[Indy]

I have bought socks for what it seems every week for years. I have listened to the boys fight over whose socks are whose for way to long. I have decided that it will be cheaper to buy stock in an anti-perspirant company than keep them from "stinking". They also seem to want to buy "body spray" and spray it on themselves whenever they can't "smell" themselves. YUCK! They use it like cologne.

Today, I changed how personal hygiene items are purchased. I gave each of them $40 to start. They are now responsible for their own sock purchases, boxers, anti-perspirant, and shaving things. This time, they get extra...so they got to spend on a gift for themselves. They found socks for $3 for 6 pairs and boxers for $5 for two pairs. Old Spice was on sale for $1 each!

Ok...if I were buying and the boys got to pick...the socks would have to be Nike and would cost $2 pair....the boxers would cost $9 for two pairs...and the anti-perspirant would have to be "Axe" for $3 each.

Now that they have to "buy their own, they go for the bargains.

[lucyjoy]

Funny how that works out, isn't it? Mine still spring for the Axe. However, the sock thing didn't work. I had 2 kids who refused to change their socks for weeks at a time. Couldn't stand to be in the same room with them(or is that on the same planet?) Now St. Nicholas brings socks and shoes, santa puts socks in the stockings, the Easter bunny brings socks......

[Barksum]

Socks?! Do you mean that never goes away?!?! I thought if they could just match their own when folding laundry it would make the Sock Debacle disappear. You've just popped my last little bubble of hope!

I resorted to only buying ONE size, and only all-white tube socks. They're shorter socks on the bigger children and knee socks on the smaller children. However, they were out of the one size one time so I bought the size up. No prob, right? NOT. Now all I can find is one sock from each size and they don't, of course, match. So I had to buy more socks.

New snafu is that the store doesn't sell the tube socks that I was buying anymore. Crumbs! I had to grudgingly settle for all-white crew socks with a heel and toe. Now I will probably end up with three socks, total. One crew, one medium tube and a small tube. The only unifying factor will be that they are that mottled dingy gray color. Oh well. What else are boots for but to cover mis-matched socks?

[po]

Thank goodness for felt tip permanent markers. I resorted this last time for the boys to put their initals on each sock. It does help, but the socks still disappear. Just that when I ask whose socks are on the floor, they can no longer lie and say not mine. The initals tell me the truth. When sorting laundry it is also easier to know who belongs to what. Then they go in a sack for each one to pair up. The washer and dryer still eat socks, but we are just about due for more socks. I will always have them mark them from now on. po

[ericsmom98]

Originally Posted by po

Thank goodness for felt tip permanent markers. I resorted this last time for the boys to put their initals on each sock. It does help, but the socks still disappear. Just that when I ask whose socks are on the floor, they can no longer lie and say not mine. The initals tell me the truth. When sorting laundry it is also easier to know who belongs to what. Then they go in a sack for each one to pair up. The washer and dryer still eat socks, but we are just about due for more socks. I will always have them mark them from now on. po

Excellent idea! Thanks!!! We have a major sock problem here too.

[aspenhall]

My socks (including DH's) only have a 1 yr lifespan. At X-mas you get enough socks of all one kind (sometimes the same as the year before, but not always) to last until next x-mas. They are all the same color and brand and there are no matches because they get their own drawer, pull out 2 --any 2-- and they match. After xmas, you go thru the sock drawer and get rid of last years dingy socks (charity) or if they still match the new ones and are in decent condition, they stay.

[lucyjoy]

I tried labeling the socks but my kids have a lot of the same initials. Besides, they dicided sock stealing was a new sport. They would where someone's else's socks. Then the other kid had an excuse to chase him down and try to get them back.(I kept noticing the pictures in the hall way were missing the glass fronts from the frames....)

[Again!]

I gave up on labeling their socks, and started labeling MY socks. It's got to be just a bit hard to take off your shoes in the locker room and see a big MOM written on each sock! Although I have to admit, it hasn't stopped my 14 year old from losing his and taking mine, at least it slowed him down a bit.

We had a pony foal born last year with only one white sock...I named him Three Socks Short. I'm sure you guys can appreciate the joke. Around the farm, we call him Stinky. :>