There’s nothing quite like a new pair of socks. I think the only comparable feeling to sliding into a fresh pair of never-been-worn socks is that of sliding into freshly-laundered sheets. Especially new hiking socks… man, buy me a pair of Smart Wool and you’ve made me one hell of a happy guy. But as I was folding socks tonight I realized that might have a problem. I have more socks than one man ought to have.
This is just the half of it; there’s more. This isn’t even counting the white sock collection, and the ones that were already clean that didn’t need to be sorted…
(On a side note, you know this blog has gone down hill when I’m blogging ’bout my socks. Don’t you have something more productive to do with your time? Who reads this stuff, anyway!?) Maybe this isn’t that many… I think it is. The problem is that they just don’t wear out. There’s not a hole in the whole lot. So, I can’t just throw them away. Heck, I don’t even buy them for myself anymore. 90% of them came as Christmas gifts, anyway, so I can’t really be at fault here, can I?
But this raises the larger question of when to throw out clothes that you don’t need. I’ve got a closet full of cloths that I never wear but won’t throw out because I might wear them some day. Which is utterly ridiculous, because I never do and likely never will. I’m thinking it might be time for some goodwill action. Some people I know do a one-in, one-out thing where they won’t buy a new shirt without getting rid of an old one. Some people tier their clothing, where the first tier is “going out cloths”, the second is “work cloths”, third is something like “bumming around cloths”, and then a fourth/fifth of the “workout”/”garden” variety. The final tier being the trash-can. I kinda follow that system, but it never quite results in things getting thrown out because I’ll work out in just about anything.
You would have thought that moving would have helped me rid my self of some of these, but it didn’t quite work as well as I would have thought. Maybe I should try moving again?
I feel your pain!!! Used socks make good polishing cloths for the cars. Top row in closet is the “good stuff”, lower row is the “work stuff”. Both need a good cleaning out. Do like Bill Clinton and take your used underwear to the Salvation Army and get a receipt for tax purposes.
I’m definitely cleaning out my clothing from the move. Then again, I’m throwing out t-shirts that have been w/ me since high school. :-p
Sain, at least you’re throwing them out! Mine are still filling space. Oh, and then there’s the t-shirt of “Nick Wang’s head” that I still have never worn…
Dad, at least you wear the ‘work’ stuff. I sware I keep things for that reason and then never wear them again.
Oh well.
I think you have a sock fetish, which is cool; it’s time to branch out into new things though. Like argyle vests. We should totally start an argyle sock-and-vest collection for you.
On a more serious note, I do the once yearly weeding — if I haven’t wore it in 2 years, unless it’s a special occasion thing, into the goodwill bin it goes!