Sock bucket
To me, the absolute worse part about laundry is all the socks at the end. With four kids, three of which are regularly needing and using socks. The sock pile at the end of laundry folding was overwhelming. I would spend at least 15 minutes trying to find matches between all the baskets and drawers. And without fail, no matter how much time I spent organizing, matching, rolling, and demanding to my family that it stayed that way. It didn’t matter, we would always end up running around like chickens looking for matching socks when it was time to leave the house.
The day mom snapped
Finally one afternoon, heavily pregnant with baby #4, elbows deep in laundry, and the oldest boy is screaming at the top of the stairs about not having any matching socks, I lost it. I collected all the socks in the house. Emptied baskets, drawers, and shoes to find them all. I threw them all in a storage container, you know the ones, that they sell at target for like $5 that you tell yourself wont just become a mobile junk drawer. I slammed the lid on it and told everyone to get in the car.
To Walmart we went! I bought a pack of socks for each child. All matching (white and gray socks, super boring). We went home and I took the bucket of socks, made as many matches as I possibly could with what we had in reasonable condition (no point in matching socks with holes and worn out elastic). Threw away the socks I couldn’t find a match for, didn’t fit anyone, or was worn out. Dumped the new socks (rolled into matches) into the bucket with the other rolls. Shut the lid back on it and on the shoe rack it went. I. WAS. DONE.
Triumph!
No longer was I going to be fighting the losing sock battle. From now on, the socks lived by shoes like neighbors. Rolled into matches and if ever they lost their match, GOODBYE. When coming in from outside, we take the dirty socks off and put them in a laundry bag. I use the small kind that zip up, usually used for bras and pantyhose. The bag is on a little hook right above the shoe rack. When the bag is full, I zip it shut and put it in the wash. I roll clean socks back up and put them back in the bucket. No more screaming about matching socks, no more chicken inspired running around, no more sock chaos. Finally, after 7 years of insanity, I had conquered the sock beast!
Now for some reality checking. Let’s be real, is it my ideal living room decor? No. Is it the most normal solution? No. Is it kind of weird? Yes. Will my kids probably tease me about that frantic trip to the store and the disgusting “sock bag” that is hanging by our front door in 20 years? Yea probably. Do I care? ABSOLUTLY NOT. That’s the thing about chaos corralling, what matters is: it gets the job done. My kids have matching socks, and I’m not moments away from sock induced insanity. A win is a win!