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We're constantly losing one sock in a pair. I started keeping unmatched socks in a bag as I put laundry away. Every time I'm putting a load of laundry away, I check the unmatched sock bag in case I can find a sock to match the "new" unmatched socks. Sure enough, I'll be able to match up one or two pairs while two or three pairs of unmatched socks go into the bag. Don't ask me why the bag is growing but at least I'm matching some socks instead of throwing them out before I find their partner.
By Denise Gamelo from Whitby, ON
Buy socks that are all alike. I store them without folding them into each other also. They stretch out faster if you fold them into a ball. The advantages to this practice: no matching-up socks and when one wears out, gets a hole or gets lost you have automatic replacements.
You can still buy socks of different kinds. I have white socks for tennis shoes and dress socks, but the whites are all alike and the dress socks are all black and alike. I think this saves money in the long run.
By Vicki from Dallas, TX
I bought the net type washing bags for lingerie and delicate things. Each person in the family has a sock bag. The dirty socks are put in each person's bag, then I wash them and dry them in the bag.
The one item I never put into a dryer is socks, because they always seem to shrink in there. So instead they get hung on the washing line on good days, or indoors on a foldaway airer on rainy days.
Instead of using those plastic over-the-door shoe organizers for shoes, I use mine to organize our socks! After taking the socks out of the dryer, I just roll them up and place a pair in each pocket of the shoe organizer (I do this with pantyhose and knee-highs too).
When doing laundry I always have socks that don't come out with their match partner! Instead of just throwing the single sock into the sock drawer I propped a plastic utility basket up between the top part of the dryer and the wall.
To prevent losing socks in washer and dryer, pin the pair together with safety pins.
My three year old loves to play matching games. So when I am sorting and folding the laundry, I plop a large pile of socks in front of her to match up. She thinks it is a game and I get my laundry chore done faster!
With three kids in elementary school at the same time, keeping up with socks was not working, I got three packs (6 pair each) of white socks on sale that fit everyone.
I bought one of those mini square plastic baskets that look like a small laundry basket and placed it on the closet shelves above our hanging clothes. I use it for socks instead of a drawer, it frees up drawer space.
I keep a cork board hung up in the laundry room. Each time I fold socks I take the strays and pin them up to the board. Next time I have strays, I check the board which usually has the match.
I keep sock pairs matched so they are worn the same number of times, by numbering them when I take them out of a package. Starting with #1 on a pair, after washing simply match up the numbers.
One of the best ways I've found to organize my socks is using these sock drawer organizer boxes from HomePro Goods. You can use them in several ways depending on the thickness of your socks and season.
I use the dividers in glass bottle beer cases as sock dividers in my drawers. These dividers work just as well as the commercially sold ones in the organizational stores, but they are free.
Organizer for Kids Socks. I have recently discovered that there actually is a solution for mismatched baby and kid socks! No more lonely socks hanging out at the back of enormous dresser drawers.
When my children were home we could never match socks for each person. So I decided for my husband and son that one person got the solid white crews/tube sock and the other person got socks with stripes.