Benjamin Franklin once said that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” But with all due respect to Mr. Franklin, I think his list of life’s certainties could use one minor update in order to capture our modern times. Because nowadays, nothing is truly certain but death, taxes, and losing a sock in the wash.
And in my opinion, a problem as universally vexing as lost socks demands a solution. Or better yet, several solutions, because it’s always good to have options! And that’s exactly what I’m offering in today’s blog post—three simple solutions that will help you stop losing socks in the wash for good. (I’ve also tossed in a little bonus tip about how to handle the socks that get left behind!)
Related: 6 Simple Solutions to Your Most Annoying Laundry Problems
We may not be able to do much about death or taxes, but we can learn to keep our sock collections intact. At least that much is certain! :-)
3 Easy Ways to Stop Losing Socks in the Wash
1. Homogenize Your Sock Collection
Consider replacing your current collection of socks with new, identical pairs. If you’re willing to sacrifice variety, making the switch to one style of sock can make your life a lot easier!
When all of your socks look the same, you never have to worry about pairing them up correctly. And because you’re not worrying about pairs, losing one isn’t as big of a deal.
2. Use a Mesh Laundry Bag
Zip all of your socks into a mesh laundry bag before doing laundry. Put your sock bag through both the washer and dryer, and the problem of lost socks is all but solved! (This can be especially helpful for tiny baby socks that are hard to keep track of.)
You can also use this system to make sure your socks make it into the wash in the first place. Just keep your mesh laundry bag in your hamper, and whenever you remove a pair of socks, zip them into the bag. That way you’ll be certain they’re all accounted for come laundry day!
3. Pin Socks Together
Pin pairs of socks together with a rust-resistant safety pin before putting them into the wash. (Or better yet, pin them together right after taking them off.) Keep them pinned through the wash, in the dryer, and even in your sock drawer.
Unpin the socks when you’re ready to put them on, and drop the safety pin into a small dish or bowl to reuse again and again!
Bonus Tip: Set Up a Sock Orphanage
Due to those mysterious laundry room forces that I doubt we’ll ever truly understand, a sock may still manage to turn up without its mate. Designate a jar or box in your laundry room as your “sock orphanage” and store the lonely socks there.
Once a month or so, do a quick inventory of your orphaned socks. Occasionally, you’ll find that one or two of the missing socks have actually turned up, and you’ll be able to reunite that pair! And for socks you haven’t been able to reunite, you can always put them to good use!
Looking for ways to use your old socks? Use them to…
- Dust your house
- Polish leather
- Shine your car
- Make a microwavable rice heating pad
Do you have a system for keeping socks together that I didn’t mention here?
More Ideas You'll Love
I have a pretty, shallow, square wicker basket on the dryer with a sign “looking for my soul mate” that single socks go into until their match shows up!!! =)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I trained my husband to use safety pins to pair his socks when he takes them off. Then he throws them in the laundry and when they come out they are automatically paired. It only took a few weeks to get him trained…. I just didn’t pair ANY socks… just threw all of his socks in a basket and said “have at it” and every morning he had to sort through socks and pair … a pair for work. Now while its not 100%.. and some types of socks – loosely knitted ones get tangled in the pin… for the most part it’s AWESOME!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My current system is sloppy but has worked for years: any unpaired socks sit on top of my dresser, so that when I find the mate it’s right there to pair up & put in the drawer. Also helps, like others have said, to simply stick to having all the same socks, with just a few variety pairs, i.e. some comfy fuzzies, dress socks, etc. Same for the hubby, but for his storage, instead of the dresser, we throw all his socks in a Rubbermaid tote, unmatched, & he simply finds 2 that look the same from the ankle down — if they’re the same colour, they are good enough for him! He learned this storage trick from his dad. I always pair mine; I don’t have the patience to sort through, as some of mine are anklet & others are crew.
Love the lingerie bag idea! I’ve been using one for years for my bras (waaay too lazy to hand wash each week). I had no idea that anything from the washer/dryer could slip through to where they don’t belong & wreak havoc on the machines!! Must invest in a couple new bags for the socks. That’ll fix my sloppy mismatch system as well!
Another little FYI: If you do decide to use a safety pin to keep the socks coralled in the washer/dryer, the pin will also act to eliminate static cling in the dryer!! I’ve been using a safety pin or 2 on my new homemade fabric softener sheets (another of your great inventions, Jillee!!) to get rid of static. I was shocked that this method actually works!!
