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Is there anything more disheartening than pulling a single sock out of the dryer and realizing its mate is nowhere to be found? While we may never solve the mystery of where all our lost socks actually end up, we can make sure their lonely mates get put to better use.
In fact, there are plenty of reasons to never throw out a single sock again! From dusting to keeping your holiday wrapping tools organized, there are endless opportunities to utilize those lonely socks.
And if you don’t have any lonely, single socks, no problem! You can also use socks that have holes, socks you wore once and decided you didn’t like, socks that don’t seem to belong to anyone in your household, and so on. Any old sock will do—just make sure to wash them before you put them to work!
11 Practical Uses For Old Socks
1. Keep Wrapping Paper In Place
To keep wrapping paper securely rolled on its cardboard tube, try cutting off the cuff part of a crew sock and sliding it over the roll. The elastic in the sock will hold the roll together, making them easier to organize and reducing the risk of folding and tearing.
2. Cover Your Swiffer
Recruit a sock as a reusable (and thus more eco-friendly) cover for your Swiffer Sweeper, or any other type of dry mop. Just stretch it over the base and get sweeting, and if you happen to have a fuzzy sock, even better—those fuzzy fibers are excellent at trapping dust and hair.
3. Protect Shoes While Painting
Tired of ruining perfectly good shoes with accidental paint splatters while working on craft or home improvement projects? The next time you need to paint something, slide a pair of large or stretchy socks over your shoes keep any potential paint splatters from falling on them.
4. Prevent Foggy Windshields
Chilly weather outside and a warm body inside is a recipe for a fogged-up car windshield. To help keep your windshield fog-free, fill a couple of socks with silica kitty litter (which absorbs moisture very efficiently), tie them off, and set them at the front of your car’s dashboard.
For more ways to use these absorbent cat litter socks, check out this list.
5. Make An Ice Pack
Whether you’re healing from an injury, suffering from inflammation, or are just plain accident-prone, the cooling effect of an ice pack can work wonders. Instead of rushing to the pharmacy to buy a cold pack, just fill a ziplock bag with ice and tuck it into a sock for cooling relief that isn’t painfully cold.
6. Relieve Dry Skin
Colder weather already drying out your feet? Give them an overnight moisturizing treatment by slathering them in lotion (or my super-moisturizing homemade “Naked Salve”) and covering them with socks before climbing into bed. You’ll wake up with softer, smoother, more hydrated skin every time!
7. Make Fragrant Sachets
You can use a sock as a simple sachet to help keep your closets and dresser drawers smelling fresh and keep that stale aroma at bay. Add a scoop of dried flowers and herbs to a sock (lavender flowers are always a good choice), knot it, and stash it wherever you keep clothes and linens around the house.
8. Deodorize Shoes
Fill a couple of spare socks with baking soda and leave them in a pair of smelly shoes overnight to deodorize them. Baking soda is highly absorbent, and can help remove moisture and unpleasant odors at the same time.
9. Clean Nooks And Crannies
Your hands are often your most useful tools, including when cleaning up around the house. Pull a sock over your hand and use it (with a cleaner or dampened with water) to wipe the slats of your window blinds, along baseboards and molding, in tight corners, and to get grime out of your car’s cup holders. You can also keep a sock in your car or near a whiteboard to use as a cleaning cloth.
10. Corral Game Pieces
If your family is anything like mine, then you know there’s plenty enough drama during family game night without adding a never-ending hunt for crucial pieces to the equation. If it seems like you’re always searching for the same pieces, tuck them into a clean sock and tie it off. That way, they’ll be easy to find the next time you go to play.
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11. Protect Fragile Items In Storage
From Christmas ornaments to delicate trinkets, fragile items can be damaged when you pack them away if they aren’t properly protected. Avoid the heartache of a broken item by placing small, breakable items inside a sock before packing them away.
Do you have any clever uses for socks you would add to this list?
