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Angie Mc
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Inspired by Kacky's shoe topic, can you all help me to tackle my black sock nightmare?
My dh, with all due respect, is a nut for athletic socks, expensive black socks; all shapes, thicknesses, who knows what else - all BLACK. He also wears formal black socks with his uniform.
My 15yo ds has inherited his dad's pinache for BLACK socks; athletic, formal, and baseball.
My 12yo ds wants to be just like dad and big brother and his feet are DEFINITELY big just like theirs. Yep, more black socks.
Did you notice these three men are...men? Forget the days of me buying my boys their socks! And forget trying to commit one man to one brand, shape. So not happening. Have them take any extra step when taking their socks off - that's a no go, too.
My current plan is to throw all these socks in a basket and admit defeat and direct a boy to the heaping pile of black socks to sort them. Out of my sight, I think they just slap one or two pairs together and the pile continues to grow and grow.
As I've admitted, I'm defeated. But...I have a glimmer of 4Real hope...a little glimmer...that you all can find a way through this black sock nightmare. Please?!
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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JodieLyn
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you could also put a bit of color identifying the person embroidery thread on the toes of the socks.
Then at least you'd be able to put them in the right drawer (matched or not) and not have a basket of socks around.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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Bridget
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 I have 4 'men' in black dress socks here. At least for me, they are all just dress socks so matching isn't a horror.
I think if I was in your socks, I would put them all in a nice basket near the bedrooms and let the guys fend for themselves.
Our only glimmer of hope is that one day we'll only have one guy's socks to contend with. Our sons socks will be some other woman's problem.
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lapazfarm
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I gave the socks over to the kids to sort a few months ago and it has been such a relief! It isn't done perfectly, but as long as I don't have to do it I don't care!
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Aagot
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I am all for letting them fend for themselves. However, if you felt like being nice, you could get them each a washable zipped bag ( not sure what to call it but it is usually used for delicate items) to hang on their dirty cloths hamper. That way whatever makes it in there will be sorted by person any way
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MaryM
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At a certain age (about 13) all the boys here started doing their own laundry (a family tradition passed on from my husband's family in order to make sure own bb uniforms were washed), so their socks are all in their own load of laundry and I don't have to deal with the sock sorting. On those occasions when an older son sock pair get in the regular laundry I feel your pain as I often can't tell them apart either (most white here  ).
My mom used to do the embroidery thread thing to tell my brother's socks from my dad's - everyone was assigned a different color - I think she put it on the toe thread area.
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Angie Mc
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Thanks for feeling my pain .
I'm considering thread colors to place on toes...hot pink, bright yellow, and lilac purple. Maybe just telling them that I might do that will be enough to get them to tackle the sock pile with more diligence !
Bridget wrote:
| [Our only glimmer of hope is that one day we'll only have one guy's socks to contend with. Our sons socks will be some other woman's problem. |
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And then I'll be posting about how much I miss the overflowing and ever growing pile of black socks!
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Servant2theKing
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I married into a family where dh's mother NEVER had a mismatched sock and she embroidered dots on all her dh's and three ds's socks. I came from a household where we were lucky to HAVE socks that fit all eight of us! From day one, I immediately admitted "defeet" and have never looked back1 I've braved 36 years of overflowing mismatched sock baskets! 
Over the past several years I've bit the bullet and simply buy each family member a large package or socks once, sometimes twice  , each year. I put the youngest teen in charge of matching and distributing socks ~ a job that gets tackled every other week or so, while watching a family movie! Once in awhile they all love to tease me by hanging stray socks from the ceiling fan or a chandelier, their ears or the dog's tail!
So far we've never left the house sockless, unless it's Summertime and we choose to go barefoot! If you can't beat 'em, my motto is simply give in! Life's just too short to worry about socks! I'm with you Angie, I KNOW I'm going to miss all those stray socks someday! 
BTW, mismatched socks are great for dusting, cleaning, bandaging blisters on the palm of your hand when a Bandaid won't stay put. I'm sure there's a host of other uses for them! Hmmm, maybe there's a way to weave them into rag rugs! 
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JodieLyn
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oh and servant.. don't forget puppets and monkeys etc if you feel crafty.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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ElizLeone
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Oh, my goodness... My mom used to stitch colored thread into the toes of socks for sorting purposes. Never, in all my years, have I heard of anyone else doing this!
I remember sitting there as a child, watching her do that job, ad infinitum it seemed, and thinking, "I will never do that when I grow up!" (My kids probably think that about curriculum research and lesson plans, watching me in front of my computer. )
We have seven kids and an overflowing mismatched sock basket. It's sort of a pain, but not as big a pain as the color-coded stitching, IMO!
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Erin
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Tricky problem, we solved our sock nightmare by each male having their own colour; gray, black and white but as your males love black I was also going to suggest the net bag for them to throw their socks into.
Although like Mary everybody in our household has their own assigned washing day now. And from the nine year old up they do their own wash, hanging and folding. (Teens don't fold they stuff into cupboard )
I have tried the coloured thread in the past but it is a pain, both to sew on and still to match.
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sewcrazy
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Angie Mc wrote:
My current plan is to throw all these socks in a basket and admit defeat and direct a boy to the heaping pile of black socks to sort them. Out of my sight, I think they just slap one or two pairs together and the pile continues to grow and grow.
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The black sock mountain lives in the family room behind dad's chair. I have long since admitted defeat. The menfolk all know that is where they need to go for their socks. When I sort laundry I just toss them back there.
Its not a good plan....but I am sticking with it at this point.
I don't wear socks, at all, so I have no vested interest in winning this war And my dd wears funky socks so she could care less about the black mountain. (she does all her own laundry anyway)
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MaryM
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OK, this thread wasn't about missing socks exaclty, but I saw this picture and it still reminded me of the sock thread. And it's very funny...
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Mary M. in Denver
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lapazfarm
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Angie Mc
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(Not to continue feeling sorry for myself BUT did you notice that all those socks are really, really, cute! I only see 2 black socks and none of them are grizzly bear sized .)
Thanks to you all, I'm at peace with my black sock issue .
Love,
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Angie Mc
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juststartn
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We dump all socks except DHs into the laundry bucket. ALL the socks. Which of course means we have a nice cushiony layer of socks in the bottom. DHs socks are all military (still, three years after retirement!) so they are much easier to ID than the childrens. And I might have two pairs I wear once a year.
I let the children sort them out...hopefully, they match. I do try to limit them to "white socks ONLY"...so far, that works pretty well.
Rachel
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10 Bright Stars
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All great suggestions. I would only suggest seeing if by chance your husband WOULD commit to a certain brand/style and that would make it a lot easier. Perhaps instead of embroidery thread, what about a permanent marker in gold or something? Just put a bit on the tip and maybe that would work. I liked the hanging bag suggestions. Also, doing one persons wash each day so they stay sorted and they must at least take their socks off in their own rooms so they or you can collect them for one washload so they don't get mixed. We have a huge basket of mismatched socks and it drives me crazy too.
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Angie Mc
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Sock funny WARNING
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Servant2theKing
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How did she know our never-ending-sock-saga?!?! That was too, too funny ~ but sadly, too, too, true!
Thanks for the laugh, Angie! I sure needed that!
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Do you know we were recently away for 16 days and I still...managed to end up with an odd sock pile.  The nightmare followed me!
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Erin
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Topic: black sock nightmare challenge