Thanks again for all your nifty ideas, Jillee. I don’t comment often, but I read your blog every single day :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I always used to use a lingerie bag when I was still in a dorm with communal laundry—people would always move your stuff and take it out of the dryer, no matter how diligent you were, and socks would constantly fall behind the machines. The lingerie bag was a life saver for socks and underwear, so nothing got lost and you knew no one was actually touching your clean underwear, ick.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I fill orphaned socks with catnip for my kitty…. she loves the “toy” and I like to keep her happy! I’ve also used them for dusting rags (turned inside out)…
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I would like to know, what you can put in washing machine or dryer to,
Please log in or create a free account to comment.not have static cling? I live in Az. and boy is it DRY !!!!!
Thank You,
Sharon Evans
I read just recently (have not tried it, yet) to put a few safety pins in a old sock (how appropriate for this post!) and tie it shut. Just toss into the dryer with a load of wet clothes. Suppose to work great.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have a wire basket that sets between my washer and dryer that holds all our LOST SOCKS. Love the idea of the mesh bags and not putting loose socks and/or girls undies in the washer (to avoid jamming the machine)…..I also avoid musty/mildewy odors in the washer by using small bungee cords to hold open the door by hooking one to the door latch and the other to the wire basket…….CARRY ON
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Haiku of lost socks…….
oh abyss of eternal socks
Please log in or create a free account to comment.return them to me, my husband cries….
I will be grateful forever…
I hate pairing socks, so my hubby has a box and my daughter has a box in their closets. I toss the clean socks in and they can pair them up
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I just wanted to let you know that I LOVE the rag curtain you have hanging in your laundry room window. It is super cute :o)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When my brothers were teenagers, my mom insisted they pin their socks together. My dad did as well. He continued that practice long after my brothers were married with their own families. My dad is gone now so this post made me smile, remembering him.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We call it the sock box. I have one for white socks and one for dark socks. I also save the good sock when the match has a hole. Since I buy socks in packages, I know a match will come up eventually.
With three boys (one chews up socks as he runs track), I wash a lot of socks! This was a fun column, thanks!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When my fiance and I moved in together we split up certain cleaning jobs – I hate doing dishes and he hates laundry, so he does the dishes and I do the laundry, it works out! Immediately, I realized his socks were all over the place. He’d collected various socks throughout the years, ones with holes had been tossed (sometimes) and he had “matching” pairs that weren’t actually matching… last Thanksgiving we visited my family in Washington, where they have a store called Fred Meyer that does a half-price sock sale on Black Friday. I replaced ALL of my fiance’s socks so I knew they were all matched up.
Since we don’t have an actual laundry room – our laundry is in a closet in the hallway – I sort and fold our laundry in our bedroom. My sock orphanage is currently a pile on the dresser. While I’m doing laundry I don’t hunt around for matching socks, I just throw all the clean ones in a pile on the bed and when I’m through folding and putting away the rest of the clothes, I go through the pile and match. Any that are missing their friends get added to the dresser pile to wait for the next load to come out.
I do need to come up with a better system for getting rid of the permanently-orphaned socks though. Some way of organizing those socks so I know which ones have been sitting in the pile for more than a month.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great suggestions! Yesterday I ended up playing “I know the pair for this sock is in this laundry somewhere, but where is it?”.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I live alone, you would think that I’d be able to keep my socks together. sigh It’s that washer gremlin.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Downtown Disney has a store that perhaps is the cause and solution. LittleMissMatched is its name.
At this house I stopped pairing them up when the boys were toddlers. If its clean its fair game. If any one was bugged by that-they had to match their own. No one ever cared enough.
Our reactions when people point it out:
Even DH (who wears a suit & tie everyday–yep even weekends) doesn’t care–he says, “if it was good enough for Einstein it is good enough for me”.
I am a middle school teacher and students that age can be brutal. I tell them “I have another pair just like them at home”. Then I say–“think it through”.
Our boys would act dumb & say, “they come in sets?”
