Cable Management Ideas To Keep Your Cords In Line

There are many advantages to living in the modern age. We have access to modern medicine, cell phones that hold everything from our credit cards to our beloved pictures and possess the ability to communicate with almost anyone on the planet.

Previously, we would have to trust the healing capabilities of leeches, pay through the nose for one photo of ourselves or a loved one, and send a letter through snail mail that may or may not ever reach our intended recipient, respectively. 

However, most of the problems we encounter in our everyday lives revolve around maintaining these modern amenities. This is comparatively a very small and inconsequential task to those from the majority of human history, yet they still can be extremely annoying and confusing. 

With most electronics, the wiring necessary to connect to the internet, power, or other devices can become tangled enough to leave even the most decorated puzzle masters dizzy and infuriated. This happens so often; scientists discovered the mathematical reason why cords tangle that frequently (which is one of the reasons why cordless headphones are so popular). However, it does not have to be that way forever. 

You can do so many things to keep your cords and cables in line and out of knots, kinks, and bundles. With almost anything, a plan is the first step to getting this done, so here we will give some ideas and products that will keep all of the different cables neat under your desk, around your television, or wherever you cannot look without cringing.

Minimize

This tip may seem simple enough, but there are many different ways to minimize that will make your quest to defeat the dragon of cords around your electronics much easier to accomplish. This step is not always viable, but it is important to take an honest stock of what you have, what you need, and what can go. 

Cut the Cord

This one is pretty self-explanatory, as minimizing the number of devices will obviously minimize the amount of cords that you have to manage. However, what you may not know is that by minimizing the number of devices, you can also improve the speed, durability, and longevity of the devices you decide to keep.

If you have an old DVD player that you are keeping with your other cable boxes, consider investing in an all-in-one cable box that will be able to play DVDs, Blu-Rays, and still connect to your cable provider. Cutting these antiquated devices will save you headaches, time, and money in the long run. 

Doing this will also cut down on your electric bill across the months, so it is also a smart money decision, not just one for clutter. Though, obviously, this is an article about clutter, so keeping the number of cords down by paring down the cord collection is a great first step. 

In addition, keeping a few devices out of certain areas of your home (and most importantly, out of the bedroom) will improve your life in many other ways, including your sleep! Studies also find that homes with technology in certain areas of the house and away from places like the kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms actually feel more connected. 

Either way, keeping a minimal amount of devices in your house will help with keeping your cords organized. 

Minimizing Cables

Another way to minimize the number of cables to organize is to just have fewer cables. Simple enough, but finding efficient plugs that keep the amount of extension cord that you have to run to your different devices helps with keeping your cable numbers down in general. Though this is not always possible, it is worth looking into.

In addition, combining cables that are running parallel is one of the easiest ways to keep your devices’ cables from becoming tangled. Zipper cords are a great option for this as they group cables that are running together in the same spot while also being pliable enough to act as a single chord. 

By organizing through minimizing, you can make any other steps that you make to organize the cables around your electronic devices much easier. It is one of the first and most important steps in this process, so do not skip out. Act as the editor behind your devices and cut, cut, cut. 

Bundle, Wrap, and Track

Now for the meat of this article, these are the tips that you need to really clean up your messy cable box spaces. While the other tips provided above can be good preventative measures against clutter in the first place, there is only so much you can do to really cut down on how many you have. 

Instead, we have broken up three different things you can do to make your cords manageable. We will go through each of these.

Bundle

With anything that has a cord, we have all tried to bundle them up. It is the easiest way to manage cords and seemingly the most common. Bundling the cord does have some drawbacks, though, that should be accounted for later. For now, try to see if there are any cords that could possibly be bundled up and tucked away. 

For example, you could bundle your computer’s power cord together and stuff it up under the corner of your desk to keep the cord from lying on the ground. Not only will this keep it pleasing to the eye, but it will cause the cables to potentially last longer and keep from getting damaged by things on the floor. 

Even things that are portable with cords can be bundled. We at Andar have crafted something to help with this. We call it a Cord Burrito. What these do is help you keep your portable cables in line. If you do not have wireless earphones, these will really help keep your earphones from getting into a tangled mess! 

In addition to this, having a couple of cord burritos will help improve your EDC by maximizing your space and ability to carry multiple cords without mixing them up. It will also make your cords last a bit longer by allowing them to keep from interacting too much with other things in your pockets that could damage them. 

Since the cord burritos are made out of full grain leather, they have a sleek, modern look while also being rugged and durable. Consider adding a few cord burritos to keep your cords in line! 

Wrap

Bundling and wrapping can look very similar, but wrapping can be done with multiple cords and used in various amounts of situations. For example, wrapping a cord around a table leg could keep the excess from getting in your way and can still be hidden. You can also wrap cords together to use up some of the excess lengths in them in a smart, clean way. 

With both bundling and wrapping, however, there is a tendency to try to get the cable as tight as possible to look the cleanest. Be careful as wrapping them too tightly can cause them to be damaged, especially at the joints that connect the cord with the plug. These, especially on Apple products, seem to be quite brittle and can wear quite easily. 

Track

Tracking the cords is a simple way to improve the way that cords will lay and thus keep them from getting tangled. Using products such as a cable clip will help with this, and this, in combination with the bundling method, could really keep things nice and organized without causing any potential damage to the cord either internally or externally. 

You can utilize the edges and corners of any table, desk, or wall that the cable comes into contact with, along with the cable clips to keep things looking clean and uncluttered. As you move along in this process, try a mix and match of different methods to find the one that suits you best.

Minimize Clutter, Minimize Headaches, Maximize Space

In general, the cords we are given to our electronic devices are much too long for their purposes, yet keeping them organized is rarely a concern for people even though we have all been the victim of a cord being so tangled that we want to pull our hair out.

It does not have to be this way as organizing does not take long yet means a lot for your peace of mind in the long run. Instead, utilize the advent of products such as the Cord Burritos to help organize your cords and keep you from going insane with clutter. 

 

Sources:

Technology in the Bedroom | Sleep Foundation   

The Mathematical Formula That Causes Your Headphones to Tangle | Science Alert

This video explains why the iPhone charging cable breaks so easily | BGR