One of the core principles of my philosophy is Sock Management.

I believe that we can all lead happier, healthier lives if only we can deal with the problem of odd socks. My solution is quite simple: every year or so, throw away all of your socks, even the ones you are standing up in, and buy yourself 20 pairs of identical socks.

A few guidelines:

1. Throw aways the old socks. I don't care how good they are, how much you like them or if they have sentimental value. Throw them away. Don't keep them for use as dusters, and don't give them to charity. Nobody wants your old socks.

2. Buy all your new socks on the same day, in the same shop, at the same time. You may get some funny looks from the till monkey, but it saves you the trouble of searching for identical socks a week later when you've run out.

3. All the same colour and style. If you need to express your personality through the wearing of flashy socks, you've got some deeper problems than I can solve.

4. Sports socks don't count - although you should try to keep your sports socks identical too, and don't store them in the same place as your normal socks. That way madness lies.

I recently discovered that M&S are selling 7 pairs of identical socks for 15 euro, and have a "Buy one, get one half price" promotion in effect. That means fourteen pairs of socks for €22.50, a net price of just over 80c per sock.

At those prices, I could spend 49 euro a month and never have to wear the same pair of socks again....

... imagine that, new socks every day!

Just call me Doctor Freshfeet.