Everyone seems to have that problem of a few sock casualties each time the laundry is done. Despite numerous hints from Heloise we can’t seem to develop a way to solve the issue. Until I discovered Greg’s method, which answered and raised a lot of questions.
Step 1: Don’t do laundry, ever.
If Step 1 is not an option, try Step 2.
Step 2: When finished with laundry, gather all clean, loose socks without mates and immediately place them back in dirty laundry hamper to see if they will find mates magically. Repeat cycle until socks are all paired up by magic. Doing this 6 or 7 times may produce more missing socks, as the socks without mates from the next batch will compile onto the current batches. Also, DO NOT try to look in drawers for any lost socks that wife may have come across and stored away for you. DO take wife’s socks and claim them as your own, even though they do not fit feet.
If Step 2, surprisingly, does not work, proceed to Step 3.
Step 3: At this point, you should be noticing a difference in your laundry. Perhaps more socks are now going missing than ever now if you have been diligently adhering to Step 2. The final step is to take all the socks that have now lived in laundry purgatory for 6 or 7 washes and throw them in the trash. That’s right! Throw them away! This includes wife’s socks that you think are yours that may have mates appropriately living in wife’s drawers. Perfectly good socks that have been tortured by living in the laundry hamper have no use without their pairs. Again, do NOT check in drawers for possible large pile of single socks that will now forever be mateless.
This is the methodology I had accidentally stumbled upon one day doing laundry. While I can’t quite figure out a system myself, I didn’t think Greg’s running system was helping. Any suggestions of solutions from the blogosphere?
Oh Greg, that is just embarrassing.
My solution is I keep the solo socks at the side of my sock drawer, hoping the mate shows up in the next wash.
I tend to do what J-Lo does, but I have a related question. If, after years, you still have socks that are mateless, what do you do with them? I have solo socks that I have moved across state lines, and I know their mate is never showing up. Do I throw them away? Does Goodwill have any use for single socks?
Also, have you seen the Up All Night episode about how to fold socks? Hilarious.
PAH-hahahahaha!!! No advice here, just lots and lots of laughter : D
But, I’m with Stef… (not about the J-Lo thing, no clue what that means ; ) but about the single socks. So, I too only pose more questions. Oopsies.
Other than the part about wearing the wife’s socks, I’ve been guilty of this method… so I’m ok with it. The magical re-pairing of single socks by putting them back into the laundry does happen. As for Katie, she has been successfully following Step 1 for years!
This is hilarious! My method is to keep an old show box in my closet with the solo socks. After several weeks, when it is usually overflowing I bring it out and tend to find a few matches. Somehow after the few matches are made I can’t bring my self to throw away the still solo socks… I guess I’m hoping in another few weeks I’ll find their missing mate. And I’m also sure I have some socks in the solo shoe box that belong to previous roommates… I wonder if they still have the mate?