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!
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.
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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!
Get This Clothes & Closet Decluttering Checklist + 32 Other Decluttering Checklists For Your Home
Right now you're decluttering your clothes and closet, and there's a lot of stuff to declutter in this space.
I've done the hard work of breaking down these tasks into smaller more manageable steps for you, so you don't get overwhelmed or worry you're forgetting a task, and you can go at the pace you want, whether that's fast or slow.
In addition, you can tackle these decluttering tasks in whatever order you want when you use these checklists!
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!
I did this last weekend! Had kids socks and my 2 are teens now...it had been awhile.
Sleepover activity by: Elizabeth
Every few months, my 5 young grandchildren join me for a weekend. On some trips, I ask them to bring their “lonely socks" from each of their 3 households. Along with my basket, they play a game. With the timer set for 10 minutes per basket, the one who matches the most pairs gets to choose the menu (including dessert) for supper. Much laughter is involved as goofiness is welcome. They always ask if they can bring them 'this time' and their moms like the return of numerous pairs of socks.
Wear mismatched socks! by: Anonymous
My granddaughters have solved the dilemma of the missing mate of a sock. They enjoy wearing mismatched socks/footlets, pairing socks of similar color or color/design.
recycle sock ideas - craft projects by: Bonnie
Some socks are too nice a material to throw away! Navy and tan, black and gray, and terry inside!! I cut the material from the leg part into the biggest rectangles I could get and sewed them together into a throw pillow, terry side out. So cute my daughter scooped it to her house! I save the nicer socks in a decorative fishing creel that sits on a bookshelf top, hiding its future craft adventures! In the works now is sock 'yarn' (1" or so strips cut in a spiral cuff down to toe) then braided or crocheted. Using only cotton socks, can be a bath mat or hot pad, depends on how ambitious I am. Strips are joined by slicing a button hole in the center lengthwise in both ends to be joined. Lining up the 2 button holes and slipping the other end of the new strip through both holes. Braided strips are hand sewn together.
use for dusting by: Anonymous
Don't throw good odd socks out. They are great for dusting smaller things and then throwing away.
When to throw them out? by: Chris
Just when do you throw old socks out? When they start to lose elasticity? Or become discolored? But if you can still wear them then why throw them? You'll only need to buy more! I only have a little draw but I need stocking socks for my casual job, normal socks, gym socks and bed socks for winter. I struggle to fit them all in!
sock storage technique by: Anonymous
I am curious about how others store their socks. I have always folded one top over the other sock so the pair stays together. However, some people say that the elastic gets stretched out, so they fold their socks.
Make your life easier by: Julir
My husband suggested to donate all our athletic socks and only buy one kind so as to make mating socks easier. It worked for a while... strife
pin socks together in the wash by: Anonymous
When I had 4 guys to wash socks for we came up with the idea to pin pairs together with a diaper pin. The pair went through the wash together and were re pinned after wearing. Pins were stored on a simple nail close to dirty clothes bag.YES THEY REALLY DID IT or they had to sort socks. My husband does it still.
I'm good lol by: Mandy
A few years ago I got sick of socks without mates & stretched out socks so I went through & threw away all of my socks except for "special" socks (fuzzy ones or ones I only wore on special occasions) and just bought a bag of long socks & a bag of short socks and every once in a while I go through them again (usually at Christmas time cause my mom still buys me socks even though I'm 33 lol).
holey socks by: Anonymous
I can't seem to get rid of my husband's socks that have holes in them. I have thrown them out in the trash only to have him take them out of the trash (when he is taking out the trash). We are not that poor. He doesn't seem to mind, so I gave up.
Put in freezer by: Anonymous
Keep a few different sized socks in a 'zip-bag' in the freezer, to take with you for quick cool downs when working or at events, impromptu ice bags for sports injuries or cozies for cold drinks.
Stray socks by: Anonymous
I hold onto all stray socks for a couple of months. Then I sort thru them. I'm always amazed at how many mates I have when I go thru them again.
Land of mismatched socks by: Nancy
I send the holey, stretched out or long time singles out to the shop to be used as cleanup rags. (Make nice dusting mitts). But have learned from experience to take the scissors to them first so they don't return.
lonely socks by: Grandmagreat
I keep a bag called lonely socks, but last year the craze with young people was to wear unmatching socks. What the heck? I spend hours matching them up then they unmatch them to wear so no matches make it to the laundry. Drives me insane but have stopped wasting time on it. They want a match they can go look in the bag for them.
Take old and almost used up stuff on vacation, and then trash it when finished by: Anonymous
I save my worst pair of socks (usually a pretty good hole in the heel) that I am ready to throw away, and bring them on vacation! Same goes for a toothbrush I plan to replace soon, nearly empty deodorant and toothpaste, and worst pair of underwear. Once worn on the trip, I toss them! Toiletries are in the trash before I head home. Less to wash/ put away once I’m home.
Socks works in my house by: Anonymous
Someone asked about how to fold socks without stretching them. I fold mine in half together, thirds if they are knee socks, or put them next to each other if they are ankle socks, and stand them up side by side, usually grouped by style. Then I can see which pair I want with out digging. In some spots I have two layers, but they are the same type underneath.
When my kids were small and all family clothes were washed together, I kept zippered, mesh laundry bags that each person put their socks into. Tried pins...got holes and snaps came apart, the bag worked the best. I still use the mesh bags for my own socks and tights.
Mismatched socks were a style actually sold like that when my daughters were in grade school.
Mu hubby gets all same black dress socks and all the same white sports socks. Except for one pair of argiles. That's it.
Always socks by: kayz
After years I decided to take care of my socks. It was a challenge. I did separate all the single socks and as I cleaned out drawers and closets and under-the-bed stuff I did discover several other single socks. When I got all the socks together and even before--I laundered ALL the socks and sorted them. When all the good socks, worthy of keeping, were left I tried on every pair of socks to make sure they fit comfortably and didn't cause me grief. Then I kept only the ones that I liked, knew I would wear, and now I have only one drawer of socks as opposed to 2.5. Whew! It was worth it and someone benefited from my give-aways.
Easy Socks by: Connie
The clutter of socks drove me crazy so I separated my different kinds of socks into plastic bags which I then labeled the socks: thin long, thick, boot, short, thin black and thick black. I put the bags in a little tub next to my chair where I put on my shoes.
Grammy who helps by: Anonymous
Some of this helps, and I do already, but socks seem to get lost too often in our family.
Easy by: Anonymous
I only own 3 pair of socks including 1 pair of hiking socks and 2 pair of no show footies (I truly hate wearing socks and I live in AZ). I buy my husband 1 brand of athletic socks and he matches those. So much easier than when our boys were small and lived at home.
How to fold socks by: Rosie
Do you just roll them? I overlap one end/cuff over the other end. Never overlap one end over the entire sock, it stretches that cuff. Then you have quitters.
I keep a one-size-fits-all basket of "footsies" by the front door, in case people want to remove their shoes and don't like going barefoot. The weirder the sock, the more the kids like to wear them. I have an empty basket to deposit their soiled socks when they leave. Or they can keep them. Their choice.