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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To want to hunt down whoever packages socks

37 replies

Quintanimo · 13/01/2015 07:35

And lock them in a dungeon with 200 unpaired socks - each of which only has one other sock that it can be matched to.

it give me the rage! Every fucking coloured sock sold runs on the principle of having every pair in the multipack of six slightly different. Whhhyyyy? What's wrong with six identical pairs that can be paired without the aid of Interpol? And where you don't have to chuck both socks if one gets a hole.

It's a male plot to keep the women oppressed; stand under my banner!

*see also: pants with days of the week on them. DD is no longer satisfied with clean pants. She looked at me with doe-like accusing eyes as I wrangled her into 'Friday' pants. What next - 'Wear me on third Wednesday in January under pink leggings if your name begins with 'S'' printed on your pants????

OP posts:

SoupDragon · 13/01/2015 07:39

lock them in a dungeon with 200 unpaired socks - each of which only has one other sock that it can be matched to

No, 200 unpaired socks which only have one partner plus 15 which are odd ones.

A used to have lots of plain black socks. Plain lack socks from different packets which were slightly different styles (eg a wider top cuff). Now that drove me mad. I far prefer the different colour approach.

Mumblesometimes · 13/01/2015 07:44

Agreed on days of the week pants but YABU on the socks, let go of the British uptight attitude and embrace wearing odd socks! Have done it for years and it's fab, no need to chuck out sock orphans and you only need to hunt for a matching pair when you want to.

youareallbonkers · 13/01/2015 07:59

Agreed, odd socks are the future. Or just buy packs of plain black

jerryfudd · 13/01/2015 08:07

Odd socks are the future

To want to hunt down whoever packages socks

IDismyname · 13/01/2015 08:17

Just always buy black socks from M&S and you'll be laughing.

Do yourself a favour and Ditch anything that has days on, or is paired with another colour.

It did my head in, too... But now I'm in a better place.

chemenger · 13/01/2015 08:18

Teen dd produced twelve odd socks from a bedroom tidy over Christmas. Most matched partners that had been languishing in the odd sock bag for months, one looked as if it was probably age 6-8 (she's 17). I think we probably have more socks in the odd sock bag (its a blue Ikea bag) than we have in sock drawers. This includes six single socks from a days-of-the-week set, only Thursday remains as a pair (for now). The only plausible explanation is a sock stealing poltergeist.

Sarsparilla · 13/01/2015 08:19

YABU!

I like socks that are as brightly coloured and distinctive as possible, so they are easier to pair. My 3 year old loves putting socks together with their "friend".

And yes, if one gets a hole, the pair gets chucked. Or turned into a duster or shoe polish applier or bicycle cleaner. If one loses its partner, it waits in the sock drawer to be reunited. I do a clear out every 6 months or so, and any loners are dealt with at that point.

Nothing worse than a whole load of black socks that are all slightly different lengths and levels of fadedness, that is my personal sock hell. DH only has coloured, patterned socks now.

Theas18 · 13/01/2015 08:20

Trouble is plain black socks become odd over time- some are washed more than others and fade!

When the kids were all home and wearing plain black socks I fantasised about a large tub with a " black socks help yourself" notice and never pairing socks again ever!

SoupDragon · 13/01/2015 08:21

I think DS1's Odd Sock Box has two entire sets of odd socks from two packs of socks.

SoupDragon · 13/01/2015 08:22

Nothing worse than a whole load of black socks that are all slightly different lengths and levels of fadedness, that is my personal sock hell

Yes!

As I said in my post earlier, that's why I prefer patterned ones. I get ones with a coloured heel and toe so they can be worn odd if needed as they just look plain black with shoes.

unlucky83 · 13/01/2015 08:34

I feel your grief...
I buy patterned socks for DCs because
Nothing worse than a whole load of black socks that are all slightly different lengths and levels of fadedness, that is my personal sock hell
I have a solution to this - as soon as you get the packet go through and sew a tiny dot of coloured thread on the soles or inside of the top (somewhere can't be seen) use a different colour for each set ...you can now pair plain black 'purple dot' or 'green dot' socks and try and put them in the drawer together so eg green ones on top etc - fading isn't an issue
It takes longer to pair than patterned but easier than having nothing...

