite a distress, especially when you trying to IMPRESS.

Translation: mismatched socks to a teenager is adjacent to what KRYPTONITE was to SUPERMAN!!

Judy Deaton said...

Long Live the Sock basket!!!!! I find socks everywhere! in the yard, in the basement, in the couch cushions......here's a sock, there's a sock....everywhere's a sock sock........UGH!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

My five year old came up with a solution that works for her...she rolls each pair of socks up together when she puts them in her laundry basket...so no missing socks for her..they are still clean as its only the tops she rolls together and the bottoms hang freely...all the missing pairs of socks are nada now..

As for the rest; we all have our own laundry basekets and I do laundry in groups; myself alone, DH's alone, DD#2 and DD#3 together...and DD#1 (who does her own). I also do my mom's..It seems to work and I just keep doing laundry every day of the week....two loads per day come rain or shine; possibly three if I have to...thank goodness for a great washer and dryer...but again, I am really only doing laundry for six...and five out of six are female...so easier...

Anonymous said...

Thank God I no longer feel alone! I have 3 boys, 2 girls and Hubby. I have the same sock system!! My hubby even tries to tick me off by bringing home new socks everytime he goes to walmart. (It's just making the pile bigger.) My rule in the summer is "No Socks" they have to wear summer shoes. Mom takes the summer off "No Matching Socks!"

Mom of Fab Five/Georgia
byerschina.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I saw a brilliant idea on Pinterest about socks! Each child gets their own small net laundry bag to keep in their room to put just their socks in. Once a week (or so), you zip up the laundry bag & throw it in the wash/dryer. All of their socks stay together. Now with teenagers...good luck with getting them to actually put their socks in their bags :-)

The Stiffs said...

Saw on another blog, each kid was assigned a dot number... one dot for oldest, two for the next, etc. In theory you can add dots as they grow. It worked for a while. I think my Dad's system was better. He kept a basket of safety pins by the laundry basket. When he took his socks off, he pinned them. He never lost another pair. I'm not anal enough. Only one person in my house is. I just spend a fortune replacing socks every quarter.

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