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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask if you have a sock thief living in your house?

77 replies

hometutor1234 · 30/09/2018 10:26

Ok genuinely can't fathom how every time I do the laundry there are odd socks. I have a row of odd socks dried and in a nice row from the last few laundry loads and am still unable to find their matching socks.

I now have a further 7 - yes 7 odd socks from the laundry I have put on the line.

How is this possible - is there a little person living in my house collecting socks?

Do other people have this problem - do you also have a sock thief? Do you ever recover the missing socks?

Do you accept this admit defeat and just buy new socks?

It's a conundrum, I need reassurance I am not the only person suffering with this recurring sock problem.

OP posts:
vampirethriller · 30/09/2018 10:34

Yes, and I live alone which makes it worse because I can't blame anyone else!

HopefullyAnonymous · 30/09/2018 10:36

It’s hair grips here.

clueless101101 · 30/09/2018 10:36

And a spoon thief!

gunnergirl · 30/09/2018 10:36

same here I've got 10 odd socks off my son's god knows where the rest are !!!!!

gunnergirl · 30/09/2018 10:37

sorry forgot about the fork thief as well !!!!

Orangecake123 · 30/09/2018 10:37

Every house has one. I've just embraced wearing odd socks even in public! Shock

Or you could just buy all black socks.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/09/2018 10:38

I bought a cheapie peg hanger from Wilko to put all the odd socks while they're waiting for their errant partners.

I have 5 pairs of black socks , I work four days. Should have enough? Never happens .

Does the Sock Thief use them to muffle the sound of the teaspoons that they also steal ? Hmm

mothersanonymous · 30/09/2018 10:39

Yes! But I also regularly find odd socks that are NOTHING TO DO WITH US!!! Perhaps they are yours OP?

onemouseplace · 30/09/2018 10:40

We definitely do.

But I had a minor triumph the other day when I found an odd sock that had been lost for about 3 years - in the sleeve of a coat of DD1's that I had washed and put away for DD2!

Of course I've long since binned its partner Hmm

UpstartCrow · 30/09/2018 10:40

Socks and gloves. And spoons. We only have 3 left out of a set. They aren't ending up in the bin. I've resigned myself to having to search under the beds, I just know they're going to turn up glued to the carpet by curry Envy

Eponymous · 30/09/2018 10:48

I used to have a lonely socks club drawer.
Now I buy 15 pairs of the same socks (dp is in charge of the laundry and there is a mysterious delay in how long they take to get back into the drawers) and when half of them have worn out I throw out the rest and buy a new lot.

BertrandRussell · 30/09/2018 10:51

My ds reckons that every family has a sock gaslighter-a person who hides socks to make everyone else feel on edge and sockless. He blames his big sister.

Thatssomebadhatharry · 30/09/2018 10:51

I think sometimes socks go to an alternative universe for a short time only to reappear in the same spot. Pens do this too.

Planesmistakenforstars · 30/09/2018 11:00

I think sometimes socks go to an alternative universe for a short time only to reappear in the same spot.

My theory is similar, except I believe they morph into tupperware pots without lids before being returned.

t00dle00 · 30/09/2018 11:01

There's a video on YouTube that shows where socks go when you put them in your washing machine. I'm trying to link it but it's not working.

FloofyDoof · 30/09/2018 11:02

Yep. Sometimes it's just my cat though. He likes to collect random socks and hair elastics under the sofa for some reason, little weirdo.

AamdC · 30/09/2018 11:07

Yes socks, cutlery and some bugger has stolen my one cal cooking oil im doing slimming woeld so i need itAngry

sausageandrashers · 30/09/2018 11:07

@clueless101101 we also have a spoon thief!
Where do they go? Ours is just tea spoons. We seem to have none left but all the other cutlery is there!

Odd socks too. I've given up on that battle though and have accepted odd sock wearing is just the way forward.

BasicUsername · 30/09/2018 11:15

Have you checked the lint drawer in your tumble dryer? Not the small one in the drum, the one that is usually accessed by removing the front panel at the bottom.

Buswankeress · 30/09/2018 11:16

Somewhere in the universe is a mountain of socks, tea spoons and pens/pen lids. I shall be happy to reclaim my share when NASA find it orbiting an obscure and as yet, unheard of planet.
Perhaps the planet it orbits will consist of the eleventy billion items of clothing DD has lost at school over the years never to be seen again 🤔

BertrandRussell · 30/09/2018 11:18

And why are the lids for plastic boxes always the wrong kids?

BertrandRussell · 30/09/2018 11:19

*lids. Although kids are often the wrong kids too....

Aprilislonggone · 30/09/2018 11:25

When we moved 3 years ago I binned odd socks - 104 to be exact.
Nowadays they go into an old bean bad cover that ddog sleeps on!
It's canny full these days!!

longwayoff · 30/09/2018 11:26

Socks and teaspoons. Somewhere, in a galaxy far far away is an entrance to a Black Hole that is not full of nothingness but crammed with odd socks and teaspoons.

MrsMoastyToasty · 30/09/2018 11:28

We have a duvet thief. Every time I go to bed I lose the duvet from my side of the bed. I think that the thief is working for DH though...