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How can I organize and store my cables?
I have two giant drawers right now that are complete rats’ nests. Cables of every kind and type, all mixed together. You can’t tell where one cable ends and another begins.
It is at the point where I recently needed a cable that I know that I have, but it was easier and less stressful to just order a new one than try to find it in the mess.
Ideally, I’d have cables that are neatly organized, not tangled together, easily identifiable, and space efficient, but I honestly have no idea how to make this happen.
Anyone have any tips?
Back when my cable collection was smaller, I would store mine using ziplock bags labeled with what kind of cable they were. Some cables would get nested categories (e.x. microUSB bag inside the USB bag), and some specific cables got their own dedicated bag. Digging through plastic bags is very quick, especially compared to digging through tangled cables.
Cables within the bags were either bagged themselves or were coiled up, sometimes with a velcro tie around it.
I also can't recommend a USB cable tester enough. I've spent far too much of my life fighting unreliable cables and I'm just done with it. All USB cables I get are tested, if they don't have their data pins wired or have flakey connections (e.x. connection lights flickering when the connector moves around), they're immediately cut in half and put into the electronics recycling bin.
Whoa, I had no idea these things existed. Seems super useful for going through my dozens of cables. Ordering one now, thanks!
Second vote for the Ziploc bag method. Going through and sorting them will also help you realize you probably don't need 7 rj-11 cables, too.
+1 on velco ties. They're dirt cheap and usually come in a nice peel off puck, so it's not like you're trading one mess for another (the unused ties). Velco + labeled bags, and you can Nesting doll the bags. E.g. If you have a bunch of usb A male to X, you can group them all in one bag, and subgrouped bags inside.
Also, if you coil your cables, use the roadie wrap
I’ve been doing this for years and it makes a huge difference. I learned from this video and still mutter its helpful mnemonic when wrapping: “overworked and underpaid”
This vid is a bit unclear on what to do on the "under" part of the technique. To explain to people in text form: If you coil a cable by doing the same thing again and again (such as the common approach of wrapping behind and under your elbow repeatedly), you introduce twist along the cable which is exacerbated when the cable is uncoiled simply by pulling on one end.
The key in properly coiling cables (whether by the method shown in this vid, or using one of several other ways) is to alternate the twist with each coil (circle) you make. This way, there is no twist all along the length of the cable, just a small amount along each subcoil, which cancels out because of the alternation.
The point is this reduces strain and wear on your cables, saving you (or your organization) money.
For.my drawer of USB-to-anything cables I have 3D printed cable holders/clamps and sorted them by color. Blue is for USB-C (even USB2.0 only), orange for microUSB (which I don't use that much anymore) and red is for everything else (various kids toys and whatnots). I would suggest differing USB-C to USB2.0 and USB3.x cables. Or USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to USB-C although this is easily seen on the holder/clamp.
For bigger cables like HDMI I would probably hang them under the table or on table leg/side and pair the same cables on the same hook. If Ou have technica room or cabinet, I would suggest using coat hanger for sorting the cables out. It is unbelievably effective way that lets you see everything and doesn't take up that much space. But it's not very nice to look at (in the living room or any habitable room, actually).
How did I never think of colour coded clips?! That’s such a good idea - do you have a link to a model you like for this?
I’m also approaching the point that I’d probably rather buy a new cable than figure out whether I already have one spare, so I’m well overdue for some reorganisation.
I've printed around 20 of these cable organizers. They have their own flaws but they work for me. I did them in PETG so they don't warp if I leave them in car. Beware of first layer and possible fusing of the inner ring to the outer shell (elephant foot compensation may be needed). The lengths (sizes) are more a suggestion - thinner 1m cable fits into 60cm one and sometimes thicker 1,8m has problems fitting into 2m one (you have to keep helping it wind in nice layers and then it fits).
I was also looking into these Cable organizers OXO but I haven't printed any yet.
Super helpful, thank you!
I have been doing something similar and can recommend painting the ends of the cable the color corresponding to the kind of end it is (not the metal part, just the plastic housing near the end). My normal type-c to type-c cables are blue on both ends. Ones with type-a on one end are green on that end. Red for micro which I've fortunately have been needing less often now-a-days.
A similar system could be extended to include non-USB cables as well.
For long cables (over 6ft), I wind mine into loops and then use a velcro tie to keep the loop together, from there, I have a shelf I keep them on. Even longer cables (50ft ethernet, for instance), I wind onto old 3d printer filament spools.
For shorter cables or particularly thin ones, I wind into a small figure-8 shape and put a velcro tie around the middle.
For storage, a tote works for lesser-used cables or things I have a lot of. I'd suggest sorting cables into broad categories. Mains power cables, ethernet, USB, and video cables.
This is a common issue in electronics and there is a standard solution: the cable rack. You can get different lengths and different slot widths.
Here is my setup in my lab.
There are expensive name-brand ones (to be fair they probably use better quality steel) and half-price or so no-names. I have one of the cheap ones, it tends to bend a bit and I have to sometimes push the 'fingers' back upwards. Works fine though.
You could probably also 3D print one.
This solution is for if you want the cords out in the open for accessibility. If you want them all stored out of sight in a drawer, I'd advise coiling them individually in circular loops and securing each with 2 velcro cable ties.
