Sock without partners

[napless]

Years ago, I got tired of the unending job of trying to match up unmatched socks. Now I have a small basket that we call the "lost partner basket". When I am folding laundry, any sock without a partner goes into the basket. When the basket fills up, I get one of the boys to go through it and match up pairs. It's kind of a fun job, and they like it. If a sock has been in the basket for months with no partner in sight, it becomes a cleaning cloth.

[Irishmommy]

I never match socks for the kids. They just get a pile of single socks for their drawer, and it's up to them to sort or not. I have no idea how many odd socks they have! But I also buy packets of 6 or so pairs, so it's not too difficult to match.

I have to thank dd1 for that. She went through a long phase (which rubbed off on dd2) of refusing to wear matching socks, so there was no point in matching them for her. I love not having to match, though the thought of odd socks makes my OCD cry.

[SuzyLee]

I only buy giant bags of all the same socks for this reason. Even if another brand is on sale, I keep buying the same brand of socks so that we have matches when socks get lost or get holes.

[34me]

When my guys were little my dh used the excuse that he didn't know whose socks were whose so he couldn't possible match socks while He was staring at the TV. So for the last 8 or so years every person in the house wears a different brand. Then we do the lonely sock basket as well. It's great that your kiddo looked the land of lonely socks. What a huge help!

[MamaJenese]

It's funny I was just about to go clear out my socks without partners bag. This time since all my laundry is currently clean, therefore giving all my socks a chance to catch up with eachother, I will send all lonley socks to the rag drawer

[Ola_]

My youngest sister is currently in high school. Apparently it's "cool" to wear mismatched socks now because her and all her friends do it on purpose.

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by Ola_

My youngest sister is currently in high school. Apparently it's "cool" to wear mismatched socks now because her and all her friends do it on purpose.

My 15yo does that too. But, the socks need to be the same brand/style otherwise it's not comfortable. So, she has a huge package of socks (something like a dozen pairs) in different colors and prints that she mixes up. They're getting worn out, so she got a second package of the same brand and cut (this time in solids, but still in fun colors, because that's all they had.)

DD2 isn't really into the whole "fancy socks" business at all. She bought the same socks as DD1, but in the package of all white (which is what I used to do when they were babies.) Then, for the winter, she got a different brand and style of plain white socks that come up higher.

DS has about a dozen matching pairs of plain white athletic socks, and several packages of identical dress socks. I would have preferred to get the dress socks EXACTLY the same, but they were only available in 2-packs containing one solid and one textured sock. He does have 3 of the same package, though, so 3 pairs of each style. I intend to do the same thing (1 dozen pair of athletic socks and half a dozen dress socks) when he outgrows the ones he currently has.

[Irishmommy]

Originally Posted by Ola_

My youngest sister is currently in high school. Apparently it's "cool" to wear mismatched socks now because her and all her friends do it on purpose.

See, my kids are trendsetters.

Have you seen these: http://www.littlemissmatched.com/ They come in sets of three.

[philomom]

Originally Posted by napless

Years ago, I got tired of the unending job of trying to match up unmatched socks. Now I have a small basket that we call the "lost partner basket". When I am folding laundry, any sock without a partner goes into the basket. When the basket fills up, I get one of the boys to go through it and match up pairs. It's kind of a fun job, and they like it. If a sock has been in the basket for months with no partner in sight, it becomes a cleaning cloth.

I do the very same thing.

[bobandjess99]

I used to do that, but it's annoying and time consuming.
So, we simplified, and the kids all now just have plain white socks, so there is no such thing as a mismatch. All the socks are the same. Sure, as we lose them, there might be an "extra" one, but hey, we'll lose another one and then it's even again.
no more worrying about socks ever again!!!!

[3plus2isme]

I do exactly as the OPer. The bottom drawer of my dresser is designated to all the single socks and when I can't close the drawer anymore or we run out of matched socks they get matched up to their partner Thank goodness we seem to have a lot of socks because I hate matching them... good idea getting the kids to help - I didn't even think of that

[Drummer's Wife]

I try to buy the same socks, or at least a ton of the same brand/color for my 3 boys. They can all share socks, so that helps. We have a lot of mismatched socks still sitting around in bags/bins and I am seriously about to toss them all. I hate matching socks, hate it. and I just want to get rid of any that don't fit the current socks we are using (gymboree, TCP, and some target circo). I'm not doing white anymore, either, b/c they get dingy and I feel like I have to find similarily bright socks to partner them. ugh. My boys now have brown, tan, and grey.

[koofie]

I have a drawer under my dryer that has a space for unmatched socks. It is very convenient, and it is amazing how long an unmatched sock can be in there until voila! The match shows up (usually around the time DD1 cleans her room). I've used the unmatched socks annually as sock puppets or dust rags, and now that I'm washing with soap nuts I'll grab one out when I can't find one of the bags for the soap nuts. A long sock tied at the end works great!

[*bejeweled*]

I never match socks either. That's up to DD.