Somewhere between adding the second gaming system and upgrading to a sound bar (life with guys, amirite?), it finally happened: The slightly disorganized mess of wires hidden behind my TV became a very disorganized, vaguely nightmarish mess of wires sticking out from behind my TV and threatening to take over the entire room. And my life!
The whole jumble started to taunt me—staring me down, laughing at me every time I plopped down on the sofa to relax. Pushing the tangle back behind the TV stand didn’t work. Trying to untangle the cords and simply arrange them neatly back didn’t work.
In fact, nothing I tried worked for longer than a couple of days—and then everything went to hell again. Did all these wires have a (highly unpleasant) life of their own?
If your wires, like mine, have reared their heads and refuse to be tamed, I’m here to tell you: We can win this thing! Try these ideas for uncluttering cords for good.
Unplug, untangle, and label
First step: Untangle the cords. The easiest way is to unplug everything from the power strip first and then wind your way back, but don’t unplug the cord from the device just yet. Once you find where each cord belongs, add an unobtrusive label.
“I label all my cables on both ends of the cord, so that it doesn’t matter which end of the cord I might be unplugging from its connection. I can quickly—and accurately—plug it back in, says Lauren Williams, owner of Casual Uncluttering in Woodinville, WA.
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Tie them together
Once you have everything untangled, cable ties will keep everything together. You can opt for simple plastic zip ties or go fancy with color-coded Velcro ties (Amazon, $7.99). If you have multiple cords going to the same device, bunch them together—it’ll keep things simple if you need to move the device later.
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Use a tube
If ties aren’t quite neat enough for you, you can up the ante with tubing.
“Fish tank tubing works great if you can get the right size,” Williams says. Or you can buy electronic-specific roll-ups such as cable sleeves (Amazon, $16.99), which are great because you can open them up if you need to add a new cord.
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Cut the length
Have an extralong cord extending past your ties? Wrap it up to the length you want with a Cable Turtle (the Container Store, $4.99). If you need more slack later, just turn the spool until you have enough wire poking out.
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Corral your chargers
Have a ton of chargers on your desk for tablets, smartphones, and otherwise? Gather them together with a simple cable management system (Amazon, $6.99). Honest, if you have as many devices as we do, you’ll be glad you did. The system has slots for several cords, and it stays put, meaning your gadgets and chargers will all stay in one place.
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Keep cables in place
Hanging computer, lamp, and radio wires off the back of your desk is tricky. It keeps the cords out of sight, sure, but they also move around a lot, possibly driving you crazy in the process. To keep things from moving, try cable clips (Amazon, $9.95). The clips can attach to any flat surface (even vertically), holding thin wires in place.
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Conceal power strips
If you have a lot of wires running to a power strip on the floor, it can be unsightly. To fix this eyesore, try a CableBox, which holds a power strip inside. Wires are funneled through a small hole, keeping everything straight as a, well, blessedly straight cord (the Container Store, $29.99).
