Do you have cords to plug into an outlet and are always trying to plug it in upside down, because of one prong being wider than the other? In the correct position, put a dab of white out (liquid or tape) on a dark-colored plug or draw a black spot with a permanent marker on a light-colored or white plug. I always do a tiny heart. Sure has made my life easier - sometimes it's the little things!
By Vicky from Central KY
This page contains the following solutions.
I have a lot of cords laying around ,so I decided to roll them up and put them into some old cassette cases we had around. It makes them easier to store and find. Great for earphones, phone cords etc. It also keeps them from tangling.
I have a lot of things that use the adapters with the little black box on the cord that plugs in to the electrical outlet in order to use. Each one seems a different size.
I hated my drawer of various phone, camera, and other power cords and remembered a trick I heard of. Wrap your cord around a straw or pencil, then use a hair dryer to heat the cord up.
I like the printed designs on Kleenex boxes, they're almost too cute to throw out. I'm sure this sounds like "what" in the world does Kleenex boxes have to do with kitchen appliance cords?
I found a great tip to keep computer cords or any cords organized. Hook a bread tag to each cord and label what cord it is. This will keep you out of a tangled mess of all those computer cords we have!
I bought a 50 cent tin to match the decor of the room and cut a square hole in the back. We pushed all the phone cord and extra computer line through, hooked it all up, put the lid on the tin and now all the mess is "contained".
I have various electrical appliances with detachable electrical cords. I didn't really like storing the cords inside the appliances because of scratching and didn't like them lying around in my cupboards or drawers.
I have a lot of electronic adapter cords with the black boxes that plug into an outlet. I don't use them all the time.
I have 5 chargers for my electronics. I keep from getting them mixed up and tangled up by sticking them in their very own ziplock. The quart size is perfect. I put on the front in marker what device the charger is for and they get stored nice and neat in my desk.
Wrap up excess electrical cord and use a hair band (thread covered rubber band) to keep in place. It keeps it neat and out of the way.
If you have several small appliances sharing an outlet in the kitchen like I do, just use a permanent marker to label which cord prong goes to what for example: can opener, blender, toaster etc. then no more guessing which one to plug in.
Using a pool noodle cut to the size of your cord, make a slit half way through your noodle.Then wrap your cord, insert into the slit of your pool noodle.Put into the drawer this way they will not tangle, and you will know where they are. You can also hang them up.
My pet peeve is the cords hanging behind my TV or an open table. Recently we had some problems with a bad cord and had problems making them all neat and out of the way.
When moving electronics, I find it helpful to mark my cords so that when I am ready to set them back up, the cords are not a tangled puzzle. I mark each cord with a different colored dot of nail polish.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Does anyone have a nice way to hide all the electric cords behind the TV?
Thank you.
By Daniel Racine from Ontario
Sometimes a twistie tie works well - to at least get them into a neater looking mess. Or the plastic snap apart kind that comes with older type trash bags. I have seen where people have used rubber bands too. Whatever it takes to get them as much off the floor or out of sight as possible.
Take 10 minutes & unplug everything from the wall,make neat little bunches of the cords,winding one at a time around your hand then fastening the wound up cord in a bunch. You might also have a label for each cord (while it is all unplugged)& write on it what the cord is for so you have less hassle later figuring it out again.
Now also is a great time to wipe the dust off the cords & also the wall behind the tv.
Well, one thought is to use foam insulation tubes that are used to cover water pipes in the home. They are black, have different inside diameters such as 1/2 inch, 3/4 inch and 1 inch. are about 5 or 6 feet long and can be cut with scissors.
Zipties. Fold them each seperately back and forth to form about a 3 inch bundle and ziptie around the bundle. Do this for each one. You can use different colors to identify the item or add a tag.
The best method is looping then into a loose 'figure 8' which you can them zip tie into a bundle. DON'T make them into coils as that has the chance of generating a magnetic field. I had a problem with my vcr that would get wavy lines in anything I recorded but worked perfectly at the repair shop.
Check out these photos.
A friend recently gave my son a hand held game, but we needed to buy a charger for it. The charger recommended at local store is one that has five different adapter options.
This is a page about toilet paper tubes for organizing electrical cords. Electrical cords are akin to hangers when it comes to the disaster that can arise when they are not well organized.
This is a page about labeling electronic cords. We all have numerous cords for our many electronic devices. Labeling them helps keep things organized.
The cord to a small appliance placed inside a cord saver made from a hook and a cardboard toilet paper roll.You can purchase command cord bundle strips or make your own cord solution a lot cheaper. I purchased self adhesive hooks (16 @ dollar store). I placed one on the side of my smoothie blender. I took an empty cardboard TP roll and covered it with inexpensive contact paper (also @ dollar store). I punched a hole in the TP holder and put it on the hook attached to my blender. Then I tucked the cord inside.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
One good way to keep them from being in the way is to get the cardboard roll, after you've used the paper, and store the cord in the roll.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to keep cords organized so you can use them, then roll them up and store them for quick reuse? Ward from Ontario, Canada
Tips for preventing extra cords and wires from becoming a tangled mess. Post your ideas.
