Thursday, May 3, 2007

Sorting the Socks - Or Not

many colored socks in drawers - one just tossed in, one using drawer dividers

Does the picture of these drawer dividers, with the little compartments for each pair of socks, make you want to buy them NOW? (If so, just follow the link.)

Or do you look at something like that and think, "Never in a million years would I use something like that?"

If you're in the second category, you may like the somewhat radical suggestion provided by Susan Pinsky in her book Organizing Solutions for People with Attention Deficit Disorder. Susan suggests you "throw out all of your socks. Identify a style of medium-weight sock that you can wear daily and buy a couple dozen of that style in two colors (for example, white and black). Voila! No more tedious matching issues - if you see another black sock in your drawer, you know you have a pair."

14 comments:

Megs said...

Jeri, I swear by the "buy all the same socks" method. It has worked wonders for me! Now if only I could convert my husband....

Cliff said...

I did this years ago, and haven't looked back since.

I have one other pair of socks (tan) that go with a certain suit I own. Plus I have a few pairs of black dress socks -- easily distinguished from the thick cotton "work socks" I normally wear.

And I have ADD. :-)

Jeri Dansky said...

Meg and Cliff,

Thank you both for letting me know the "same socks" approach has worked for you.

Cynthia Friedlob said...

This one made me laugh! I use the "same sock" method because anything that saves times and makes decisions simple I support one hundred percent -- although I do fold pairs in half before I stash them in the drawer and put black on the left, white on the right. Guess I'm a combination neat/easy gal!

Anonymous said...

I totally do that - all my socks are black, grey or white and they always match.

Jeri Dansky said...

Cynthia and Alex,

Thanks for letting me know that two more of you are "same socks" believers. It DOES make a lot of sense!

Anonymous said...

I think it's more important to "rotate" your socks. They need to be placed front to back and when you need a pair, you simply take the ones in the front. When they come back from washing, place the newly cleaned socks in the back.

That way you'll rotate your stock.

Try it, if you can.

I for one, am buying some new argyle socks soon. Which of course will mess up my black/white color simplicity!

Jeri Dansky said...

John,

I'm sure you'll look very snazzy in your new argyle socks!

Jeri

Anonymous said...

Oh my... That is EXACTLY what I do!! Have for YEARS! And I don't bother to fold them at all. I just have a drawer divider and they all go in the same cubby! Black to the front, white to the back. I do all sorts of things like that to save me time. Like, I buy a 10 of the same shirts and pants in different colors and use them as a kind of uniform. And I have 5 similar jackets and they all mix and match. Does this make me ADD? Hmmm...sometimes I wonder. : )

Jeri Dansky said...

Hi Ariane,

I think it makes you practical!

If I find a shirt or a pair of slacks I really like, I'll buy it in multiple colors, too - and I'll sometimes even buy the same item in the same color if I really like it, so I can wear one while the other is in the wash, and so I'll have a back-up if one gets damaged beyond repair.

Jeri

Mistress of the Dorkness said...

I'm not alone! I'm a same-socker and I've made my son one, too. Now, just to make DH realize that my son's socks are the ones with the red thread in the toe and mine are the ones with the pink thread in the toe. Not to worry, his socks will be bigger than mine soon.

I can't, however, convince my husband to follow suit. He has a few different types of socks to my one. Yeah, only one. It's white socks for boots or trainers, and pantyhose for anything else.

I don't fold my socks, but, since my husband does the laundry these days, he does.

I am loving the suggestions on this site, though. Excellent! (found the link on blogher)

Jeri Dansky said...

Welcome, Melanie! I'm delighted that you're finding my blog useful. I just joined BlogHer yesterday, after reading about it on The Thoughtful Consumer; how nice to be a part of that community!

Kelli said...

Jeri,
I'm a mom of 6 and my sock basket is truly a horrifying experience! Any suggestions on how to keep socks from disappearing throughout the laundry process? I can't quite get to all the same size/color yet. I'm moving the kids out as fast as possible, but no one's actually left yet! :)

Jeri Dansky said...

Kelli, you could try Sock Pro Sock Clips or these other Sock Clips. I haven't tried them myself, so I don't really know how well they work.

And there are a number of suggestions over on Frugal Village, including this one: "Consider washing socks in mesh bags made for delicates so you don’t lose any. You can hang them in each bedroom, so socks go into the bag once removed."