Declutter Socks: 15 Minute Mission

Today's decluttering mission is to declutter socks. The goal isn’t to throw all the socks away, but to keep a reasonable amount for each family member that makes opening the sock drawer manageable.


You decide what a reasonable amount of socks is for your family, which depends on how often each family member changes socks, how often you do laundry, and how much room you have for storing socks. Keep in mind that the fewer pairs you have the easier it is to keep track of them all! More is not always better.

Be sure to keep a variety of socks – athletic, dress, etc. so you don’t end up short in a particular category.

A good first step to decluttering the sock drawer is to remove all the socks that don’t have mates.

Sometimes we're afraid that we'll find the mate to a sock later. First, I would suggest implementing some type of sock basket or other system to help you mate up single socks more quickly in the future. You can read my article with ideas and tips about that at the link.

In addition though, even if you don't declutter the socks with missing mates right away, it will help you to remove them at least for the time being from your sock drawer, or wherever you're keeping them, so you don't sort through them daily when trying to find a pair to wear. You could do what a reader, Suzanne, did recently as an idea. She said, "I put my daughter's odd ones (she had lots) in a clear bag so I can see them in case the mates turn up. But I dated it so that if they don't turn up soon, they'll be tossed." Suzanne sent in a photo of the bag she used, and you can see it below at the bottom of the article.

Another no brainer kind of sock to declutter are those with holes.

If a sock has holes you can mend it, perhaps. If so, place them in your mending basket to make sure you do it. But get real. Are you really going to do it? If not, then it is still clutter and you should get rid of it.

In kids’ drawers, go through and take out all the socks that are too small. A pair from 3 years ago most likely won’t fit that growing kiddo's foot now.

Obviously if a younger child can wear those old socks, no need to get rid of them completely. But they definitely don't need to be in that child's drawer taking up space and having them try to squeeze their feet into them.

Those small socks should either be shifted to the next child's drawer now, or put into storage until the next child is the right size for them.

Below you can see inspiration from readers who've taken on this challenge!

Top photo courtesy of Brendan C

Here's My Decluttered Socks With No Mates

The picture above is from a reader, Kim, who did this mission. She said, "Funny you should mention this today. I was just working on decluttering socks yesterday. Look how many socks we have that don't have matches!!!"

Similarly, another reader, Regina, sent in this before and after photo collage below once she'd completed this mission.

Ideas For What To Do With Decluttered Socks

Once you've decided what socks to get rid of, you can donate them (assuming there is a match and there's no holes), or trash them. You can also repurpose socks using the ideas from this article about the uses for old socks around your home.

Want To Do More Decluttering Missions? Get Started With Declutter 365 Today!

Once you declutter one type of item in your home I bet you'll want to declutter some more. After all, decluttering gives you a great reward for even a small investment of time and energy.

The Declutter 365 system is designed to help you declutter, over the course of a year, your entire house, with just 15 minutes of decluttering each day!

Hundreds of thousands of people use this proven system to get rid of their clutter, and bring peace and calm back to their homes.

Declutter 365 works to guide you to clear the clutter without overwhelm, focusing on just one small area at a time, and without making a huge mess in the process, so you see consistent forward progress without all that "messy middle" that makes it even harder to function in your home than before you started.

In addition to building a daily decluttering habit, the Declutter 365 program, along with the accompanying 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, teaches you the skills, habits, routines, and mindsets necessary to maintain the clutter free and organized state of your home from now on, so it'll never be as messy and cluttered as it is right now, ever again.

If you haven't already, make sure to get your copy of this year's Declutter 365 annual calendar here (it's FREE!), find today's date, and do 15 minutes of decluttering on the day's mission. Then, repeat again tomorrow, and again and again. Over the course of the next year, if you do this 15 minutes per day, you'll declutter your whole house!

In addition, if you want someone else to tell you the order you can also grab the 15 minute daily decluttering mission calendars and follow along as we all get our homes clutter free together!

In addition, here's a round up of all the Declutter 365 missions on the site for decluttering clothes of all kinds.

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Getting Clutter Free 15 Minutes At A Time Hall Of Fame

Getting Rid Of Closet Clutter Hall Of Fame

How To Declutter Your Wardrobe Of Sportswear & Activewear Clutter

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