Bothered by always losing socks in the wash? Edward Heaven (And Christopher Moore) have the solution:
THROX
http://www.throx.com/home.html
They sell socks in lots of three, rather than in pairs. The greatest ideas are often simple. And so are stupid ones.
None of this would make any difference to our daughter MilliCal, who wears unmatched pairs as a fashion statement. I think.
I don’t think that would work. I usually buy socks three matched pairs at a time. By the time I get them home, I’ve lost 5 socks already.
I thought discussion of socks was frowned upon. E-mail a mod or report the post instead.
Except my fancy pants dress socks, I always buy socks in large bulk. At least 30 pairs of the same socks so I don’t mind if some go astray for a while and tour around the country.
Little Miss Matched also sells socks in sets of three (all different). I’ve got a drawerful.
I buy socks by the dozen pair, so there are 24 socks to start with. Thus, I don’t feel guilty if I lose one, or if I need to throw one away. I have introduced my husband to the concept of buying multiple pairs, and he admits that he’s happy when he looks in his sock drawer and sees that he has more than enough socks to last the week. He vastly prefers a certain brand and style of sock, and he was thrilled when I tracked down the company and ordered him two dozen pairs of black socks, and six pairs of white socks. And when he opened to box to find it full of socks, and was happy about it…we looked at each other, and told each other that we had gotten OLD.
Seriously, though, for everyday socks, just buy at least three identical pairs. Socks are fairly cheap, and this way you will have extras.
Actually I buy my underthings [socks panties and bras] in units/sets of 10 - makes it easier that way. All identical, all get washed in a batch so they have roughly the same amount of wear, and if I have to toss one, not a big deal.
I will also admit, for work I had 7 identical pair of pants, and 10 polos in assorted colors. I used to hang 1 pair pants, 1 set underthings and a polo on a single hanger so in the morning all I had to do was stagger over to where I hung my clothes, grab a hanger and dress. I could shower and get dressed and out of the house in 30 minutes if I needed to.
I always buy the same brand of sox and buy several pairs at a time. They still end up looking slightly different after a few washes, though. Some seem to shrink more than others. Some fade a bit more, so they don’t actually end up looking like pairs. But since they’re covered by my shoes and trousers and only the merest glimpse of sock sees the light of day, I try not to worry about it overly much.
This takes me back to my grandfather, who has been dead over 30 years. He married late in years and so his new young wife moved into his home and started changing things.
He had a huge wall to wall old Victorian dresser come wardrobe thing with hanging space and lots of drawers and had six drawers for his work clothes (other than the suit - and you can tell the age of the story as was back in the day when folk worked Saturday mornings in the City). He had a system of simply opening a drawer and putting on all it contained; shirt, collar, studs, tie, underwear, socks etc. As you say 30 mins tops.
Once his wife had *reorganised *he had a sock drawer, a pants drawer and vest drawer, a tie drawer and collar drawer etc. and he had repetitive strain injury opening them all 
Okay I made that last bit up.
He lived with it. Once he had married he just accepted the house was his wife’s department. Times were different I guess, but I always felt slightly sorry for him. I guess he did too but he only told the story after grandma had died…
I rarely wear socks anymore. But I always buy the exact same socks–white crew with the pink Hanes logo under the toes, and gray toes/heels. So it doesn’t matter if I lose them, I just buy another pack.
I get socks by the dozen at Costco, they all match each other.
Jeez – talk about playing to stereotypes. I didn’t think the Dopers would turn out to be a bunch of Seth Brundles.
Don’t ask me to get into any of your telepods!
Hey, I have a drawer full of those! (with other socks too)
I almost always buy at least three pairs of identical socks at a time. It doesn’t stop me having odd socks, but I hang on to them waiting for one more of that kind to escape into the wilderness and join a colony of feral socks.
It’s okay because it is about 3-way socks, which is a lot more exciting.
The Container Store has a solution which doesn’t involve excess socks. I’ve used the rings, and they work pretty well.
When my son was in high school he started a fantasy story set in a nearly mundane universe where some magic existed. The source of power in this universe was the disappearance of socks. Einstein’s equation and all.
E=m(sock)^2???
There’s a store in Orlando (and maybe other places) where you can buy sets of 3 socks that go together but aren’t identical. My daughter got a bunch. They’re either the same pattern in different colors or different patterns in the same colors. For example, three black socks, one with multi-colored spots, one with multi-colored stars, and one with multi-colored flowers.
It’s an interesting concept. And her 5th graders get a kick out of her footwear.
I wear lots of athletic socks and they are white except for stains and graying. I mark the side of the instep area with a laundry marker (Sharpie) when new. When I have a pile of clean socks I can easily pair them up. When either one shows too much wear, the both get turned into rags. This keeps the decision making on matching socks down to a minimum.