Mismatched socks can pile up quickly. You hang onto them hoping to find their mates. Sometimes you do, so you might create a home for them made out of a basket, bag or a spare drawer. If you get new socks, you tend to toss out the old pairs, too. Clean but lone or used, old socks can still be useful. One reader, Laura from New Hampshire, shares: "I buy all matching socks, all the same colors, so say I have one that is mateless and another with a hole in the toe. I throw out the one with the hole and the mateless one has once again found a partner. It's a lot cheaper that way." I'm not suggesting you hoard a lifetime's worth. Set a deadline for purging orphan socks, but keep a few.
Here are a few practical ways to use them.
lone sock


IN THE BATHROOM:

Keep soap slivers inside a clean sock and use as a bath mitt.

MONEY:

If you tend to toss loose change on your dresser, contain it in a spare sock instead. Tuck it away in your dresser.

COVERS:

Place them over golf clubs to protect them. Or in the car for a wet umbrella. Or slide a cut sock onto a seatbelt to prevent it from irritating your skin.

PET TOYS:

Fill a sock with catnip for a cat, or knot a couple together and insert a tennis ball to use as a dog toy. Consider donating cat nip filled socks to animal shelters. Visit Operation Happy Sock (ohappysock.blogspot.com), a nonprofit, for details. There's a Girl Scouts patch available for troops that are interested in this, too. Visit www.littleawards.com and search for Operation Happy Sock to order.

FOR TODDLERS:

They make great arm warmers. If your toddler constantly tugs off his mittens, cut the toe from a couple of odd socks, cut an opening for thumbs and slide the socks up his arms and over his mittens. Another reader, Jenn from Texas, shares: "If you have babies/toddlers and you have a mismatched adult-sized knee sock, you can make your own "BabyLegs" (leg warmers and protection for crawling) by just cutting the sock off right above where the foot is! If you're handy, you can sew the bottom. Otherwise, it just rolls a bit, but it is still cute and functional."

HEAT AND COLD:

Keep a couple handy to slip ice into when you need an ice pack. Fill a clean sock with uncooked rice, flax seeds, cherry pits or buckwheat. Tie with string. You can add dry herbs or essential oil for scent. Close it and microwave for a minute when you need a heat pad.

SACHET:

Place dried herbs such as lavender or rosemary or potpourri inside a sock. Tie the sock closed with a ribbon and put it in a drawer or in your closet. You can toss it into your dryer to add scent to your clothes, too.

CLEANING:

Many people use them for dusting, but you can slip a sock on a yardstick and secure with a rubber band to clean hard-to-reach places such as under your refrigerator.

COFFEE CUP SLEEVE/COZY:

Cut the foot and trim to fit a travel mug or takeout coffee cup. Looks nicer with colored or print socks. You can embellish them with felt or buttons. This can be used on water or pop bottles at a casual get together, so no one mixes up their drinks.

photo by krikit