De-cluttering and de-stressing: DIY cable organizer in 10 minutes

One of my NYE resolutions is to de-clutter and de-stress, with the former helping a lot with the latter. I’ve decided to kick start all my NYE resolutions already now, with a promise made to myself to do one thing a week to de-clutter and/or de-stress. I’ll be sharing my little projects on the blog since the DIY posts seem to be appreciated (in particular the DIY FitBit charger post, and how to trim a VGA cable for narrow ports). Since most things are related to my life as a dedicated software developer I reasoned that it’s not too strange to have the posts here :)

Cable organizers. There are many to choose between, and frankly they are not so pricey either. However I wanted something very lightweight that would fit the batch of cables, adapters, touch pens, drives and what not I usually chuck in a plastic makeup bag. Here is what I wanted:

I wanted something that could hold things of different sizes

I wanted to still be able to keep my cables tied together when I remove them from the bag

I wanted a quick way to remove and add back items

I wanted a bag I could wash

I didn’t want a hard case bag

I wanted something small that I could add attachments to or remove based on my needs

Making this is very easy!

Costs: approx. 22 USD depending on the base-bag (a makeup bag or wrap-wallet)

Time spent: 5min, you might need 10 since I already had the idea in my head so I didn’t need to refer to images

Purchased:

Makeup bag from H & M – you can use any makeup bag or wrap wallet from the ladies department that fits your purpose. You could also sew together (by doubling a piece of material and attaching two strips to tie the thing together) one.

Velcro- with tape underneath. You can also sew it attached. I chose tape so I can remove it before washing so it doesn’t wreck everything else in the washing machine (but you could put it in a pillow case to avoid that- just tie it together so the bag doesn’t escape).

Cable Velcro

Rubber (snap free) hair bands. These lets me attach objects with odd shapes and the rubber keeps them in place. Also, great backup of snag-free hairbands for my long hair.

Wide (1cm) elastic band. (can be replaced with the snap free hairbands)

Thread, scissors and a needle. Use the thread double for better hold, or use thread for jeans.

The makeup bag had two golden strips with holes in them, I removed one and use the other one to attach the hair bands by looping them through. Use a hair needle for this, or similar. If you have a bag with no strips simply sew the bands vertically directly to the bag.

Add three strips of the coarse side of the Velcro horizontally.

Sew as many elastic band loops as you need, to the size you need. If the band frills at the end burn the end lightly with a lighter so it melts and use your fingers (when it’s not too hot anymore) to mold the ends. Sew the ends together and to the bag.

And that’s it. Use the cable Velcro to wrap around cables, and then simply press them on to the coarse Velcro on the bag. They stay in place rather well!

Here is the end result, with my hard drive. Notice my tiny but really cool international adapter I bought in Japan. I regret not buying a few more! It’s soooo tiny, has a light indicator, and supports all plugs except Japan/US (since it’s for US/Japan devices/cables).

Notice that you can remove cables and still have them neatly wrapped with the cable Velcro :D In the pockets I have extra strips that i can use for setting up office in hotels etc and keep other cables organized, such as my laptop charger and so on.

Without it I can fold it three times instead of two. The mint box (liquorish yum yum) use to be my USB and tiny cable organizer before. Mint boxes are handy for tiny things like that but I want everything in one place.

Best of luck, please share your result, or how you organize your cables :) I’l be travelling again tomorrow, to Norway, so security should be very happy with this haha! Plus I have something else in store for that, since I always get pulled aside for check (through all my stuff). I didn’t tell you this, but last time I went to Norway from Sweden I got stopped by customs again. Not at the border, but after I got off the bus at the bus station: D Maybe I should stop using my neon colored suitcases? Is that why? I hardly think I look like a smuggler or Visa-less :) Oh well, they were lovely, polite and quick.

De-cluttering and de-stressing: DIY cable organizer in 10 minutes

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