*Computer Cable Organization and Storage*
By: Landwire
28 October 2016
Over the years from buying and using computers, printers, modems/routers/switches, tablets, televisions, etc… I’ve amassed a collection of cables that overflowed into boxes and bins. I’m sure some of you are laughing and nodding right because you do too. It can be frustrating when you need a cable and you make a bigger mess trying to find one. Over the years I’ve attempted to par it down, but like weeds, they keep coming back.
Here is what I ended up doing...
First I sorted out every type of cables into like piles. RCA type audio cables into one pile. HDMI cables into another. 3.5mm aux type cables got their own. USB cables were separated into their own group by connection type. Printer, micro, etc…
From the collection, I took one cable from most of the piles and created several cable grab bags that were organized into your common ziplock style sandwich bags. I was able to make several identical bags. One went into my backpack for school, one into the car, and one for work. In each bag, I have the following:
This setup allows me to resolve most cable connection problems that I run into. More importantly, my cable connection became much smaller. Feeling proud of myself, I took the left over cables and was able to make them fit into a small storage bin that I kept by my desk.
When setting something up at my desk, I needed a cable. None of my grab bags were immediately available. I figured since I have my cable bin nearby, I could grab one from there. In the process of doing so, everything spilled to the floor and I had a mess again.
By happenstance, the short side of the storage bin was roughly the same dimension as a quart size ziplock type bag. I ran off to the dollar store and purchased several boxes of quart size bags. Like before, I organized all the cables by type. Each cable type got their own bag. I stood the bags up like file folders in a cabinet. Now I can quickly find any type of cable I need and keep everything else organized.
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