I find socks in the bathroom. In shoes. On the kitchen counter (ew). On the coffee table. Under the sofa. On the sofa. Between the sofa cushions. In the kitchen. Beside the computer. On window ledges. In the hallway. On the stairs. Socks, socks, socks! And where do they all end up? In the dog’s mouth. Because she’s clever enough to understand her job. She brings me the socks, draped artistically out the side of her moist mouth, and I pay her with a treat. With the way the kids are going, she’s going to have a full-time job fairly soon.
I’m pondering the creation of sock jail. All socks found on non-foot surfaces will be sent to sock jail and a bail of a dime will be charged to release them back into the law-abiding population. (A quarter if it’s handknit.)
Oh, it won’t seem important when I announce it. But give them a week and they’ll be staggered.
If I do it. But even if I don’t, the words “Sock Jail” make me giggle just a little each time I think them.
19 comments
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March 26, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Butterflygirl
LOL…I love this idea. I find stragglers(sp?) too, but our dog isn’t as smart!
March 26, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Schwester K
I love the increase in bail for hand knits!!
March 26, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Courtney
I just *love* this plan … and I’m quite tempted to enforce it in my own house.
March 26, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Jen
Now I’m giggling too!!!
March 26, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Sara
I have this problem at my house too, except I haven’t trained the dog to help me out!
March 26, 2009 at 7:24 pm
JoVE
Great idea. Do it!
March 26, 2009 at 7:25 pm
JoVE
Oh, but you have to be okay with your kids going out with no socks on in their winter boots…
March 26, 2009 at 7:37 pm
renee @ FIMBY
I have no dog but this is clever. I too find socks everywhere, kitchen table included!
March 26, 2009 at 8:12 pm
GailV
Brilliant!
This seems to be a common problem. I know I find rogue socks, and it drives me nuts. Another blog I read (The Foil Hat) was having a sock watch — she’d found a stray sock, and was documenting how many weeks it just lay there in spite of her kids tidying up the place — apparently they had a sock-shaped blind spot.
March 26, 2009 at 8:32 pm
nicolaknits
Ho Ho. Do you know where some of my kids’ socks ended up once? In the glass shade which hung beneath the light bulb in one of their bedrooms. And do you know what happens when a hot light bulb stays in contact with a cotton sock for long enough? Yes, the room fills with fumes and we call 911 because we don’t know where the heck they’re coming from. Funny to look back on, but scary at the time!
March 27, 2009 at 2:15 am
Kim
I love it! Do you think I can get my three year old on board?
March 27, 2009 at 6:46 am
tbird
that would work great but my dd wears the same size socks as me and just raids my stocks instead!
March 27, 2009 at 7:38 am
Lisa
Too cute about your furry “helper.” I gave up this battle after a neighbor returned my son’s socks left in her YARD. Yes, yard! lol… We have a mismatched sock basket. I buy a ridiculous number of socks each year, yet almost daily my son is found in the sock basket looking for two socks that are “close enough.” It does save a ton of money–it’s surprising how often mates are found after years of separation!
March 27, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Shannon B
Now I want to roam around my house taking pictures of socks in their natural habitat.
March 27, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Heather
And here my husband thought our house was the only one with this problem. No help from the dog here though…I get really frustrated at times and throw them away. Wrong, I know….
March 27, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Tracey
I once picked up all of my younger brother’s “strays” (socks, wrestling figures etc) and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer. Eventually he started asking where things were and I told him to look in the freezer. Good place for sock jail I think!
March 27, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Janet
We rarely have that problem here but I recently tried to get the dog to carry socks to my DH. The dog decided that each needed a good shaking and throwing and further shaking. I feared holes would be the result. Interestingly, he carries sleeves of Typhoo tea upstairs from the pantry without puncturing the package so he has the ability. Maybe it was his way of getting out of sock duty.
March 27, 2009 at 6:08 pm
RavenChild
It’s the dog that’s the problem with socks around here.
One of my dogs uses my socks as her “security blankets.” She’ll grab them from anywhere. I have to to raid her storage area under my bed at laundry time. Since she doesn’t do more than hold them, I leave her alone. At least they’re all in one place.
I did do your trick with clothing dropped on the floor. I put a running tally on the message board. There was a quick decline in clothing left on the floor. It seemed to be tied to the quick decline in allowances.
April 1, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Valerie
I loved your Sock Jail and Oh March posts.
Nice.
Valerie