I appreciate the pointers everyone! I didn't even think of hanging them, which is just the kind of idea I needed. I also like the idea of separating them into "common" and "unusual" cables, with the unusual ones going into cold storage in my basement or something.
Also I learned the roadie wrap which is going to make putting away my garden hose so much easier.
Cheap hanging shoe rack. I shove all my usb-c in one sleeve, usb-micro in another, hdmi, displayport, molex, etc. Consolidate whatever doesn't need a dedicated slot. Use color clips like others mentioned if you mix them. Throw away the worst usb-c cables when the sleeve starts getting too big, because you're turning into a charger brick dragon.
This is what I’ve been doing. Effectively makes a ton of cables disappear and take up near zero space and can be repeated for as many doors you have in your home.
I went through my cable drawer recently and removed about 90% of it. So there were just a few commonly used weird power connectors and maybe two micro usb and three usb c cables (I almost never need to charge than many things all at once). I put them into parts bins to attempt to keep them segregated but it's already not worked. But being so few cables, it matters less.
The stuff I took out I sorted into "probably useful", "maybe useful", "probably not but possibly important once a year" and "definitely don't need". The three former piles got coiled, cable tied and put into ziplock baggies and stashed away, the much larger final pile went into the recycling bin. It was mostly usb cables which I'd been unknowingly hoarding because every new device comes with one and they'd been piling up for several years. Again, I only need one or two at any one time.
This does remind me, my 2023 Timasomo project was a cable/charging management object and I never did do the voice-over and upload the final video!
There’s a number of cables I could probably “safely” dispose of, but I’ve had enough instances where having that one weird/defunct cable on hand has saved the day for either myself or friends/family that I generally hold on to them.
Many years ago I used to have a gargantuan selection of cables and yes, there was usually one which was useful for something because in the Olde Days there was a reasonably large but still finite collection of standards. But over the last maybe ten years everything has become either a flavour of usb or such an random/obscure connector configured entirely opaquely for one device and one alone, short of having a portal to a warehouse in Shenzen, there's very little chance of having the right thing on hand.
My rule is that if something hasn't been useful for a few years, it probably won't be ever again and frankly I don't have storage space to keep everything on the off-chance.
Although, if you do want to and have the space to maintain a rare cable archive, I'd still suggest taking out the not-immediately-useful ones and putting them out of the way. Sure, you or someone near you might one day need a SCSI cable or a Nokia power brick - but you don't need to be moving them out of the way every time you're trying to find the cable to charge your watch three times a week.
I skimmed the replies, but the cheapest way you can do this is toilet paper rolls. When you finish a roll, use the cardboard to hold a cable. Bonus: when you fill your drawer with enough rolls, they stand up!
You can also use paper towel rolls cut into sections. Or wrapping paper rolls!
Gallon freezer Ziploc bags, Velcro cable ties and labeler. Each cable type and ends in their own bags. I keep all the bags in a plastic tote. It's cheap and keeps them from getting all tangled.
I split my cables up into roughly 6 groups, bought some nice looking containers with lids from Homegoods, wrapped the cables with Velcro, then put labels on the containers. Now I can open up the cabinet that contains them and have a pretty good idea of where things are.
I'm also going to highly recommend having a temporary storage location for non-organized cables. Sort of like an inbox, if you will. You likely will not always have the time to wrap and re-organize every cable you have in your hand. So give yourself some breathing room to do it later. It should go without saying that you do need to periodically go through this "inbox" so it doesn't become permanent storage, though.
Update:
A BIGTIME THANK YOU TO EVERYONE HERE!
I got some wall cable racks, this USB cable tester, and these magnetic cable ties.
I then pooled ALL of my cables, sorted them, tested my USB ones, and kept only the necessary ones. Small cables went on the hangers. Larger cables got coiled, tied, and put in gallon Ziploc bags by type.
I bought two of the racks, with one being my "stuff I'll use" cable storage (mostly USB stuff), and the other being my "odd one-offs" rack.
All my power cables got tied and put into a drawer.
I realize this goes against the spirit of my post, but if I had to make a recommendation to anyone doing this it would be this:
Forget about organizing your USB cables. Throw everything out and buy back good current versions of the ones you need.
Why do I say this? It took me hours to organize and test all my USB cables. What did I learn? Many of them were old -- something I already knew. A whole lot of them didn't support data or power delivery. Among the ones that did, many of them weren't up to date.
Also I had so many of them it was obnoxious. I had over 30 USB A to C cables! More. Than. Thirty.
I could have saved a lot of time and effort had I just tossed them all and spent maybe $30 to buy a couple of current spec cables with the right tips. What are the right tips? Well, nearly everything I use now has USB-C ports, and for the stuff that doesn't, I already have this. Three cables cover pretty much every configuration will likely need going forward: USB A to C, C to C, and this 3-in-1.
I did keep a few more cables than just those three, in the interest of having different lengths of cables for when I need something short or something long.
Despite my hindsight, I'm not mad that I did things the way that I did. In fact, it was wonderfully freeing. That clutter had been weighing on my soul behind the scenes, and now it's gone!
Also going through everything manually was a good exercise in learning to let go, because on my initial pass, the "but I might need it!" part of my brain had me saving something like eight different USB C-to-C cables. The "let it go" part of my brain had to step in and have a frank conversation about how I will never be in a circumstance in which I will need eight of those cables at once. (And even if I did, I could just buy some more of them in a pinch.)