WFMW: The Sock Solution

Socks- the bane of my winter existence. Beginning in the fall, with the reappearance of tennis shoes and finally ending in that glorious day when we can buy new sandals at Walmart, socks in my house are a never-ending problem. With five children and two adults in our household, we wear approximately 98 socks a week- and that's assuming only pair a day! I find socks everywhere- under the couch, under the beds, stuffed behind the toilet in the bathroom, even abandoned in the back yard. I have resorted to becoming the sock sheriff, hunting down the hapless owners of these socks with a gusto that would make Sherlock Holmes proud. But wadded socks still appear under my couch. What's a mom to do?

Start Over.

My husband told me this for years. Being an engineer, he tends to prefer things well-ordered. Unfortunately, with five children, there is very little around him that is well-ordered... except his sock drawer. The house could be falling down around our ears, but he could lay hands on a matching pair of socks within 2 seconds. Here's his method: all socks look alike. He does not have tan socks, blue socks, brown socks, and designer striped socks. My well-ordered sock-man has black socks to wear with his dress pants and one style of white athletic socks to wear with his tennis shoes. And he can always find a match.

For years, he told me to do this to the kids, to throw out their old socks and give them one style. I just couldn't do it. The thrifty side of me could not bear the thought of throwing out perfectly good socks and spending money on new ones. I loved the little red socks with the airplanes on them, and the pink and purple striped socks that matched my daughter's hair bow. Instead, I had big Matching Parties every laundry cycle, where I would spread socks all over the living room and see which ones had mates that had finally turned up again. But one day... I had enough!

I went through the entire house and gathered every loose sock I could find. I matched them and sorted them into little baggies for the next yard sale and consignment sale- and surprisingly, made a nice little sum on socks alone! And then I started over. I went to Walmart and purchased different socks for each child- plain white for John Mark, white with gray heels for Philip, white with blue heels for Nathanael, white with pink heels for Becca, and so on. Over the years, I simplified my method even more: if you have kids who wear the same sock size, let them share socks! Just buy more of them. Girls can wear boys socks too- with shoes on, you can't tell if the heels are pink or gray.

Some of you fashionistas are shaking your head in horror at the thought of getting rid of dozens of cute socks. If your children wear perfectly matched socks with each of their perfectly matched outfits every day... well, you probably stopped reading before now. But here are the benefits of the one-sock method:

1) you can always find a mate

2) have a sock with a hole, or one that turned brown after the last Boy Scout campout? Throw it away- you have lots of others.

We have one large sock basket that I throw these socks into, and the sock basket is no longer a nightmare. The kids can easily lay hands on a matching pair of socks in their size. I have plain dress socks for them too, so they have black socks to wear to church.

And there it is... the sock solution. It works for me!

For more Works For Me Wednesdays, go to Rocks in My Dryer