Has anyone managed to solve the problems of odd socks?

[Nailsandthesea]

Without going for all black identical ones.

we are all completely different

size 11 child
size 4 adult
size 8 adult

my youngest is colour deficient and autistic and for the last 10 years prefers different socks and inside out

it is not practical to have just black

but I have just counted 97 completely odd socks before I gave up

they often just take them off and throw them and I’m forever finding them down the sofa etc it is giving me the rage

😡 all the money on socks - I haven’t brought new ones for years but what the hell do you do

i almost want to bin the lot but then I know I will
find another 19 down the side of their beds et.

is there any solution??

Wear odd socks?

Exactly this!

We wear pairs, wash pairs, dry pairs and put pairs away. Rarely have odd socks to deal with, DD doesn't get away with leaving them lying around.

I wash them in pairs and hang them up together in pairs to dry. They can't get lost!

Take better care of your socks.

Or wear odd socks.

Or buy socks all the same. They don't have to be black. Buy all green ones or all Pokémon ones or all rainbow ones.

Those are really the only solutions.

I can’t and neither can eldest or youngest for work / school

I have got through hundreds of pairs of socks over the years!!Children regularly wore odd socks. .don't think I will ever solve that mystery TBH !

Buy socks all the same. Wear odd socks. Or when you lose one put the other sock in the bin. Those are pretty much the only choices!

Pick a colour each that isn't black? Buy seven pairs each. Keep the odd ones. If they lose any of the new ones then they can wear the odd ones.

We put any odd ones on a pile next to the laundry basket and they either get paired up or end up in the bin. Currently count: 3.

For ages, my son had lost his favourite one from a designer pair and after a few months threw its twin out. A week later his lightbulb blew in his bedroom, and there was awol sock, dangling inside the shade.

Thanks I try this isn’t me!
adhd and autism here

I brought all dinosaur ones with different coloured dinosaur on each sock - I brought him 12 pairs - I know have 12 socks

it might sound small but it gives me the rage to see huge carrier bags of odd socks

do we bin what we have and start again?

Only ever put paired socks into bedrooms. If you put odds back, they will wear odd pairs and put the them through the wash which is why you always have odd socks.

wear pairs, wash pairs, filter out the odd ones, once a month or so pair up the odd ones and chuck the remnants away. I do save the multi pack school ones for pairs once others get holes. One ds has only black and one has only grey.

I have pretty low standards generally but odd socks give me the heeby jeebies

First get rid of all the odd ones. They have no use unless you’re very keen on puppetry. I guess MN might give you other ideas but I’d bin them.

Then buy laundry bags and religiously place each person’s socks in their own bag every night. Wash the bag and either tumble dry the entire thing or dry in one designated place. Surely that would work?

Odd dinosaur socks can be worn outside of school. They only need matching socks in a particular colour (white/black/grey/navy) for school surely? Just buy a pack each?

I have an odd sock bag in the cupboard next to the washing machine. All odd socks go in there and every so often i sit down and see how many pairs I can make from its contents. It's often quite a few! There are some that have been in the bag for a couple of years though and will probably be reunited with their partner, but you never know....

Odd socks are one of those things I don't mind hoarding, and then when I've got a job lot I get the DC to help me find pairs and see whoever finds the most pairs wins (usually something silly like who picks the movie to watch afterwards or the evenings dessert as the prize). It makes me really happy when I find the other half of a pair of socks for some reason, it's like they have been lonely and apart for ages and then get to come back to each other and get used again.

Sometimes we do pick a few to use as sleeping bags for toys or to make sock puppets out of, but I prefer holding onto them in the hope I will find their other half at some point.

There are definitely odd socks of mine that have moved house with us more than once, although with the DC ones I do get rid of them when they are obviously too small for anyone.

I do try and wash them, dry them and put them away in pairs now, as well. But there are always a few strays. And it's always the most special socks that lose their pair, the ones I got as a Mother's Day present or Christmas gift, not the boring plain ones.

I am not a hoarder in other ways, so don't know why I'm like this with socks!

I brought a sock airier like this https://www.muji.us/products/aluminum-square-hanger-with-pegs-d8a5
I peg the socks together to dry in pairs.
i have a bag for any strays which are periodically matched up. I now have a deliberate policy of not buying black socks. Only socks with patterns or contrast toes/tops. Im not sure it works but it makes the socks easier to pair.
I use the old ones as dusters which I then throw away.
I don’t know if it’s a solution. But it’s an option.

Ikea has a similar one

I have just told them to hunt out their socks and I have separated them out into their piles.

problem is youngest (10) can’t see the colour so like different patterns - but wears them inside out is the texture is wrong. He will then kick them off as he wears them to bed and takes them off each everywhere if his feet get slightly hot etc it’s carnage I’m so tempted to pair up as many as possible and bit the rest and not accept any socks unless paired

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Loc-Sok-Sock-Clips-Pack/dp/B00LM88PQK/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?crid=29ZD2K0QV0F1B&keywords=sock+pairers+for+washing&qid=1679751205&sprefix=sock+pairer%2Caps%2C98&sr=8-13

I might investigate these - we are having a big clothes sort out over Easter - so any odd ones can be thrown at that point

Buy the same brand and colour socks for each person.
Something like 2 x 7 packs of black size 8s, 2 packs not black for size 4, and 2 * dinosaur ones for child.

Recycle the old ones.

I tried to solve the odd sock problem by only buying black ones. You'd be amazed at the variety of black socks available. I still ended up with odd socks.

Great Post. I currently have a load of socks waiting to be put away but can't find the other one.

The rule here is that only pairs of socks go in the laundry basket, folded over together at the top. Zero tolerance of socks lying around anywhere. Wash in pairs, hang up in pairs, put them away in pairs.

If that's not going to work, get some of those small clippy things to pair them with. Don't bin odd socks, many charity shops will take them as rags and get paid by the kilo.

I have a child with autism. She would leave her socks everywhere. I do mean everywhere in the world, not just our home. I basically had to consider socks semi-disposable for many years. When the carrier bag of mismatches got too full I would throw out all her socks and start fresh.

eventually she got old enough that she was ok with having all the same socks. She also stopped dropping them like breadcrumbs around town and only throws them around her room or by the entryway.