Hudini's Inspiration or Socks management

This is really a post inspired by Kim! She is a sock wizard she does not have any missing socks! I asked her about it and her response was "I just keep up with them." Well, I'm not Kim and I've got plenty of missing socks. But no missing kids so I'm gonna call it a wash! Here is how we manage socks around here:

1. Every year when we get a tax return we get new socks,underware and bras. I will buy used socks throughout the year but I refuse to buy used underware! Every March when I get back with the loot the kids act like its Christmas! This year we purchased Hanes socks that are color coded! Now the oldest has blue toes, middle has purple toes & the baby has pink toes. They also have this for boys. But the color coding will work for a family with up to 6 children evenly distributed between boys and girls (good luck with that!).

2. We also put dots on socks & underware: 1 dot for the oldest, 2 dots for the middle, 3 dots for the youngest. Then when an item is passed down it gets another dot. This really helps us because we have all girls and the 2 & 4 year old are so close in size! This was Kim's idea also, gotta love your super organized friends!

3. Finally, I keep a basket on top of the washing machine with all the mismatched socks we have. Once a month or so I go through the basket and find the matches. I am going to put some zip loc bags in the basket and start dating the socks, so I know when its time to toss them or add them to the rags.

Uses for old socks:

1. dust rags

2. sock puppets

3. cleaning gloves

Chapter 1 of Making Your House a Haven is coming this week. Sorry for the delay!