WFMW: Taming the Sock Monster

My oldest son (11) was forever coming to me to say he didn't have any clean socks to wear. I knew he didn't have as many as his little brothers but I suspected that there was another reason why his socks weren't getting washed in a timely manner. They weren't getting to the hamper, or if they were, too often only one sock in the pair would get there while the other one was busy exploring the depths of some corner of his room or a little dusty hideaway under the bed. I did two things to try to fix the problem and so far it seems to be working for me (and my son). First I went out and bought him a package or two of new socks so that he had enough to last for several days. Then I gave him one of my mesh bags for washing lingerie in the machine. He has this hanging by his bedpost and every night when he takes the socks off they are to go directly into the bag. Every few days (at least once or twice a week) I stop by his room and grab the bag and add it to the laundry that is going into the machine. It is also thrown into the dryer and then returned full of clean socks for him to match up and put away in his sock drawer. We haven't had a sock crisis yet and I'm not finding his dirty socks all over the place either.
This week I decided to buy two more mesh bags at the local dollar store and give one to each of his brothers (ages 6 and 9) to see if we can get them trained too. This will make folding the laundry so much easier when I no longer have so many little boy socks to match up.
For more great Works for Me ideas head on over to Shannon's blog.