more minor household incompatibility

[kaberett]

Specifically: the laundering of socks.

Adam's preferred approach is to fill up the washing machine without regard to the detail of exactly what's included, cull lonely socks into a dedicated bag in his sock drawer, and then reunite said lonely socks every time either (1) he runs out of pairs or (2) (more usually) the bag ends up full.

My preferred approach is to make sure that every sock that goes into a wash is accompanied by its pair.

Again, these are not... entirely... compatible. Largely we resolve this through Adam graciously attempting to keep track of my socks when he's putting a load such that he only launders pairs, and by me leaving my lonely socks on the socktopus until their pair appears, which works well right up until it doesn't.

See, if we've both got overwhelmed for long enough that the laundry basket could... charitably be described as "full", A. quite reasonably decides that the perfect is the enemy of the good and any laundry at all getting done is much much better than none, so he shovels a load into the machine without paying attention to the socks and honestly this is entirely reasonable and I am grateful for it...

... except that he displays remarkable skill at washing precisely half my socks, i.e. one and only one from each possible pair, whenever this situation arises.

Which would still be fine!

Except what this means is that the laundry mountain is now back down to slightly more manageable levels, so we resume attempting to keep on top of it before we get that overwhelmed again, at which point A. reverts to not putting any of my socks in the wash unless he can find their pair also in the basket.

Their pair.

Which is clean.

And sitting on the socktopus awaiting a joyful reunion.


And that's how I've come perilously close to running out of socks multiple times in the past month.

Comments

[kaberett]

For the sake of clarity: I am telling this as an Amusing Anecdote, not because I think A is doing anything wrong here. I am of course aware that the "obvious" solution is for me to take more turns wrangling the the laundry, so I can but beg your indulgence in believing that actually I do generally do at least my fair share of it (esp. bearing in mind that laundry is one of the jobs that is Particularly Difficult for me from a physical/fatigue perspective) -- but if we hit a few-week run of me Just Not Coping with making the whirly clothes go, we end up in this situation pretty reliably, and I am then made of fond exasperated amusement.

[alexwlchan]

I am telling this as an Amusing Anecdote, not because I think A is doing anything wrong here. I am of course aware that the "obvious" solution is for me to take more turns wrangling the the laundry

we all know that wouldn’t fix anything

this isn’t your fault. this isn’t A’s fault. this isn’t anybody’s fault. IT’S THE SOCKS’ FAULT.

socks are in fact a race of pan-dimensional hyper-mischievous super-beings who feed on human confusion and misery. they conspire against us at all times, and you are just their latest victim. it is physically impossible for a household to launder their socks in such a way that this sort of mishap doesn't happen, and science has proven so.

whatever we do the socks will prevail

[alexwlchan]

(even in the flat where I live alone, do all the laundry myself, and I haven’t changed my clothes while outside the flat since early March at least, I still get mismatched socks in the laundry)

[azurelunatic]

Alas, socks!

[highlyeccentric]

The other day I brought a sock out of the laundry THAT WASN'T MY SOCK.
And that I didn't have a week before.

I'm also regularly wearing a pair of socks that are not my socks, in that they did not come from Japan with me, I did not buy any white ankle socks in Australia, and yet these socks came from Australia. They are probably my sister's socks, or were. Mine now.

I am, personally, the Snock.

[kaberett]

i am Duly Impressed

[syderia]

Depending on where you are on the scale between Amusement and Exasperation, you might look at something like sock clips.
Someone we met last summer (who had a family of five) had been using it for a couple of years and was clearly in the "I'm never going back camp" and convincing all their friends to try.

[serpentrose]

We take all of our laundry to the laundromat every couple of weeks and washing everything at once. Also most of our socks fairly generic, so they each have more than one potential partner.

[kaberett]

I have this Thing with socks where they were pretty much the one thing that wasn't covered by my secondary school's uniform policy (that might ever be visible, at least) and so I clung to them as a Brightly Coloured Thing that also wasn't the Bad Textures.

We also have a washing machine in the flat, for which I am endlessly grateful, so don't have quite that incentive to get everything done at once...

[serpentrose]

Ah, I can see how that would influence one's sock preferences. I've always been able to wear pretty much what I wanted with only minimal restrictions for appropriateness. When I was a kid my mom got us grey sweat socks because they don't show the dirt :D

I wish we had a machine at home, while it is nice to get everything done in one fell swoop I do wish I could just throw on a load whenever I feel like it. (Or more likely That Guy I Sleep With would put on loads regularly. I'm too good at procrastination.)

[shanaqui]

Lisa & Me: *deeply contemplate adopting a socktopus of our own*

[kaberett]

RIGHT.

my problem is they've released them in Better Colours since I bought mine and this is. a Problem.

[ewt]

When I'm overwhelmed I tend to just put clean unmatched socks back in the washing pile, to be washed again until their mates turn up. This is slightly wasteful but unless I'm regularly washing the same three socks I figure it all comes out in the wash, so to speak. But hairyears puts them in a mismatched socks bag, the sock orphanage or sockophagus depending on how sarcastic we are feeling. This leads to a similar problem. Every once in a while one or the other of us will attack the mismatched socks bag.

