Two things used to get lost in the fray of laundry around here: baby socks and re-usable breast pads (the kind to help contain leaking mom-milk). These tiny cloth objects stick to the insides of pants, flannel sheets, fleece jackets, you name it.

My husband loves to tell the story of how he was in a graduate seminar shortly after our son was born when he looked down to see a clean, fluffy breast pad sneaking its way out of his pant leg onto the floor. It had apparently been in there all day, slowly working its way towards his socks.

You can defeat the sock loss gremlin, and the devious creatures that make breast pads show up in embarrassing places, with the kind of plastic mesh bag that you buy potatoes or onions in. Just keep a plastic mesh bag attached to the side of your laundry bin (I use a wooden clothespin to clip it on) so that you can place wet milk pads and dirty socks directly into it. At laundry time, tie it shut with a knot and toss it in. Make sure the bag is big enough for your sock and milk pad load to float around freely, or they might not dry completely. You might think this will make your laundry process more complicated, but it actually saves you time when it is really quick to find all the socks and pads once they are clean.
- Leigh G.