7 Quick Tips for Organizing Socks

source: Telstar Logistics

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One of the most time-consuming, frustrating and puzzling aspects of laundry for most people is…socks.

Where do all of those missing socks go? How do you sort socks when you have a half dozen tiny feet who wear just slightly different sizes? Why don’t both socks of a pair ever make it into the same load of laundry?

Below are seven tips you can mix-and-match to help you keep those socks together!

1. Use a mesh laundry bag for all socks.

The downside to this one is you have to actually get all the socks in there in the first place, because who wants to go digging through the dirty laundry for socks?! However, I do love to do this for baby socks, especially after we learned that those tiny socks are small enough to get sucked into the drain pipe of the washer and clog the whole thing up!

2. Use small clothes pins to clip pairs of socks together.

Again, you’re going to have to make sure you do it as the pairs go in the basket, and I’m afraid this could be a noisy solution as well! Depending on when you do laundry and where your laundry room is, though, the potential noise may be worth a try!

3. Buy a different type/color sock per child.

For example, buy your 2-year-old daughter pink ankle socks, your 4-year-old son black socks and your 7-year-old son white socks with a grey toe and heel.

4. Label each pair of sock with a “dot system.”

Take a permanent marker and make one small dot on the underside of your oldest child’s socks. Add two small dots to your next child’s socks and so on. You will be able to quickly see which socks belong to which child. And if you pass socks down (if your socks last from one child to the next, I’d like to know how you get them to do that!), you can simply add a dot.

5. Buy Old Navy’s children socks.

I love these socks, which are labeled with the size as part of the no-slip grip on the soles. This is the way I do it, and even my 4-year-old can help me sort the socks, practicing her number recognition while she helps!

6. Keep a basket for lonely socks in your laundry room.

There’s no point in putting a lonely sock away without its missing half. Keep them in the laundry room so that you’ll be able to quickly match them when the other sock shows up!

7. Only buy one type of sock and just buy 1 or 2 colors.

This is similar to Tip #3, but also works for adults. Rather than having to worry about sorting and matching the socks, you can simply stuff, pile or neatly lay them in your drawer (depending on your personality type!) and still be able to quickly grab a pair when needed.

Do you often end up with missing socks? What tricks do you use to help keep socks together?