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??

I have all black socks in adult size, small children size. The adult size socks are 3-8 !and for my 10 yr old, 15 yr old and myself. My husband has his own sports socks. I then have smaller size black and white socks and those are for the younger children between ages 2 and 7 which fits fine and the new baby has his own white socks.

I refuse to buy patterned socks. I used to and I love printed and patterned socks but would always lose them.
I kept the lost, random and odd ones in a bag and use them for polishing the skirting boards so they don't go to waste.

I like the idea above for different coloured socks for each size for the person in the family. That's ideal but would stick to black and white for young children as they are obviously practical and ideal for school

It's the law in my house that if socks don't go into the wash basket balled up as a pair, they don't get washed

But then don't you have to unball wet socks?

I guess we do a combination of things... collect the scattered socks as I take the kids to bed, as in, get me your socks before you go upstairs. Make sure that a particular wash load includes any socks for that colour. Pair them as soon as I take them out the dryer. Buy new socks regularly...maybe once every 4 to 6 weeks I buy at least some socks for someone.

Never lost a sock. I use a laundry bag. All socks go in the bag in the wash and then when I hang to dry I pair them at that stage. Not connected to each other but pegged side-by-side. Then when dry I ball them up together.

DC and DH well trained as to laundry basket etiquette!

Socktopus from ikea.

The DC & DH even put socks into the laundry bag when they sort the washing.

Many thanks all.

we have a system now - thanks to Amazon prime!

I bought this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SockDock-Laundry-Storage-Organiser-Container/dp/B071GPMPCW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=3GFP404CGRF1Q&keywords=sock+dock+organiser&qid=1680007172&sprefix=sock+dock+organiser%2Caps%2C99&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

expensive but they arrived yesterday and the kids loved them!

I brought the 16 year old 9 black of black socks but each with a tiny dog on the top (not noticeable under trousers) different dogs so they match up and some with different hearts - all from Tesco and then binned all her others except walking boots socks (put with walking boots) and Horseriding socks (put with Horseriding boots). So she is sorted.

They seems really good quality / you move from the clean rack to the dirty one (hangs in wardrobe) and then unhook and wash the whole thing.

I got DC2 nearly 10 years old has the same and they selected the best 9 pairs and they did the same, all the others have gone.

I’ve also brought some neat mesh bags with are colour coded so DC can keep their pants separate (she’s a size 8 -10 and I’m a 12) so difficult to sort sometimes and I’ve said 3/4 pairs in your mesh bag and then Chuck in laundry) and I’ve sharpie one as do no tumble dry (period pants) as she normally rinses and chucks in the wash but I’m sick of removing from wash and accidentally tumble drying them - same with her bras - she has a bra bag. They each have a peg up thing that folds down into half and can slide down the side of the cupboard, which I brought in b and m yesterday that can hang up in bathroom or utility or the line for period pants and other little items. Just want to encourage them both!

I have similar for me - just need to sort my own.

I went in this morning and both had two pairs on dirty socks on the sock dock. I’ve said no washing until it is full - then you put in the machine with a normal load and then we will hang up.

fingers crossed it is sorted

little things that grow stupid and then cause stress! We will move on to other organisational things soon - I might have to join a decluttering thread.

I binned a whole sports direct sized bag yesterday after spending a whole hour pairing what I could.

Partner buys loads of black socks in 2 styles - thick for work, thin for home. Me and my daughter have loads of colourful socks that you'd think would make it easier to pair. Then we have trainer socks which I've tried in massive multipacks of white, patterned and neons.

It doesn't matter what you do, you'll still never ever pair the fuckers.

Check out also Popasox.com the socks that are paired together using snap poppers.

I think the tag at the top of those popasox would annoy the hell out of me. Neat idea though.
Although at £5.50 a pair it’s a little bit more expensive than the 9 pairs for £11 in Tesco that I paid yesterday!
so far they have taken to the new system well! Sockdock is working.

if they can keep the two together great 👍

You can recycle them in our local rag bag so I’m doing that at the weekend!

I have trained everyone to tack each pair of socks together with a safety pin as soon as they take them off – so they get washed, dried and put away as a pair.

I did the half term odd sock sort yesterday.

I shove all unmatched socks in a massive drawer with colour coded packing cubes all half term, then early in the hols spend a soothing hour getting them all out & buddying them up.

The remaining 'odds' go back in the five packing cubes by colour (black, black with coloured bits, white, red/orange/yellow/brown, blue/green/purple). Just in case their twin turns up before the next holiday.

I'm fairly ruthless with plain black or navy socks. They get buddied up with anything that even vaguely matches!

We do have 100s of socks. We all seem to get tons of them every Xmas. Plus a few years ago, I got fed up with huge footed teenagers endlessly pinching MY socks & bought about 50 pairs in the most lurid designs I could find (they still nick them...).

We live overseas in a developing country, & there's a thriving textile recycling industry, so I donate all odd socks twice a year before we travel at Xmas & in the summer.

We just wear odd socks. Problem solved 😂

Both DH and DS are happy to wear odd socks.