This Inexpensive Laundry Hack Prevents You From Losing Socks

Who hasn't washed and dried a load of laundry and ended up with one (or more!) less socks than they started with? James Darmstadt, a quality engineer at GE Appliances, told "Today" that there is a perfectly good reason as to why socks and other small items disappear in the washing machine. In a front-loading washer, socks often slip through the rubber ring around the door designed to seal out water during a wash during a high spin cycle. They then get stuck under the metal washing basket. Top-loaders aren't immune from this phenomenon either. Socks can get pushed up to the top of the drum during a wash and slide into the space between the metal basket and the outer walls of the machine. While socks normally get lost in the washer, dryers can also be the culprit in cases when the lint screen isn't properly installed. Socks can get sucked down into the exhaust pipe without this barrier, Wayne Archer, a Sears Home Services appliance repair expert, revealed.

Archer advised not to overstuff your washing machine to help prevent small items from going lost. "You can save your socks from the jaws of a ... washer by not overloading it," he stated. "Correct loading actually solves a lot of problems, like laundry not getting clean or banging noises during the spin cycle." 

But what if there was a simple hack that could prevent you from ever losing a sock in the wash again? Keep reading to find out!

There is a simple and cost-effective way to ensure your socks won't disappear into the abyss while doing laundry. Best yet, you may already have this item in your laundry room waiting for you to discover its alternate purpose. The hack involves small mesh garment bags — the kind you likely already use for delicate items like bras and panties. But have you ever thought to use them for socks? If not, you're going to want to give this trick a try! Per Apartment Therapy, the zipper on the bags keeps all your rogue socks from getting lost and makes it easy to fold them once they're done drying. Instead of sifting through a pile of laundry and pulling staticky socks out of their sneaky hiding places, just empty the bag, match them up, and store them back in your drawer. 

This hack can be a great way of getting children to help out with the laundry as well. They can be in charge of stuffing the mesh bags with socks and other small items to make it easy for you to just toss in the wash and go about your day. You can also attach an open mesh bag to the side of a laundry hamper with a clothespin. This way, family members automatically separate their socks when they toss their dirty clothes into the hamper, avoiding you the hassle of fishing out the socks on laundry day.