Baby Step #2: The Desockening

Why can't I remember to take before photos when I start a project? Because this drawers drawer would be much more impressive if you had any idea what it looked like before.

Does it help to paint the picture if I tell you that I packed up 25 pairs of socks, 4 stretched-out nursing bras and one or two pairs of stretch (but not mesh) hospital undies, and threw out more than that?

The drawer was stuffed, plus a pile of unmated socks on top of the dresser. I went through them, trying on all the socks and looking for mates. Anything threadbare or with holes, I tossed. Any socks that required effort to get on, I gave away.

(Shrike's mom gave us a bunch of socks a while back, and Shrike doesn't like this style, so they went it my drawer, but her feet are smaller than mine, so several pairs were too tight, but I kept wearing them anyway.)

I was left with a pile of single socks, which I started to set aside to wait for their mates, but then I took another look at them, and asked myself, "Which of these would I be excited about if I found the mate? Which would I actually want to wear?" I kept one, which I think I wore yesterday and I'm pretty sure the mate is in the wash now, and threw out the rest.

My final judgement was to group the remaining socks by color and ask myself, "How many pairs of pink socks do I need, really? And how many need to be exactly the same shade?" So, out went a few more, to the donate pile.

When I put everything back, as you can see, I was able to organize them into "lady socks" (trouser socks that I wear to work with slacks) and "regular socks" (crew socks that I wear with everything else), with a panty-and-bra-wall down the middle to separate them.

Look at all those lady socks! No more standing there in the dark, groping around hope to find two similar enough to wear together, while trying not to wake Shrike up.

Also, look how the socks are all rolled up in tight little balls? Usually, I just fold the cuffs over together, but I figured this could be a sock version of the thing where you hang all your clothes up backwards once, then put them back normal, so after a while you can see which things you have actually worn. I've instructed Shrike (the clothes-putter-awayer) to just fold them over, and in a few weeks, I plan to purge again, and get rid of those that it turns out I actually don't like so much.

At least that's the plan.