Friday, December 12, 2008

Problems

So I have a few problems and since I know there are LOTS of wonderful Moms out there I thought I could ask for some advice.

Problem 1: SOCKS! When I was growing up my mom used to have a big basket that she would throw all the socks into and I can remember my grandfather folding them when he was watching me when I home sick from school. At least a year ago I was wondering why Mom was never able to fold the socks- well it has become more than abundantly clear to me! With 3 kids all near the same size I put 16 socks into the wash and come out with only 3 pairs (usually the ones that don't match any of their clothes). How does this happen to me? What do you do to keep track of socks that all look alike but are different sizes or just don't seem to have mates?

Problem 2: HAIR ACCESSORIES! I'm sure if you are reading this you know that I'm not talking about my own and since I don't own anything other than a plain black rubber band I seem unable to keep track of the numerous barrettes and colorful rubber bands that my flyaway hair girls need. The other part of the problem is they are constantly getting used are horse harnesses or present wrappers. How do you organize these in a way that works?

Love any comments on this!
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5 comments:

Laura said...

Just a thought about the socks I don't know how realistic it is though (keep in mind this is coming from a "soon to be Mom" but I have no field experience :))

You know those mesh bags you use to wash delicate items? Well, if you can keep the socks separate enough before the wash, you can wash and dry each kids socks in their own individual bag which will keep them together in the end. But the trick I guess is having a place for each kid to put their own socks at the end of the day...which could be somewhat unrealistic. Also I have heard of mom's who use a needle and thread to stitch (nothing fancy) their children's first initial (or first and middle if you have two kids that have names that start with the same letter) somewhere onto their socks so they can tell who they belong to when they come out of the dryer. That's another idea if you are really desperate :)

With the hair accessories, again keep in mind about my lack of field experience, I do have a lot of hair accessories for myself to help deal with my wild mane. I use several small containers and place them in a larger container (shoebox size tupperware containers work great) and separate the different items as much as I can: clips, hair ties, bobby pins, headbands etc... that keeps them apart (so you can see them all) yet together so you don't have to dig multiple places for them. Just an idea that has worked for me, but I don't know how it would work with kiddos :)

I think I have said enough! I'll leave some room for the pro's... :)

December 12, 2008 at 4:11 PM
Beth said...

We wash Noah's in a mesh bag (like the comment before suggested!). If you can keep a central location (say, the bathroom or the joint laundry bin?) for the bag, then you'll have the kiddos socks all in one place. It works great for us.

I have no idea what to do for hair accessories. :) I think Laura's advice sounds pretty good, though!

December 12, 2008 at 4:57 PM
christy said...

Jerusha, I bought 2 types of socks the same size for both my kids--thin white footies and athletic white footies. That way they all match and either M or C can wear them. It's kept me more sane. (They do have some miscellaneous colored socks, but I don't worry about those!) If M & C can't wear the same size as they grow, I'll probably get grey for C and white for M or something like that.

December 12, 2008 at 5:29 PM
sarah said...

Hi Jerusha!
We just received your card the other day ... great pic of your family!
I've had some of the issues with socks and hair things for the girlies ... here's what I do:

For socks, I buy the kind that have the size on the bottom (usually from Old Navy when they have sales) ... that way it is easy for me (or the kiddos if they are helping with the wash) to find matches by looking on the bottom. As for finding mates ... well I almost always have at least one odd sock at the end of a load, but it usually turns up eventually in the next load! I do try to remind the kiddos to make sure they put 2 socks into the same laundry bag!

For the girlies hair things I use little storage drawers like this:
http://www.sterilite.com/Category.html?Section=Storage&ProductCategory=144#
I put hair bands in one drawer, clips/barrettes/etc. in another and headbands/etc. in another. It works great for me (especially if you keep it up on a dresser where a busy 2 year old can't empty its contents!).

Hope you find a good solution!
Sarah Herr

December 12, 2008 at 8:35 PM
Anonymous said...

We only buy the Hanes Classics EZ Sort Ankle Socks for our kids.

I did this slowly over a few months because I couldn't go out and buy all new socks for all three at one time. But each month I would give away one kid's socks to the Hans Rosenfeld Upcounty Clothing Center in Gaithersburg and then buy them only the Hanes. The Hanes have held up too, the kids outgrow them before they get a hole in them.

I see it as money well spent because it saves me a lot of time. Each kid has only one style of sock, so all I have to do is match the logo colors. If I'm in a rush, I sort the colors and then put the pile of socks in the kids drawer and they can just pull out two socks and know they match.

I don't recommend buying them from Wal Mart, they are a poorer quality then the ones I find at Kohls and Target.

My husband and I do this to for our white socks too. That way when I grab two athletic socks I know they match.

December 13, 2008 at 8:34 PM

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