lonely socks | Imamother

chen

Fri, Nov 04 2005, 2:16 pm

You can use old sox to apply paste polish on shoes (and buff them); apply silver polish; clean up small but yucky messes, insulate water bottles (absorbs condensation and keeps it from making evrything else in the bag wet). In summer I cut off the feet of very long sox and slip the tube over my forearm to keep my "driving arm" from burning. I also slip a bar of fragrant soap into a sock and either put it in a drawer or hang it on a clothes hanger to prevent that unpleasant odor that develops in clothing stored for a long time.

you who play tennis can make wrist bands by slicing up the tops of sports socks into rings a few inches wide. You can also slice socks into narrow rings to use for ponytail holders.

Basically anything I use a shmatte for I use cotton socks for small jobs.

when my children were babies, I'd slip socks over their hands instead of mittens, which were hard to put on and were always coming off. The socks would come way up over their sleeves, and the hands stayed covered even if the socks slid down a few inches.

surely everyone knows the old dry-skin remedy of putting vaseline on your feet, covering with old socks and going to sleep?

I slip shoes into old socks before packing them in a suitcase. Plastic bags can mar certain leathers, I've been told.

I don't usually have a lot of socks in my shmatte bin. I wonder why? LOL

hadasa

Sat, Nov 05 2005, 4:29 pm

Since I have a lot of boys, every once in a while I buy 6-10 identical pairs for the big boys and 6-10 identical pairs for the liitle boys, in a different color. Makes life easier, instead of having separate socks for each child.

tzivi

Mon, Nov 28 2005, 12:16 am

stem wrote:

I throw all the mismatched socks back in the wash, hoping that their pair will show up next time I'm folding laundry. It doesn't always work, and certain socks are constantly being washed. Confused

LOL I do exactly the same thing!
and it works alot of the time... not always though!

chen

Mon, Nov 28 2005, 11:22 am

You'd be amazed what happens when you use a laundromat! Every now & then someone in the fam wears some garment that I don't recognize. we have to assume it stuck to the side of the machine and got mixed in with our laundry.

When I was young we had a lot of sleepover guests, often total strangers who were in the neighborhood for a shabbaton and were never seen again. The most common item to materialize was pantyhose (we usually had girls over), but I once found a pair of shoes that fit me perfectly. That time I knew the girl who had slept over, but she didn't want them back! (Maybe they didn't fit her so perfectly...)

TzenaRena

Mon, Nov 28 2005, 11:56 am

We go through this every guest season; once, some French guests left a whole set of snow boots, slippers. Guests from Eretz Yisrael left white shirts, other stuff. Baby toys, embroidered children's yarmulkes, even a velour Shabbos Robe! Machzorim, Tikun Leil shavuos, you name it. I never know what to do with it, and if I have to keep it in my house till Moshiach comes for Hashovas Aveida.

Nothing ever gets claimed, except once a bochur left his Tefillin (Rashi and RT). we never figured out whose it was, but about 6 months later someone called to ask if we still had the tefillin, and could he come pick it up for that bochur(Israeli). Surprised

I was thinking of posting a disclaimer notice on the wall: Very Happy

Host not responsible for items left behind. At least that way, we could throw it out.( not ch"v tefillin or seforim...)

happyone

Mon, Nov 28 2005, 12:07 pm

[quote="SaraYehudis"]]

I was thinking of posting a disclaimer notice on the wall: Very Happy

Host not responsible for items left behind. At least that way, we could throw it out.( not ch"v tefillin or seforim...)[/quote]

I feel the same way. We constantly have a house full of guest and each one leaves a souveneir in the form of socks, undies, clothes, pajamas etc..

I have drawers and drawers of everyone's junk....
I should really make a garage sale, after putting up the disclaimer you mentioned!!!

chen

Mon, Nov 28 2005, 8:07 pm

I love it! What a clever idea! Console yourselves with this thought: Freudians say that leaving stuff behind indicates a subconscious wish to return to that place. So you must be very pleasant hosts...

we have friends with whom we exchange kids' clothes a lot--theirs are older and younger than ours, so first we borrow from them and then they borrow from us. So if they find clothes around with our kids' names, we have to verify whether they are still our kids' clothes, or formerly our kids' clothes and now their kids' clothes! LOL

not usually sox, though--we buy different kinds.

proudmom

Mon, Nov 28 2005, 8:09 pm

About those lonely socks, I have a tape that only has to do with stains and laundry so one of the things it mentions about where does those socks go? They go into the dryer pipe, you have to take it apart and you might find them inside if you dont then they are gone.

chen

Tue, Nov 29 2005, 10:10 am

proudmom wrote:

where does those socks go? They go into the dryer pipe,

No, dear, I have no dryer for them to go to. They go to the same place that gloves, mittens, silverware, puzzle pieces, blender attachments and earring backs go--the Great Beyond. I assume that at the time of t'chiyas ha-mesim these will all come back from whatever limbo they are in and be reunited with their comrades. Wink

TzenaRena

Tue, Nov 29 2005, 11:04 am

chen wrote:

we have friends with whom we exchange kids' clothes a lot--theirs are older and younger than ours, so first we borrow from them and then they borrow from us. So if they find clothes around with our kids' names, we have to verify whether they are still our kids' clothes, or formerly our kids' clothes and now their kids' clothes! LOL

You obviously keep them in very good condition! I have a similar arrangement with my sister, but she's picky when taking things back. The styles have usually changed unrecognizably by the time things go back to her younger set.

And although I get things from her missing buttons, or needing a bit of mending, or minor stain removal she will not take anything from me that needs anything of the sort ! Rolling Eyes

(No, she is not of higher economic status than I am, but then again not as talented as me with needle & thread or laundering Wink

)

chen

Tue, Nov 29 2005, 12:16 pm

SaraYehudis wrote:

And although I get things from her missing buttons, or needing a bit of mending, or minor stain removal she will not take anything from me that needs anything of the sort ! Rolling Eyes

I try as much as possible to return borrowed stuff in as good or better condition than I got it. (Not always possible, of course. We have a deal--we do not lend anything we'd be heartbroken to have ruined.) This means tricks like shaving off the pills and bleaching stains on whites. Also I neatly fold whatever I'm giving forward or back (I don't iron first, but smooth out and fold)--much more nicely and precisely than I fold our own laundry! That makes a big diff--the nicest garment, thrown haphazardly into a garbage bag, tumbled about and wrinkled, will look like a shmatte.

I will start a new thread on this topic since we've gone off on a tangent.