The Single Sock Resolution

I find them everywhere. Hiding in corners, stuffed under the furniture, even hanging from the light fixtures. Sometimes they are wadded in tight balls, at other times, partially stretched out until they resemble a molting snake. They are almost always filthy, stinky, darkly stained and offensive by the time I collect them.

If you have not guessed already, I’m talking about dirty socks. If you have children, you know where I’m coming from. My five children are incapable of actually getting their dirty socks to the dirty clothes collection.  In the summer, I’m likely to find a treasure trove of the little stinky beasties near the trampoline outside. Another favorite gathering place is near one of the entries to our home, where they provide an odorous greeting to our unsuspecting guests!

It is little wonder, therefore, that I always have a collection of laundered, pristine socks that are lacking a mate. For a long time I adhered to the policy of just maintaining the pile, hoping in vain that the mates would eventually make an appearance in one of the never-ending parade of laundry baskets in my home.

But no more. I am making a single sock resolution this year. If a lonely sock remains in the clean laundry for more than a week, it is going to be discarded. No more sock orphanage cluttering my already overstuffed bedroom. Perhaps when my children’s little tootsies have to go naked for a time, they’ll manage to get the little buggers into the laundry!