ok, we can't do community socks. some kids wear no show, some wear crew, and some have sensory issues so everyone has their own.

Right now, I go once a year and throw away every sock in the house. I buy each person 6 pairs of socks and mark them with the 1st letter of their name and mark pairs. For example-Chelsea's socks say C1, C1; C2, C2... and Brian's socks say B1, B1; B2, B2...etc. This way, when a sock goes missing we know which one to look for. Also, I buy the Auro socks at Target that have rings on them so I know who it belongs to without question.

Is there a more efficient way? Socks are always lost, and put into the wrong person's draw so I thought this might work better. It does cut down on the wrong socks in some one's drawers but it's expensive we still have socks go missing. What am I doing wrong?

What is an Auro Sock?

pin them together when not being worn. You either lose a pair or none that way :) Makes laundry easier too when it comes to sorting :)

pin them together when not being worn. You either lose a pair or none that way :) Makes laundry easier too when it comes to sorting :)

Yep! That's what we did at my overnight summer camp for laundry!

WE can't do community either for just about the same reasons. Dh could pin his together but his are usually not the issue.. nor mine but the children.... they take them off any place in the house. The do sometimes pick them up (when I catch the offender leaving them where they took them off :smirk: ) but other times, I don't know who did it and sometimes they don't match when they put them on. Dh has threatened to throw all the socks away. We have a HUGE bag that we will dump on occasion and have a "sock party". All the kids know what I mean if they can't find some socks and I say, "Go look in the sock party". They can usually scrounge up a pair there.

ACK!! I wish there was a better way for us!!!

sorry, double post!!

We just buy new socks. All of our socks end up community socks. At one point, I bought PINK socks for me, because the boys kept stealing mine, but it turns out, they don't care. They'll wear pink socks in a pinch.

Auro socks have rings on the toe. 1 ring for small, 2 for med, 3 for Large. This way, I know whose socks it is by looking at the ring. Jake wears small, Josh wears med and Emily wears large. Libby wears no show, Brian wears man socks (but not like DH's) and Chelsea never wears cotton socks. DH and I have sensory issues so we wear really thin socks so ours are never confused with the older children's socks.

I am going to have to look into pinning them. That's a lot of pins though LOL. Each child has 6 pr of socks!

Pinning never worked for us - so many small children that it was too huge a project for me after the first couple of weeks.

I do not sort socks at all. We get what each person prefers. Then, as the laundry is done I dump/fold it on my bed. Below my bed are two huge, lidless rubbermaid-type containers which I slide out while I fold laundry.

And then, folks, segregation is alive at my house . . . one container is "whites only" and the other is all colored socks. After laundry is done, bin slid back under bed.

Anytime anyone needs a pair of socks, they go and find themselves a pair. Big sibs will find a pair for little sibs when they need a pair.

We do the "sock party" twice a year to weed out the sad and lonely singles.

And the exception is the baby, as his wee socks need to be washed in a net bag or they disappear into the dryer filter.

And then, folks, segregation is alive at my house . . . one container is "whites only" and the other is all colored socks. After laundry is done, bin slid back under bed.



LOL!!!

okay when my tired brain read the title of the post i thought, is she talking about going to a community sock hop?! i really need to go to bed lol. but we mark the socks w/permanent market as well. dh's are easy to spot because he always wears higher ones that go up his calf so his work boots aren't rubbing against bare skin, but mine, oldest ds and dd's are too similar to tell apart if they aren't marked...and now the youngest 2 boys are really similar in size as well so they get marked. but it does wear off after awhile and that stinks.
hey i was just thinking if seperate colors of thread sewn into the toe would work for us as well as others? each person would have their own color and it wouldn't wear off...just a thought...i might try it out

Well I just make sure everyone has a different type of sock. I don't mark ours as that is more time than I want to spend on socks. G has crew socks, E has a mid crew length with gray soles and a green stripe on the toe. J is wearing hand me downs from G and E so his are mostly gymbo and other seemless socks. The baby doesn't wear socks too often. I just plan on continuing to buy them different types so they are easy to sort.

My girlfriend does the pin thing with her and dh and 5 dc. Her kids are old enough that they do their own socks (it wouldn't work for me because I would have to pin the littles anyway). But they keep the pin in one sock while they wear them (safety pin) and then just pin the socks together when they take them off.

Socks are a curse in my mind! I currently have a small pile of about 5 socks that don't have a mate and I have no clue where they could have gone to.

