This Simple Product + Your Dirty Socks is a Laundry Match Made in Heaven

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mesh laundry bags on floor

Oh no… where’d that sock go?

Laundry can be quite the chore, especially when you’ve got a full household and mounds of clothes to add to the cycle. Hip2Save reader Chrystal has a helpful tip for how to wrangle an endless amount of socks AND prevent them from getting lost in the wash!


mesh laundry bags hanging in closet

Doing laundry for a family with kids is a never-ending job. The job had become a nightmare in my house because we were always losing socks and getting socks mixed up within the household. I finally decided to make a change and bought lingerie bags with zippers from Walmart. They were a whopping .99 each and this has saved my life!

Each person has their own bag that hangs in their room. As soon as dirty socks are removed we place them in our own bag and on laundry day we zip them and throw the bags into the regular wash. They clean perfectly well and go straight to the dryer still zipped.

young boy putting mesh bag in washing machine

Now we never lose any socks (saving us money) and never waste time sorting socks either as each person gets their own laundry sock bag to match!


Excuse me while I head to Walmart (or even the Dollar Tree) to copy this hack!

It’s so simple, yet so effective, no matter the size of your laundering loads.

Thank you, Chrystal, for sharing this easy way to make laundry day a bit less laborious.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

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About the writer:

Emily obtained her Bachelor's degrees from Clarkson University with 5 years of content writing experience specializing in health, beauty, fashion, home, & living frugally. Connect with Emily on LinkedIn


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Comments 34

  1. Karin

    I love these for our family of 6. The ones from Wal-mart are so much better than the Dollar Tree. The Dollar Tree ones fell apart after one wash.

    • Amy

      Yeah, I’ve had the same experience with the Dollar Tree bags. Not worth the money. Walmart sometimes has Tide branded bags, and those are really good. The zippers are very sturdy.

  2. mel

    Cool idea! My hubby & son have similar looking socks, that I still manage to get mixed up. I’ll have to grab a pk of those mesh bags next time I’m in WM!

  3. Dani

    These are great for socks, bras and scarves! it literally increased the longevity of my bras scarves.

  4. Ella

    I tried this, but unfortunately did not have much success. It probably would work for kids that actually would throw their socks in the hamper in the first place. My kids get socks behind the couch, under the bed, under MY bed-🙄 lol! I find them everywhere! So needless to say, the socks never made into their laundry bags!

    • Eva

      My children would not do this either. I’m sure I could train them but there are so many other things to address with them. 🤣 Maybe someday….

  5. Katie

    My husband started wearing one style of black socks only. So no worrying about keeping them white and they all match with eachother! It’s so helpful that I’ve started doing it with my boys too!

    • Evan

      Sounds like my household Katie. We all wear blk ones crew, ankle & no show per person 😂

  6. Sands

    I’ve been doing this since the school year started because my boys’ socks always go missing!!!

  7. 5pink1blue

    We totally do this! Well at least my husband and son do. The girls like wearing mix matched socks.

    • AdifferentLynn

      I’m not sure why but my younger adult daughter loves to wear mismatched socks…not sure where she got that from? I honestly could never do that.

    • Jes

      35 year old, mom of two and I haven’t worn matching socks in 25 years. My girls think I’m crazy.

    • Veronica

      Mismatched socks are a trend at the moment. You can buy mismatched sets now.

      • Ashley

        They’ve been a trend for a while. I remember it being a thing 15+ years ago. 😂

  8. DebY

    I keep a small cinch sac on the back of the laundry room door. I put “stray” socks in there until their match appears …usually a few loads later.

  9. Aria

    This is genius! Running to Dollar Tree!!

    • Aell

      Dollar tree mesh bags fall apart after one-two washes… Walmart is better quality

  10. Lee

    Neat idea!! I have medium size baskets above the dryer labeled with each family members name and as i take socks out of the dryer I throw into their basket. If they want a match they can dig through their basket. Every month we will go through the baskets and do match ups. My kids are older so that helps too.

  11. Jeanette

    Awesome idea! Thanks!!

  12. Emily

    Yes! I have been thinking about trying this!

  13. Momof2girls

    My girls and husband love to wear mismatched socks so if a sock gets lost, we don’t even realize it. Makes my life so much easier. Thank goodness for the mismatched sock popularity.

  14. Amy

    I did this with baby socks when my kids were little bc those tiny socks must have gone down the drain or turned to lint, but I never thought to do now that they are bigger, matching socks is the worst part of laundry, thanks for the suggestion

  15. Mama3

    Such a handsome boy and I loved be your laundry room! It is so pretty it would make me want to do laundry!😂.

  16. Libby

    My mom always had us safety pin our socks together. They come out of the dryer still pinned and no guessing about matching!

  17. PL

    I do this for my toddler’s socks since they’re so small!

  18. Barbara

    The dollar tree bags are awful. I opened the package qnd the zipper fell off. Amazon has some great bags for a couple of $. I would suggest paying a little more on this one.

  19. Richy

    Wow, this is actually a very neat trick

  20. Jessica king

    I have a hamper for just undies and socks for my household. This way when I only have time to do one load we have the staples.

  21. Amy

    I already do this. I use the laundry bag for my kids socks. the hard part is remembering to put them in the bag.

  22. Jillyb68

    Live this idea! On a side note mismatched socks are great for cleaning blinds. I told a friend this hack I had come across a long time ago and she took it a step further and slips one over her hand when she has something icky to clean up then after she gets the mess cleaned up she just throws away the icky sock😀

    • Jen

      Brilliant!

  23. Rita Bosworth

    We use hair bands to mate socks. When the socks are taken off, the band from morning is on the end table and goes back on to band the pair. Throw them in the laundry and never have to mate socks again!! Before I started doing this, I kept a small basket for my orphan socks. Eventually most socks found their mates, but the hair bands work so much better!

  24. GoZags

    I use mesh bags for almost all my tops. My tip would be to buy mesh bags that have a plastic zipper puller. I found that part of the metal puller would break leaving a jagged edge which would snag on other clothes. Took awhile to figure out why my socks would have little holes in the weirdest places.

  25. Jennifer

    My husband ‘s socks are the bane of my existence

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