Amélie Saint-Jacques 6/20/26 Amélie Saint-Jacques 6/20/26

Storing socks

This isn’t a real blog post. It’s an inevitable follow-up to my post about simplifying. I want to address a question I get from friends and clients alike, about how to store socks. Can you fold them in such a way that they will stay together? Is it okay to roll them one onto the other or to tie them together? As is the case with many such organizing questions, my answer is: It depends.

The first thing to take into consideration is how you wash and dry your socks. Personally, I do not use the dryer on my clothes (linens, yes, but clothes, no). So once I have clean but damp socks, I smooth them out and hang them on a clothing rack to dry. This means that they dry in a nice, smooth shape, and are then very “docile” about being folded and staying that way.

Am I saying that this is how you must wash socks? NO! Many people do not have the time or inclination to hang their clothes to dry and they much prefer using a dryer. That’s fine, but it does mean that your socks will dry with a more crooked or unpredictable shape, so they will be much harder to fold and may not stay neatly folded no matter how hard you try – you’re not doing anything wrong, you just can’t achieve the same results with socks that have been in the dryer. This is the case with many of the homes in which I work, and in those cases, I will “potato” the socks, meaning fold the top of one over the other to keep the pair together in the drawer. (I do not recommend tying them together at all.)

To be clear, the downside of this method is that it causes more strain on the elastic, making the socks break down more quickly. Plus, fabric will take the shape it had when it was drying, so with this method, it is possible that the socks will be less comfortable. Folding is the ideal way to store socks, but I do understand that it is not possible for everyone.

Bottom line: If the way you are currently washing and storing socks works for you, keep doing it. If there is something you would like to improve, let’s figure out how to tweak your system so that it works for you.

Bonus tips: If pairing socks is a pain point for you, try doing it mindlessly as you are watching television. Or have your kids do it! Another tip is to just get sets of matching socks and use a different one for each member of the household. Now the only question will be how to spend the extra time you’ll have!

Bonus bonus tip: Washing smaller loads and not using the dryer seem to be the keys to not ending up with orphaned socks.

Hi there! I’m Amélie, a professional home organizer in San Antonio, Texas. I help people like you declutter their home, organize their belongings, and simplify their life. I love cleaning out a closet and removing a carload of donations from a home! My goal is to help you create a functional space that will make your life easier and more peaceful.

Interested? Check out my personalized services or book your complimentary consultation!

Amélie Saint-Jacques 6/20/26 Amélie Saint-Jacques 6/20/26

Simplify

You know how there are some concepts that seem obvious if you’re very familiar with them, but to someone else, those concepts are not at all clear? I’ve had that experience recently when saying “less is more” and I was reminded that some things need explaining. I am going to use some client examples in this post, and I want to make it *abundantly clear* that I would never shame anyone; I am using these examples precisely because *they are so relatable*.

Some people have a lot of clothes. So many clothes that the baskets never empty, the clothes never all get put away, and there are always piles of stuff in the laundry room. Most often, these people feel overwhelmed by their laundry. And all too often, their reasoning is that since they have so much trouble finding clean clothes and putting together an outfit each day, the solution must be that they need *more* clothes. They are very taken aback when I tell them that the solution is actually that they need to *get rid of* a lot of clothes!

The shortest, least complicated way to get dressed is to have fewer options in our closet.

Shannon Leyko

Let’s take the example of socks. I worked with a not-atypical client who had three drawers full of socks in her closet, plus a few bins of orphaned socks elsewhere in the house. The drawers had the intention of order (lights, darks, and hosiery), but everything was pell-mell inside them, and there were many orphaned socks and strays in the wrong places, along with some mismatched socks paired together out of desperation. They had taken over too much space and were a thorn in my client’s side each day because it was so hard for her to find what she wanted!

Now, how many socks does one person need? It depends. I mean, I would say that since there are different seasons, it is absolutely appropriate to have wool socks that you only wear in the winter and cotton socks for the summer. Life also presents different types of occasions, so sure, you might need knee-high stockings, black dress socks, white crew socks, ankle sports socks, and a pair of ugly Christmas socks thrown in for good measure. I’m all for variety!

Here’s what happened with this client: Even when I pointed out socks with holes or stains, my client did not want to get rid of them or thought she would need to replace them, because she was in a scarcity mindset. The remedy was easy, if a bit tedious: sort through all the socks, pair them up properly, then organize them by type/length/color. From that point on, not only were they easy to find, but she could see what she had at a glance! At the beginning of the session, she was afraid that she couldn’t get rid of any knee-high stockings, and that was because she genuinely couldn’t always find a pair when she needed one. But once we were done, she had enough to wear a different pair every day for almost three weeks if she had wanted to, and that is when she was able to let go of the excess.

Order allowed her to simplify, and simplifying made her life easier.

Let’s use another example inspired by a different client. Imagine doing a load of laundry and ending up with (among other things) 43 socks; after putting some order in things, you determine that you have 11 orphans and 16 pairs, each of them different. Now imagine instead doing a load of laundry and ending up with 14 socks, comprised of 7 pairs, 5 of which are identical. Isn’t sorting (and putting away) the second load so much easier? The way you get there is by having fewer socks, doing a load every week, and buying bundles of identical pairs whenever possible. David Tennant gets it!

And when this client realized that even if we did match all the orphaned socks that had accumulated, the drawer wasn’t spacious enough for them, her reaction was to say that she would need to purchase more storage. And I said that actually, her storage was fine, it was just that she had too many socks! It just felt like it wasn’t enough because they didn’t get put away properly once they were clean, ang again, that’s easier to do with fewer socks.

Because here’s the thing: The fewer items you have to manage, the less energy it will take from you – and therefore the more energy you have for important things. You can pare down to the essentials, switch to only one sock color, limit the number of special-occasion socks, and simplify both your closet and your life.

By the way, it’s easier to keep up than it is to catch up. That’s why clients hire me to help them catch up – then they are set up for success!

Here are some tips for success: It’s not about how many socks you can fit in your space or how many you could afford to buy; it’s about how many will make your life more manageable. To translate this more broadly, build a system that meets you where you are today. Which routines feel easy? Which routines (or spaces) do not serve you? What drains you and what would you need to feel better about it?

Interested? Check out my personalized services or book your complimentary consultation!