To throw them out?

[beasmithwentworth]

The socks I mean. I have 2 teens and one lodger. I work all week then feel like I spend my weekends cleaning and hanging washing out as a lot of us do but the thing that fills me with rage is the odd socks. I’m at breaking point. So my plan is to throw all of the socks into the bin (I’ll allow a few sentimental pairs) and buy a job lot of black socks for all of us. Other exception will be DS 15 ‘needing’ his Nike socks. I’m understanding if nothing else. But apart from that. They are all going in the bin and being replaced with 5 thousand pairs of identical black socks so I will never have to worry about pairing again.

Unless there are some better ideas out there? I am so sick of putting the one sock from under the sofa in the washing machine anymore.

Do you all take the same size?
Do you all wear shoes/clothes that go with black socks?

You don't do the lodgers washing do you?

I would buy generic black socks for teens, nice fancy socks for yourself and the lodger does their own washing. Sorted.

Just shove them all in the drawers loose and let them pair their own socks or wear odd socks as they please. That’s what I do with my kids and husbands socks. I have loads of identical pairs of black socks for myself because I don’t want odd socks.

You need your own colours or styles unless you all wear the same size, trying to match 20 pairs of black socks when half are size 4-6 and half are size 9-11 is a pain in the arse. In this house DD has plain black as needed for school, I have black with colourful heel/toe which can be mixed and matched they do not have to be identical and DH has black sports socks.

Good point. DD is size 4, I’m 5 and DS 8. I’ll find a way to make it work such is my frustration ! We are all ok with universal black socks apart from DS ‘needing’ the white Nikes.DD steals them the whole time so we need to find a hiding place for those ones 🙄

i would be buying some nice individual socks for myself so I could identify those and just leaving the other socks in a pile for them to sort. I would not be doing my lodgers washing. You are creating work for yourself.

Lodger does her own washing but on occasions it all seems to gets mixed up. I forgot to mention one has ADHD (confusion with odd socks) and the other Is ADHD and autistic so can’t deal with the unexpectedness of odd socks which adds to the nightmare 🤔

Do one colour per person otherwise you are forever trying to find two same sized socks in a giant pile of identical socks.

We did the same for underwear too to make sorting out what belongs to who easy.

I’ve done this with both my teens. Multipack socks only for years. They pair them up. Life is too short.

You need sock pairers in a different colour or style for each person. Get them all together (eg at dinner), demo how to use the pairers, and state that this is how socks must be put in the laundry basket. Tell them quite firmly that unpaired socks will not be washed. They will be left in the laundry basket/on the floor/whatever your dirty laundry system is. And then follow through!

Sock pairers make sock laundry so much easier.

I have black socks with coloured toes and heels. Every other sock belongs to DP. This works perfectly re putting them in the right drawer.

Are you me? This is exactly how it is in my house 😂 apart from my 3 year olds whose obviously are too small to mix up

I always shoved the odd ones in a bag and then made them sort it ever so often.

It's a winning strategy!

My grandson (23) wears odd socks deliberately. You buy them, but they are not sold as odd socks, but non-matching. Save your money.

We have an odd sock tub, they all go in there till I’ve 10 mins, then I quickly pair them up. In the summer when I’m ahead on the washing basket any odd ones get thrown away !

You need to each have a style of sock.

I keep my crazy socks - easy to pair anyway because they stand out.
Older teen boy has his socks - bonds, white - younger teen has his own - next, white - dh has bonds black.
Everyone finds their own in the sock bag when they need them.
The key is not having too many pairs each. Too many pairs and it all gets out of hand but keeping it down to 7 pairs each, means there are less to sort through

Socks suck. I reckon I've spent a good portion of the last 30 years pairing socks. And DH is the worst of all ( complaining that they aren't exact pairs) so I said do your own damn socks. Which he does sometimes , the rest of the time he just buys pairs from the shops! Infuriating. And if you know what I mean you'll know that Bonds (purposefully I think ) does every shade of green and every shade of blue and grey. I hate them with a passion.

https://tinyurl.com/mrncvhe3

No lost socks

Goodness! Was someone rude about my sock post? How odd!

I'd start with one thorough check under beds etc then chuck out any single socks still not matched. Then make sock pairing a teenager job done in front of the TV once a week.

I definitely wouldn't go communal myself but you do you. it's easy enough to do separate colours each, eg DD plain black, you black with different patterened soles (though these might then want pairing) & DS his Nike ones or black with coloured toes.

@marigoldsareblooming how about leaving his unpaired? There's no rule they need to be paired before he gets them.

Are you normally able to identify and pair up your own socks after laundering? If so, I'd do that and leave the others - either all socks or any unpaired socks - out in a specific but kind of out-of-the way location like maybe a tote bag in the laundry area (so they can sit for a while without being in your way) for the other household members to review and take their own.

1. Let the lodger do their own!
2. (I find helpful, and it avoids having to share) Each teen has their own style, eg DS17 has Next white sports socks and plain black socks for school, DS15 has black socks with a bit of colour on the toe and heel, I have small socks and DH has colourful socks.

Amazing. This. A million times this.