Dad can't understand why he has 60 toddler socks without matches after doing laundry
Here's why socks seem to disappear.
One of the most frustrating things is getting ready to leave the house in the morning for work or school and realizing that all your clean socks are in the dryer. So, you plow through all your clothes to find matching socks but can’t find a suitable pair. You find one sock, but the one that matches has vanished into thin air.
This can be even more frustrating if you have small children and you can’t find a match for a teeny, tiny sock in the dryer. The crazy thing is that the pair's second half sometimes never reappears. What happened to the sock? Was it eaten by the proverbial sock monster that terrorizes the homes of young children, or was it washed out to sea after finding an escape pipe in the washer?
A poster on Reddit recently showed just how diabolical this problem can be. He posted a photo that would shock most people unless they have kids. After a round of laundry, he had sixty toddler socks without a pair. The poster has 2 kids, one 2 and the other 3 years old, and an army of lonely socks. What in the world could have happened in this person’s home for so many socks to go missing?
Over 60 toddler socks with no matches after doing all the laundry.
byu/epilepsyisdumb inmildlyinfuriating
One commenter on the post had a perfect solution to the missing sock problem. “Once every other year or so, I throw away all my socks and buy 20 pairs of exactly the same brand new socks. Then I wear them all the same amount and rotate them evenly so they always match. It’s glorious,” they wrote.
"What if those are all left socks, and some ghost is stealing all the rights?" another commenter joked. Many people guessed that they were probably stuck in her washer and dryer. "The washer also eats them. Pull the panels off, and you will find socks and possibly some cash, lol," another added.
Why do all of my socks keep disappearing?
So, where do all the missing socks go? Cindy Bailen, a veteran writer on major appliance and home design for 15-plus years, agrees your washer and dryer have probably eaten them. “In top-loading machines, socks can get lodged under the agitator (the pole in the middle of the washer), or get trapped under the wash plate (the central piece in the bottom of the tub),” she writes at Reviewed. She adds that socks may be pushed into the inner and outer tub area.
If you have a front-loader washing machine, socks are often caught in the washer’s filter. “If your washing machine has a clean-out area, open it and look for socks. You definitely don't want socks to get caught in the drain pump,” she continues. Bailen says that your socks may also be stuck in your dryer. “If the lint trap is located in the front of your dryer, pull it out, and look for socks in the space underneath,” she writes.
The problem is that kids are constantly growing, and if you’re just learning the washer-and-dryer sock-retrieval techniques now, you may find some socks from when they were much younger and no longer fit. Inspecting your laundry machines could be a time capsule of your child’s entire sock history. “I remember those Christmas socks from when she was three!” “Oh, that’s where his baseball socks went in 2019.” Happy sock hunting.