Except both my DCs (youngest copies the eldest) have recently taken to constantly deliberately wearing odd socks - now I do have a pile of mismatched socks! (For the youngest I have now told her she can only unpair two pairs at a time - the next day she has to wear the other unpaired ones which is working better...
big DC underwear drawer is a nightmare hundreds of pairs of pants (some are at least 4 years old too small) and odd socks ...no space to put anything away
It is on my to do list to raid and cull the drawer...

ShadowSuperNova · 13/01/2015 08:47

YABU.

Distinctive patterned socks are so much better than having a pile of black socks that are all ever so very slightly different from each other. And I'd much rather buy patterned socks for everyone than start sewing coloured dots into new black socks (I think I'm too lazy for that).

nutellawithbananas · 13/01/2015 08:57

I've gone down the bold patterned route as well because I can't bear slightly different black socks...
So far we only have a small number of odd socks in limbo waiting for their other half to turn up - but then DD doesn't yet have her own room ;-)

Chandon · 13/01/2015 09:02

My husband does not cook.

He rarely cleans or tidies.

But he sorts the odd socks in this house. Every weekend.

For that I love him

unlucky83 · 13/01/2015 09:12

I do buy mainly patterned socks for the DCs but if you have to have plain socks for whatever reason sewing dots on helps ...and it really doesn't take more than a few minutes per pack...
I also buy distinctively different patterned pants for the DDs and me - life is too short to compare pant sizes...(although I sometimes get my plain black granny pants mixed up with the youngest's black leggings )

ChablisChic · 13/01/2015 09:14

theas we DID have a sock box that everyone helped themselves to when my DDs were small, and we all wore black socks. I just chucked them in when I'd washed them (it lived in the airing cupboard) and it was up to the individual to find themselves a pair. Worked a treat.

PixieofCatan · 13/01/2015 09:26

Buy plain black socks from the same shop. I did for years, then got enticed by all the pretty colours and my sock box is an explosion of colour, but no pairs :(

I miss my black bamboo socks from boots :(

highlighta · 13/01/2015 09:45

I only buy the multipacks in black. No other colour. The dc school socks are grey so they are all the same too. Life is too short to spend hours searching out and hunting for socks.....

CatsClaus · 13/01/2015 09:49

I gave up sorting socks almost as soon as I left hospital with ds1

Officially I do not have any socks, i steal dh's

But all clean socks go into a bag and you take potluck, always used to set the children and dh up for a good day if they found a real live actual pair.

Odd socks are the way forward.

Original poster

Quintanimo · 13/01/2015 09:58

I do the 'any colour so long as its grey' thing - with a bi-annual mass cull - but DC are starting to look mutinous as they are once more frog-marched past the bright, trendy socks towards the grey corner.

OP posts:

TelephoneIgnoringMachine · 13/01/2015 11:09

I have two lots of socks: some bright, patterned pairs, and a load of plain black ones. I tend to wear them all to death anyway, so when the black ones are too few in number & really threadbare, I relegate the remaining ones to the rag-bag for cleaning shoes, & bulk-buy a lot more identical black socks. No problem pairing them up.

IgnoreMeEveryOtherReindeerDoes · 13/01/2015 11:18

I don't have this sock problem, maybe because small household and I'm bit anal in that I won't wash socks unless I see a matching pair. I did feel smug and attempt to sort out my sisters family huge bag of socks, it ended up giving me the rage as I was defeated by so many odd socks.

Sarsparilla · 13/01/2015 11:50

I think where everyone is going wrong is by
(a)having a family "odd sock bag", instead of just dumping any odd socks into the owners' sock drawer, to be sorted out -or not- by the owner at their own convenience.

(b)sorting out all the socks themselves, instead of making their children do it as their contribution to the household chores

Original poster

Quintanimo · 13/01/2015 12:53

My kids mop floors as their contribution to household chores! And stack the dishwasher. I'm not giving up any of my workers to bleeding socks!

OP posts:

Greenrememberedhills · 13/01/2015 13:16

This drives me mad too.

I heard of someone who ensures their kids safety pin together before putting them in the wash, but none of us in this house has the discipline.

I have found a partial solution in plain socks in different colour pack for difficult kids. Navy eldest son, black youngest etc. this is important because the sizes differ but it can be hard to tell afterwards.

M and s or john Lewis do them.
Also recently bought some on Amazon where just the toes are different, which isn't visible enough to matter.

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