The short answer
One box, everything labelled with a strip of masking tape at the plug end, and a hard rule that unidentified cables go in the bin.
- Gather every cable in the house into one pile. There will be more than you expect.
- Label each one at the plug end with masking tape and a pen: what it is for, or what it is.
- Bin anything you cannot identify. If you have not needed it and cannot name it, it is not doing anything.
- Coil each one and hold it with a velcro tie or a hair band, never a tight knot.
- One box, kept somewhere findable, with the day-to-day chargers living where they are actually used instead.
What will ruin it
Take old phone chargers, cables and batteries to a recycling point rather than the household bin. Lithium cells in general waste start fires in bin lorries and at sorting facilities, and it happens regularly.
Why it works
Cables accumulate because each one is individually too useful to throw away and collectively unusable because none of them is identifiable. Labelling is what converts the pile back into a resource.
Tipking is general household information, not professional advice. Test anything on a hidden patch first. Full disclaimer.
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