TRUE STORY: When our oldest was a toddler his father had the task of dressing him one morning because I had to go out early. He searched high & low to find matching socks to avoid scrutiny by the family. Later that day we met back up at his parents’ house. He was dressed fine but I noticed his socks were on upside down. When I said that I got the strangest looks until I pointed out that the ice cream cone on his sock was upside down-therefore the sock was upside down. Actually the sock was an just inside out anklet (I know– on a boy–hey it was blue). So when an anklet is inside out and the top not folded down ,the sock design becomes upside down. Jillee-this may require a Tutorial for How to Put On Socks.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.haha! I think you are right CTY! too funny!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Exactly!!’ My livestock don’t care if my socks match, and I don’t care about anyone else’s opinion! Lol!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We solved the lonlely sock problem many years ago. When socks come off, they are turned inside out and rolled together as a ball and thrown in the laundry basket. When washing the pair is turned right side out. I wash a load of nothing but socks. Two go in – two come out. Never have lost socks. My kids moved out many years ago, but I do the same thing for mine and my hubs and it still works.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I stopped having the sock bin years ago. I hated going through and trying to match the socks and still not finding matches.
Instead, I started buying a different style for each person. This helped with the mismatched size issue as well as knowing whose socks they actually were.
Now when the clothes are sorted, for our family of 8, any lonely sock is put in the proper persons pile and put away in a separate part of the drawer. When they are putting their clothes away, they can match them then, or at least have all their socks in the drawer when needed.
We have not been afflicted with the mismatched sock trend, so I always put one sock totally inside the other when matching. This works great for no show socks all the way to long athletic socks. This has really helped with matches coming undone in the drawer, prevents stretched out elastic from folding the tops over, as well as the fact that it is easier to see what sock it actually is (my husband always likes to fold his into a ball…not real easy to ID from that state).
I may have to instigate the mesh bag idea though. That would definitely make sorting socks for us much simpler. I just wonder if I can get my 6 males to actually use the system… :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I used to have that problem a lot. Now I tell everyone in the family to roll their socks in a ball before they throw them in the hamper. Yes, I have to unroll them before laundering, but at least this way they always end up together in the same load of wash. They are much more compliant in doing this than in pinning them haha.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have used a box sock orphanage for a few years now. The only problem is (and please someone tell me their husband does this too) if my husband, who wears both dark and light dress socks during the week get a hole in one of his socks he will throw away only the one sock and go get something out of the orphanage. And then I end up with the perpetual rotation of socks that really do have a mate but I spend weeks trying to meet up again. I think I am going to get my son one of the mesh bags. He wears all the same socks. He insist on doing his own laundry which is nice but his socks are usually standing on their own by the time they get washed. Oh well at least they both have so many other good quality’s.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You know those rings on the plastic milk jugs? The ones that hold the lid on? then they flop around on the top of the jug once the milk has been opened?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You can use those to keep socks together, pull the socks through the ring. Toss in hamper, washer, dryer and drawer.
What a great idea! But my girls’ socks are those super thin. Will they hold? Also, do they get clean…er….and dry…in the part that gathers?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.As I kid my mom, sister and I were in the car and noticed a sock on the side of the road. My mom says “That’s how far it got”. My sister and I looked at her and asked what she meant, she said “you know when you pull clothes out of the dryer and you are missing a sock. Well, the other one presses itself against the inside of the dryer where you can’t see it and when you’re not looking it escapes. So when you see it on the side of the road that’s as far as it got.”
Please log in or create a free account to comment.After a stunned moment my sister and I laughed our butts off. It has become on of our running family jokes, that my nephew (19) and niece (15) both know and tell their friends.
Loved the tips and will try a few now that I have two small stepsons that are constantly missing things.
Love to all.
hahahaha
Please log in or create a free account to comment.How funny that so many of our daughters just wear mismatched socks!!!! I have 3 girls (and an older son who thinks this is ridiculous) and a 5 year old son who apparently thinks this is cool so he deliberately unmatches his socks and says it’s a “crazy sock day”. My hubby started buying all black socks because he said I kept giving his away to my oldest boy but truth be known, if you knew my hubby you would know they walked away on their own! I don’t bother matching socks either, it usually ends up being “The Great Sock Swap” anyway!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great ideas and cute orphanage story! lol I used all my leftover socks to wrap delicate items in for extra cushion when I moved.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My daughters, too, wear mismatched socks- they started because my brother (their favorite uncle) was wearing them-he lived in a house with six other guys, and they all kept stealing his socks, so he bought socks in lime green, hot pink, neon yellows and oranges-he never had his socks stolen again. I am constantly losing my son’s(2) little socks though! We have the sock basket. All socks get thrown in there when they come out of the wash, and maybe once a month I go through and match them all. I hate matching socks. Waiting (im)patiently for summer so socks don’t have to be worn!
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