Believe it or not, there’s a right way to fold socks! Follow these easy steps and your socks will fit nicely into your drawer and stay in perfect, tidy rows!

It’s true. This is an entire blog post dedicated to how to fold socks. 🙂 OK, you may think I’m more than just a little crazy for this, but hear me out. I’ve always loved socks in general and ever since I was a little kid I’ve always felt like there was almost nothing better than a fresh pair of brand new socks. Lately though, my love of socks has gone a little further and I have to admit that I probably get just a little too much joy out of having all of those beloved socks all lined up and organized in my sock drawer, you know, just so. It really does make a difference to start your day off by opening a drawer that is just all neat and orderly. It just gives you that feeling that everything is right in the world. 🙂 You know?
OK, so maybe you don’t know. If all of this sounds like I’m taking a love of organization just a little too far, then that’s OK. I won’t be upset if you want to go on being all rational and normal about your sock drawer. 🙂 However, if a super tidy and organized sock drawer sounds like a dream to you, then join me on this train to crazy-sock-organization-ville and let me show you how I fold my socks to get them looking all nicely lined-up like this. It doesn’t take eleventeen hours, I promise!
How to Fold Socks
Start out by placing your socks down on a flat surface with one criss-crossed over the other.
*Warning* sock-folding controversy alert! If you’re a sock-folding aficionado like I am, then you’ve probably seen every sock-folding method in the book. There’s one floating around out there that tells you to pre-arrange your socks so that the heel of the sock is on the top when the sock is lying flat. So you have to separate the two sides of the toe, force them down flat, align the entire rest of the sock with that, and then kind of flatten the heel that will be sticking up on top. This basically makes the sock completely straight instead of foot-shaped. It’s definitely slightly easier to fold that way, but it’s also completely unnecessary and really a big time-waster. So now you know. I’m on the side of folding using socks that retain their natural foot shape. Foot-shaped socks forever!
OK, so once you have your socks one on top of the other like in the photo, with the heels kind of placed in the middle of the other sock, you’re ready to move on to step two!
Take the toe side of the sock lying underneath and fold it over across the other sock, then tuck the toe under on the other side.
Then fold over the top part (the ankle part) of the same “under” sock right over top.
Thank goodness for photos! I’m pretty sure none of this would make any sense without them! 🙂
Next, flip the whole thing over!
Now follow the same process of folding the toe part up and over, tucking it in, and then folding the top, or ankle, part of the sock over.
You’ll notice that you’ve created a little pocket now that you can tuck the top of the ankle part of the sock into, so do that!
And then take care of the other ankle top that’s still sticking out as well!
Folding Tricks: The Creek Line House – How to Fold Just About Everything
The Completed Pair of Folded Socks
And there you have it!
You can easily fit about 5 times as many socks in a drawer when you fold them this way and you can actually see them all too!
So that’s the right way to fold socks! Try this one out if your sock drawer has been driving you a little bonkers!
Do you have an extra special way of folding your socks? Do you do it this way or is there a different method you love?
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.