I don't know about you, but I absolutely loathe odd socks. In fact, I once paid a friend to sort through 2 huge baskets of them because I could not bear the thought of suffering through the task. Clearly, I have issues - and too many socks. If only I knew then what I know now...
Mis-matched-mayhem is no longer a huge part of my laundering life, all because of one incredibly simple trick: pair your socks before they hit the hamper.
This approach has worked wonders for me. It is sort of a preemptive strike, ensuring that you will indeed have actual pairs of matching socks once the laundry is in its final sorting stage. Yes, you will want to un-pair your socks before transferring them over to the dryer/clothesline - but it is still worlds easier to sort the pre-sorted.
You may have gathered that my laundry habits are less than stellar. You are not wrong. Frequency=Low. Which may or may not have lead me down this dark road in the first place, but I know I am not alone. Hopefully this tip will help those of you in similar positions.
P.S. For positively orphaned socks worry not, you've just landed yourself a brand new duster!
(Images: MaryAnne Petrella)
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Nomade Express Slee...
My Staple Summer Cocktail Recipe: Campari & IPA Spritzer
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
This is really funny. I thought everyone already knew how to fold socks together before washing them to keep them mated. It's hilarious that you paid a friend to go through your socks for you!
My husband does this (for this very reason) and it drives me crazy, because it generally means that the folded part of the sock NEVER DRIES, and subsequently dampens anything it lands next to in the clean-hamper or drawer.
I agree Sara--There's nothing worse than soggy socks!!
I put my socks zipped up in a large lingerie bag when washing and drying and it works great.
I've gone a completely different direction on this, but also a preemptive one: I bought all the same kind of sock as my "base" sock. Every sock pairs with every other sock. If I lose one sock I wait until I lose (or wear a hole in...) another and then pair the lone socks. So I have many, many of this kind of basic sock, and five or eight pairs of "fun" or specialized socks (mostly Smartwool, which I guard with my life on account of their well-worth-it expense). Easy peasy lemon squeezy, and only a little ridiculous.
Like Nora Rocket I also have basic sets of socks. I work in an office though so I have basic white, basic black, and basic brown sets and then a few fun or specialized pairs. Growing up my mom, sister and I all had the same basic white socks. When you're drawer was empty you refilled it from the communal sock basket in the basement. No searching required.
Ha! I did the base sock for the office (black) and for sneaks (white footies) and I put them in a lingerie bag. (Uh, not together: the black socks go with the darks, the whites with the... well you get the picture.)
Then I became a knitter and messed up my color system. Good thing there's never a problem matching up a pair of hand-knit socks.
it should be "bear" not "bare" in the post. Usually don't notice these things but it jumped out at me.
And more on topic- why go to the trouble of attaching your socks prior to washing then having to take the time to separate them prior to drying? Seems like a lot of work. And you might lose them anyway.
@Hellkat Opps! Thanks for pointing that out, it has been corrected :)
And while it is a bit of extra work unpair (to prevent sog), it means that only matching socks make it into each load of laundry - which saves me time later on!
use a safety pin for each pair.
Those sock-clip thingies at the Container Store work pretty well, and each family member can have a different color clip.
http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10006716&N=&Ntt=sock