I wish I could solve my missing socks mystery too ! :) My ds3 only has 1 pair now since he's always taking them off !:) I have tons of lonely socks from all of us in the house lying in the drawers, on the dryer, ........:(

My grandma had 8 kids and would assign a color to each kid - sewing an "x" in one color of thread at the toe so she knew whose it was right out of the dryer.

We buy funky and fun socks and just have a basket of "orphans" that we pull out when we fold laundry. The kids don't wear socks that often, though. They mostly wear sandals or crocs these days.

We have a sock basket. As I do laundry I throw them in there. I do not wash by colors much anymore lol I wash clothes, towels and diapers those are my three seperate loads. If I try and do light darks and whites I just fall behind. I throw all the socks in the basket and each person is on their own. If there is a hole I just throw it out. About every other month I get tired of looking for pairs so when I am watching tv I will go through it and match. Whatever doesn't have a pair gets thrown back in the basket, maybe the mate will show up maybe it won't lol If it is a patterened sock I can tell after a few matching sessions that it has been by it's lonesome long enough it's time to pitch it. The regular ones though I figure it's mate may have gotten a hole and tossed so I'll hang onto those then when another like it get a hole it will have a mate again. The past month though I have been trying to match at least every other week. When I have to find socks for me and the two littles it takes time and I think wouldn't be easier if I could just grab a pair and I get aggravated. Thank goodness summer is almost here and they can all be in sandles again lol

I second the different color X's sewn into/near the toe. I'll have to do that soon too, Mom always did it and we rarely had loners.

I like the X idea buuuuut, what happens when the children take their socks off hither and yon and ya just can't find the other sock. Or when a sock hitchhikes into a drawer, etc. We have a garbage bag full of these crazy socks and will have a "sock party" to try to put matches together. The leftovers, I can't bear to throw out for fear of finding that lost little sock one day. Help!! I am drowning in socks!!! :lol:

to make this easy on ME, this is the one spot I actually splurge!

I buy the kids socks that are hanes?? they have the hanes on the bottom of the socks in different colors according to size. (there is another brand too if you need 2 kids in the same size)

then when I am sorting socks, all I have to do is sort by color, and they all get their socks.

what really helped that I used to do and need to get back into is":
I had a small plastic box for each child. as I sorted socks, I would sort into each persons basket. then they were responsible for folding and putting away their own socks. if they needed a pair, they always knew where to find them.

I tell you, it was the easiest time ever with socks!

what really helped that I used to do and need to get back into is":
I had a small plastic box for each child. as I sorted socks, I would sort into each persons basket. then they were responsible for folding and putting away their own socks. if they needed a pair, they always knew where to find them.

great idea!!

ive tried about every trick there is and we just loose socks too quickly here, so we have a tupperware type box that socks get thrown into and if someone needs a pair of socks they are more than welcome to go and try and match a pair, i personally dont wear socks(almost never)i dont like the feel of them on my feet so i wear sandals and mules. My eldest daughter is pretty much the same way as me and hates socks too, my DH wears them because he has to look nice in his suits and stuff so i make sure he always has a matching pair, but everyone else takes care of themselves. About every 3-4 months i do go and see how many pairs i can match up out of the bin though. About a week later we will be back to the pile of socks.

I get those mesh laundry bags... and throw each person's socks into there. Then, I don't have to sort socks or fold them. I just throw the bag of clean socks in the drawer.

I buy the Hanes or Keds and they have diff. colors on the toe area so I don't have to figure out whose is whose.

When I fold laundry, I put clothes in the baskets sorted according to person and when I fold the socks together, the socks get put with that person's clothing stack. (I have possibly too many laundry baskets, but they are all in use at almost all times, so maybe not.)

When I have a single sock, I put it with the clothing stack and the kids put it in the drawer. Eventually, another sock will get lost (if it belongs to a boy, I've noticed) and then that child will have a match for the two singles.

I don't worry about lost socks and when socks get holes, we throw them out, keeping the other. I like having "spares". We have sock surplus around here, too, b/c I hate running out of clean socks and my kids can go thru at least 2 pr./day. (I hate wearing socks, so this isn't my issue. LOL)

My girls all have different socks and I know what belongs to who. With the orphans they all go in an emptied wipes box (the big cardboard refills box, kwim?) in my closet. Every time I wash, orphans go in there and when it's full (or when someone starts complaining they don't have any socks) they all get dumped on my bed and matched. Everyone gets a full top drawer again! :) It has gotten easier since I stopped sorting colors and just wash the girls stuff all at once.

I buy the Hanes socks as well...makes life much easier. :)