Sock Matching Made Easy

Do you have a bin full of unmatched socks? Maybe you store them in a bag or drawer. We’ve all had the missing socks left over after a load of laundry. And of course, matching socks takes so much time. So, what do you do?

I don’t mind laundry and folding clothes, but I really dislike matching socks. With 6 people, the socks become almost overwhelming, especially when everyone’s socks get all mixed together. And I’ve never washed a load of laundry where every sock had a match. So often, I wash a load of laundry and I end up adding every sock to the bin of socks without a match. And that bin just grows and grows!

Take the Pain Away from Matching Socks

It’s time to tackle your unmatched sock problem and start to make this task a little simpler. Take a peek at our simple tips below. And no, it doesn’t involve buying your family all the exact same socks. But yes, that could help you out with this too. Don’t let unmatched socks raise your stress level.

Kids Need to Help

First, let your kids help with matching the socks. Not only do they usually find some joy in finding a match, but it teaches them to want to take better care of their socks so that the matching is easier. Mine tend to enjoy the first 10 – 15 minutes of matching socks but become bored after that.

We find it easiest to let the kids sort our the socks from the laundry into piles. They usually easily recognize which socks are theirs and can sort out their socks. Having the socks sorted, makes matching much easier. And as your children sort the socks, they will hopefully find a few matches along the way. This will lessen how many socks you need to match.

Mesh Sock Bags

Second, invest in some laundry delicates mesh bags. I have a mesh bag for each of my children. Find a place in your child’s room to hang their bag. If your laundry hamper has a rod or holes, you can simply attach the mesh bag to your child’s hamper. We like to use loose-leaf binder rings to attach our sock bags right to the hampers. There are so many uses for these rings, so don’t fret about buying a few more than you need. From holding flash cards to hanging swimsuits to dry, you can use these rings for just about anything.

If the mesh bag is super close to their hamper, we find our children are much better at using it! That’s the secret, make it super easy to use and difficult to forget.

Then, teach your kids to put their socks into the mesh bag. I also ask my kiddos to put their underwear in their bag. This is so helpful because who wants to fold all their kids underwear as they grow. When my kids start to run low on socks/underwear, I zip up their mesh bags and throw them in the wash. When the laundry is done, I just hand them their own bags to match the socks and put their underwear away. No more matching socks and folding underwear for this mom! In addition, I never have to guess who’s is who’s again.

Sports Uniforms and Costumes Too

The mess bag is great for socks and underwear. If your bag is large enough, it can be a great place for sports uniforms or special costumes too! No more searching for pieces, wondering where something went, or even finding that one piece never was washed.

We ask our children to put their uniforms and costumes that need washing into their laundry mesh bags. Then they throw the whole thing in the washer after a game. This ensures they have clean socks and underwear too. And everything stays together so it’s easy to find. This is a Win-Win-Win for parents.

Have a Back Up

Third, always have a back up mesh bag because inevitably, a bag will get left in the wash over night or your child won’t be able to put away their socks and underwear that night. Life happens, we all know it does. So having a back up can be a real life saver to keep kids in the habit of using their mesh bag.

Having this extra bag allows the laundry to sit in the mesh bag for a day while still keeping to the routine for your child. Keeping the routine going helps to ensure that your child doesn’t develop bad habits again. Plus, they can move the socks/underwear to their bag once they are able to empty their own bag. And it takes the pressure off of the parents to get everything done right away.

We all know habits take time to build. So anything you can do to keep the routine consistent really helps. But even more importantly, this extra bag can help you keep your cool when your children aren’t able or just don’t get their clean laundry put away.

Label, Label, Label

Finally, be sure to the label the bags and have a place for your child to keep their bag. We used command hooks in their rooms and loose leaf rings on their hampers. But you could easily place their bag above their laundry hamper or in the bathroom. If the bags are small enough, they could be concealed into their closet or in a dresser drawer.

And the label, well, this is a must if you have more than one kid with matching bags. You will never need to worry about whose bag belongs to whom and whose clothes are coming out of the laundry. So easy to read the label and hand the bag to the correct child. Then they can put away their own socks and underwear. And if you choose, even keep track of their own sports uniforms or special costumes.

Never let socks build up again! So easy to hand off the job to your kiddos and help them to take ownership of their own laundry. Now that you’ve got socks under control, read up on our Clean Up Math Game too. Looking for more practical strategies to helping your kids keep their rooms clean? Head on over to get our 7 Tips to Get Kids to Clean Their Rooms post.

Tried out a mesh bag or have another way to organize your socks, drop us a comment below. We’d love to hear from you. Looking for more practical solutions to real life problems? Subscribe to our newsletter and start receiving our parenting freebies now.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.