Uses for Old Socks: Let your Gang’s Feet go Green
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We’ll probably never solve the mystery of the missing socks, but what we can do is keep the orphan ones out of the landfills. If you have a family of four or five and each person loses an average of two singles per year, then you’ll be dangling approximately 10 mismatched socks above your trashcan annually during your spring or fall cleaning. If the socks you are searching for belong to the little piggies on your precious baby’s feet, this number is probably even higher. Regardless of size, shape, or colour, here are a few uses for old socks:
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Get Crafty
- Have a sock gift exchange for Christmas. Sock monkeys, fingerless gloves, snowmen …use your imagination! Sock puppets are great for the car. Keep a few in your glove compartment to amuse your children during a long road trip or when you’re parked and waiting for someone.
- Make a catnip ball. Fill the bottom of a small sock with catnip and sew up the top.
- Make a hot/cold compress. Rice (or flax seed) filled socks can be placed in the microwave and used as heating pads. You can also use them in the freezer for cold compresses. Be careful not to use minute rice, which can start a fire. Find out How to Make a Rice Sock safely here.
Get Silly
- Have a sock party. Invite your kiddie (and/or adult) guests to bring all of their mismatched socks over for an annual sock hop. Have a basket by the front door where guests can throw their singles in. After everyone arrives, blindfold your guests and have them each choose two. Guests must wear their silly socks throughout the party (trading allowed). After the party remind your guests to add their new old socks to their costume box.
Get Practical
- Save your pretty socks for crafts and gifts and reuse Dad’s old tube socks as rags and dusters. Why not have a whole family of these? You can personalize each sock cleaner with a name and hang your environmentally friendly friends on your unused paper towel holder.
- You may also be able to donate single socks to your local SPCA. Animals with sore paws can use them as protective coverings. Teachers might consider this pet bed as a classroom charity project.
Get Frugal
- How many socks do you and your kids really need? And while you’re counting, how many T-shirts and pairs of jeans are really necessary per person? Less clothing generally leads to less laundry. Consider having one large family dresser in your laundry room and you’ll be forced to downsize and keep consuming to a minimum.
And one final green tip for parents: Stick with one colour and type of sock when you’re buying new. That way you don’t even notice when any go missing.
Related Posts about Reusing Old Socks:
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