~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Kids~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Socks!

Yes this post is about socks. What about socks is so interesting that they need their own blog post? Well, okay, maybe they aren't all that interesting, but those little boogers have required a lot of my brain power lately. If it requires brain power then it's goin' on the blog!

First off - I have four girls. Little girls don't just get any ole socks. They get pink socks, ruffled socks, toe socks, striped socks, tights, legwarmers....

Well here. Take a look for yourself. This is just a small portion of our sock collection.





Notice the four on the upper left? They are all a different size and style of ruffle socks. There are many many more. Believe me.


This was cute with one girl.  But now...... NOW that I have 4 of these girlies.....oh my. They have gotten so many different types of socks over the years I could outfit an army. (The fact that the army wouldn't use ruffle socks is beside the point. Just go with me here.)

I am cheap. I don't like to waste things. So I have tried to keep socks to pass down to the next child in line. (Yes, you can do that with little girls. Boys? Not so much.)  After 9 years, yes my oldest is 9, of this hoarding of socks I was left with a huge amount. Most of them singles by the way.  Every few weeks we would sort through them trying to find a pair here and there.   In the Winter they would often be mismatched because you couldn't see them under their boots. When Summer came it was time for flip flops.

Praise the Lord for flip flops! 


We didn't need socks if we had flip flops. We get out the door much faster in the Summer. Well, much faster as long as we can find the flip flops. But that's a whole 'nother post.

Once Summer was here I would forget about my sock woes and live in denial for a few short months. Then Fall would arrive. Funny how Fall arrives every.single.year. and it always takes me by surprise.....

It would soon come to my immediate attention that not only have the children all grown 2 shoe sizes, but they have absolutely no socks. Actually they did have some socks, but they were not in their sock drawer. They were hidden away....under beds, behind dressers or eaten by the washing machine. I was too unorganized to even begin to find them or pair them. It was cold and we had to stop wearing flip flops once it began to snow. (You know I'm kidding about the snow right?) What to do? What to do?  Buy more socks of course!  But, Tammy, aren't you cheap errrr uummmmm frugal?  Yes, I am cheap but I am also a procrastinator, so you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

This Summer things changed. The kids played baseball in a league on Saturday mornings. They had to have tennis shoes. Since they had to have tennis shoes, they had to have socks. Since they wore shorts or capris the socks <shock> had.to.match!  I was in trouble.

I was very much done with the sock battle. We had tried all sorts of ways to organize.

  • Each with their own drawer. 
  • A large sock tote to throw them all in and every man for himself.
  • A tote for the singles to get paired later.
  • Washing each person's socks in their own private mesh garment bag.
  • Pinning pairs together.

...nothing worked.  And now I wasn't going to get my summer off from sock torture. <stomp stomp whine whine>

I went out and bought new socks. But this time I was a little smarter.

Ellie got these:




Avrie got these:



Evelyn got these:



Sadie? Well, she honestly isn't wearing socks much now that it's Summer. She can't play ball yet. ;-)  Plus, if she had socks on she couldn't do this:










My plan was to get all different colors, but this is what walmart had available. You see, there is enough size difference between Ellie and Evelyn that we can tell those apart easily.I can glance in a drawer and know without a doubt that the correct socks are in the correct drawer! woo hoo!


All other socks are GONE. I will admit I kept the legwarmers. They are primarily used for baby - way easier than tights, much cuter and make for quick diaper changes....all while protecting their precious knees from rug burn.  Now we can easily see whose socks are whose. Even Evelyn can pair them up. When I need more I will buy the exact same brand/color/size. When they go up a size

<Todd stop reading here.>


I am going to throw their old socks away. No kidding. It's not a battle worth fighting.  Sssshhhhhhh! Don't tell.

For all you gals with only boys...I know you are laughing at me right now. You can't possibly understand why in the world this is even a problem.  "Who has socks left to pass down?"  LOL I hear ya. Really.

Silas failed to tell me that his had holes. He just started using MY socks. I put a pair on one day and there were holes in the bottom. I have had these same socks for years! No holes, ever. He wore them one or two times. geesh!  So he got new socks as well. His have a big L on them. I don't know what we will do when he is no longer wearing size Large. Right now he goes through the pile looking for his "L socks". So sweet!

I think I have found a solution to the mixed up clothing problem as well. I am planning to start a brand new system. More on that later.

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