Everyone’s talking New Year’s Resolutions and life-changing goals. Me? I’m talking socks. Have you noticed? That your collection of socks has a tendency to wear out. Toes poke through and heels wear bare. Little feet become big feet and there are perfectly good but no longer wearable socks left behind. In the sock basket. Making it really full, in danger of overflowing. Which means – Out with the old, in with the new! This month we purged and tossed and then replenished our supply.
Growing up we had a sock basket. Socks rarely got matched and rolled into pretty little bundles all lined up in the dresser drawer. My mom decided it wasn’t worth the time or effort it took to sort out socks for 4 girls close in age who wear similar sizes but have very different taste and style and could be quite vocal if their socks ended up in their sister’s drawer. It was just easier to let us dig for ourselves. And so the Sock Basket became a permanent storage place, it was our system, it worked.
Fast forward a few years and I am laundry for 7 people (down from 10!) and in our household we have a sock basket. When I had 1 and 2 little ones I could keep their cute little socks all matched and folded and organized. Now? Not worth the time and effort. Let’s do the math. 7 people = 14 feet. 7 days/week X 17 feet = 98 socks. Add in an extra couple changes of clothes per person per week, fancy dress up socks for Sunday, extra socks for layering when playing in the snow and we are talking a rather large collection of socks. So, I wash the socks (provided they make it to the laundry room) and I leave it up to each individual – if they want their socks all neatly lined up beautifully in their dresser drawer, I am happy to let THEM do it. If not, I’m happy to know they have socks in the basket to keep their little (and not-so-little) tootsies warm.
Do you have an overwhelming number of socks in your home? How do you handle the upkeep and maintenance?
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Our children loved matching the socks. What fun we had learning doing practical things. your post captures the memories for me 🙂 Thank you!
I have used sock-matching as a school activity more than once. And sock-basketball for indoor P.E. Have a blessed weekend, Jacqueline 🙂
While I don’t subscribe to all things Duggar, I’ve always liked how they have all their clothes organized right in the laundry room with bins for each kid or actually I think they organize clothes by size not child.
I have heard about the Duggar’s Family Closet system. If I knew when we built this house that we’d go from 4 children to 8 children in just a few short years, I’d have added one onto our laundry room! How nice it would be to take clothing from dryer straight to bins and racks. Thank you for stopping by, Sylvia – have a blessed weekend!
Socks are driving me crazy! My boys can wear through a nice, new, thick pair of socks in an hour! I have no idea how they do this. It must be some strange boy talent. Maybe I should surrender and try your system 🙂
Thanks for sharing at Family Fun Friday! I’m featuring you tomorrow. 🙂
You are right. It’s a boy talent! After 4 boys I’m convinced of that! I decided it was one battle that wasn’t worth fighting. I’ll put my energy elsewhere!
Always enjoy linking up at Family Fun Friday. Thanks for hosting, and thank you for the feature! Have a blessed week.
Glad your sock basket was featured on Family Fun Friday! Anything to make tasks easier…great idea! Blessings!
Thank you Diane 🙂 I’m all for making life easier! Have a wonderful rest of the week!
We have 7 pairs of feet in our house. I’ve conquered the sock problem by teaching all of my kids to fold and put away their own laundry. My oldest 3 (7, 8, 10) even wash and dry their own laundry! For the baby (8 months) I have a lingerie bag hanging near the changing table. When the socks come off his feet they go in the bag. That way I seldom lose his little socks and they don’t get mixed in with the big kids’ clothes. Congrats on being featured on Family Fun Friday!