Baby and toddler socks are notorious for getting lost in the laundry process. I would love to know the percentage of socks I’ve purchased that are still within the walls of this house. My guess is <50%.
I have no idea where they go.
But in the past few months, I’ve made great strides in my retention rate of those tiny little items. And of course it involves a mesh bag, because you know I love them. 
They meet so many of my laundry needs.
I tend to wash everyone’s clothes together except the baby. For whatever reason, it is easier to wash hers separately at this point in time. So that alone makes it slightly easier to keep up with her socks since they should only be in one load – not scattered out over several loads.
But the best idea I’ve had lately regarding baby socks?
This:
I have a mesh bag attached to her laundry hamper.
You know how you come up with a fabulous idea every once in awhile and you wonder why you didn’t think of it sooner? This was mine.
The logistics of it are so simple: whenever I (or my husband) is getting the baby undressed, her dirty clothes go straight into her hamper and her socks go straight to the mesh bag. Then when it is time to wash her clothes, I zip up the mesh bag and throw it into the hamper.
The socks go through the washer and dryer in the mesh bag and then I match them and put them in her drawer. I re-pin the bag to her hamper and the cycle starts all over again.
So what if you don’t have a pin-able type of laundry hamper? Think outside the box. You could: pin the bag to her changing pad on the table, pin it to the outside of her crib sheet, hang it on the wall above her table if there’s already a hook there.
Look around you and identify what the easiest, most accessible spot is for a sock-only mesh bag and then go put one there!
Really, it is such a beautiful system. You’ll love your results.
Keeping track of little socks definitely works for me!
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I have been using a zipped mesh bag for the socks but had never thought of pinning it somewhere to throw them in-I’ve been digging through the laundry basket before throwing it all in the wash. This is such a DUH moment for me lol Thanks for sharing!
Hope it works for you! Thanks for stopping by 😉
-Lauren
That is ingenious! Ha. Seriously why hasn’t anyone else ever thought of that?
Maybe I should patent it 😉 ha!
-Lauren
I guess I forgot your name was Lauren. I just go to my bookmark and see what you’ve written about lately. Laurens must be like-minded! I do this too, but it most definitely works better with baby socks than with the bigger kids because they very often forget to put their socks in the mesh bag. I have four children, and I had a disconcerting load of laundry last week in which I had 9 socks, none of which matched. I do the kids’ laundry twice a week, and the ones not in school yet don’t necessarily wear socks every day down here in warm Georgia. Yikes!
I just started this a couple weeks ago and it IS making a difference. I haven’t even been matching the socks…just turning the clean, full mesh bags over to my 14, 12, 10 and 5 year olds. I’m thinking that I may need a second set of mesh bags so that they have a bag in their room at all times, in case my laundry turnaround isn’t too quick. =)
Glad it is working for you too! Yes, I have probably 6 or 7 mesh bags and use them all consistently.
You have good helpers there to match them for you! 😉
Thanks for visiting!
-Lauren
I’ve been doing this too! I just need to remember to, um, actually ZIP the bag before I put it in.
Thanks for the tip! I will use this for my 2, 3, and 4 year old, but honestly, my baby is not yet crawling or walking, so I hardly ever need to change his socks. I bought him three pairs of merino wool blend socks (smartwool brand) that never fall off and never smell! They keep his feet toasty too. I only need one pair per week.
Oh! I’ve never thought of using merino wool blend socks for a baby! So smart! I’ll have to check into that. Thanks for the tip 😉