SOCKS!!!!

If you know me at all, you have heard me complain about socks.  I think they are horrible, evil and nasty.  But they are a necessary evil in the midwest.  Fortunately, for me, during the summer months my girls like to be barefoot or in sandals/flip flops, so we have few socks to deal with.

Several years ago, my husband issued a decree that has made socks almost bearable around here.  Almost.  We all wear white socks.  The only exception is Daddy and his socks for work, which are brown or black. Okay, that's not true.  I have my winter long socks that I wear with my shorter skirts to keep my lets warm.  They are all funny colored.  Next, each person not only wears white socks everyday, but they have only one type of sock, all their socks match.  Then, twice a year I buy all new socks.  It is expensive, but worth it.  I throw away all the socks (or if they are still reasonable, I donate them to my much more organized and less sock picky mommy friend).

To further help, each different size of sock is different.  For example, the oldest boy has a blue strip across his toe.  The middle boy has a green stripe.  The littlest girl has pink.  The two older girls wear the same size sock, so they both have purple toes.  If they share a sock size, they share socks.  They don't get to bicker about whose sock is whose.  I just don't care.  Daddy's socks are gray heeled and Mommies have pink words written across the toe.  When we buy socks next, we will all get a different brand/style so that the old ones are easily identifiable in the purging process.

Now when we do whites, all the socks get washed in that one load, rather than having only yellow socks to wear with a pink outfit or something, or worse, only one yellow and one pink sock to wear.  They aren't cute, but they are work.  We've done it so long that no one cares, even the girls.  It's just life. 

When we sort the clean load of whites, we put each person's sock into their own stack, but I don't fold.  If a person wants to fold their socks (including Daddy who is the pickiest sock person in the family), they fold their own.  If there is a stray sock, it goes in the drawer unmated so that we know where it will be when next we find a stray.  Since they all match, it doesn't matter!

This is the best sock solution this untidy disorganized mom of 6 has ever had.  It works for us!

I'm linking this up with Raising Arrows Large Family Organization Tips.