Also: I match socks up when I am hanging them to dry, because then I can glance at the socktopus and know how many (and which!) pairs are coming, and when it's time to put them away (which I find overwhelming) the task is that bit easier. He matches socks up at putting-away time.

[davidgillon]

or sockophagus

The Eater of Socks?

[ewt]

Yes. And also the Sock Tomb.

[white_hart]

This is why when I had Bought Socks I only ever bought the same kind of socks, so as long as the number of socks in the wash was an even number they would go into pairs. Now we both have Handknit Socks they get a special wash on the wool cycle so we have a separate laundry bag for them.

[hilarita]

And then there are the depredations of the Eater of Socks! Socks are just a giant pain, whose main virtue is they're not bloody tights.

[jedusor]

I have an OCD brainweasel that doesn't let me wash only part of the laundry--once the first load goes in, the Laundry Process has initiated and a part of my brain becomes dedicated to continuing until all dirty laundry has made it through the washer and into the dryer. Unfortunately the Laundry Process terminates at that point and I frequently leave clothes in the dryer or in a basket for an embarrassingly long time. But in theory, I should never be washing only one sock out of a pair.

...and I STILL get unpaired socks approximately every other load. Socks are a mystery of physics.

[davidgillon]

Adam's method is my method. I simply grab a load out of the laundry basket and set it off. As the laundry basket probably adds up to three or four loads, inevitably socks end up split up from their pair.

But then I get to the bottom of the laundry basket, and I still have twenty socks without pairs, which is when I have to launch a search and recovery mission all around the house finding lonely socks kicked under the bed, behind the sofa, down the back of the laundry basket, and so on.

And even when the reunification process is complete I'll still have a full corner of the sock drawer given over to lost socks, but I also have matching pairs to most of them (having started from multiple pairs), so there's no point in throwing them away, because when I inevitably lose one sock from that matched pair the spare will still be sitting there.

Or at least that's what I tell myself.

[booksarelife]

I have to admit I’m laughing at this, but it also sounds quite frustrating

[catyak]

I always put socks in the laundry in pairs, and then match them as they come out. Occasionally I do lose one, sometimes it's dropped on the floor during the process and I don't spot it (often between washer and dryer), and sometimes I find it stuck to another item of clothing. It also helps that I try to buy multiple identical pairs, so it doesn't really matter which sock is paired with which, also helpful as they get older and holes start appearing because then I discard the sock and temporarily have an odd sock until another one develops a hole.

[momijizukamori]

theoretically all my socks go in at once, because it is just me and I only have one hamper spot, but they have a tendency to not quite make it into the hamper/not quite make it into the washer/get stuck inside other clothes, so I also have a Lonely Sock Pile on a dresser, and when I'm putting stuff away, once I have matched everything that can be matched, I go through the Lonely Sock Pile and match what I can. I also have an absurd amount of socks so typically my breaking point on laundry is elsewhere.

(which isn't to say my way is the right way, I am just enjoying seeing everyone's various sock strategies!)

[damerell]

Aside from some specialised applications like warm socks for the beach party, I've been buying the same Army Surplus socks for years, so approximately any two socks make a pair.

[naath]

sock laundry seems the bane of so many people's lives and I jdgi. I *wear* socks in pairs, I *put the in the right laundry basket* in pairs (cotton/not/hand wash), and the whole basket contents goes in the wash at once (so, in pairs), then I hang the out and match them up into pairs, and put them away in pairs...

the only small snag is that sometimes a sock ends up in a trouser leg or a shirt arm, and on finding myself a sock down I shake such items until a sock emerges.

Then again I never (unless on holiday) let > a week of laundry build up and refuse to let anyone else touch it.

My strongest sock belief is that socks should either be functionally identical or trivially visually different. Because life is too short to "match" close-to-but-not-actually identical socks.

[sfred]

This, me.

My socks are almost all toesocks, too, so left foot and right foot aren't interchangeable.

[silveradept]

That sounds like a situation that I would be in regularly. Even with the understanding that my socks are mostly the same?

[highlyeccentric]

I feel you might enjoy this sock management strategy pursued by some of Shiny's friends: https://twitter.com/WellOfLostSoles

All socks go in the Well of Lost Soles, after washing. From there they are sometimes helpfully removed by the cat, who is definitely Helping. And, at intervals of what is supposed to be 'every few weeks' but seems more like months, a guessing competition is held vis a vis number of pairs in the Well.

During COVID shutdown an exercise was also conducted in sock documentation, to determine how many pairs of socks Reynardo owns before needing to empty the Well. The answer was at least 30.

[ninetydegrees]

Both approaches are so relatable ! What makes A's method easier for me is having a sock organizer in my drawer where I can easily spot the lonely sock as well as having about two pairs of every type of sock I own. Reading this I'm now considering getting a sock-only hamper/basket-thingie. Food for my thoughts, thank you!