Like most PC owners, you probably have a mess of wires in the back of your computer or running across the floor to your power outlets. While there are a myriad of ways you can organize these, I thought I would pass along one I have used and found extremely flexible and effective: wooden clothes pins.
The thing I love about the wooden clothes pins over options like twist ties and plastic locks is they are very easy and fast (just squeeze), you don’t lose them as much and they are easy to take off/put back on when you need to move stuff around. They also double perfectly as a chip-clip. The best part is you can purchase a bag of 100 of these for around $2.
Again, there are probably many other ways or things you can use, but if you are ever thinking about it, give the clothes pins a try.
Jason Faulkner is the man who brings you our daily tips. He is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
I wouldn’t recommend clothes pins because they can fall off and they are pretty bulky. I think the best solution for lose wires is Velcro One Wraps.
Jason, I just read about organizing cables and that was about the silliest answer I could imagine. Clothes pins hanging all over and try and get 2 monitor cables into a clothes pin. If you want neat, buy electrical ties, you can get them in all color. You can buy a bag of 100 for very little. I’m looking at one now, a power cable, monitor cable, USB cable and a transformer lead and the small size electric ties fit and hold tightly. I use black myself and don’t leave the ends sticking out, cut them off. If you are really cheap, go to a job site and ask the electrician if you can have the wire scraps, not the raw copper but insulated. The only draw back is the cost of copper now so they may not be willing to give it away. 12 or 14 gauge wire will do a great job and just cost you a little time and maybe a couple of bucks. there is also split wire covers and spiral wrap. I’ve used the spiral and it doesn’t cost too much and you can get a package of two different sizes. That does a really neat job and can be used over and over. For me, I don’t think clothes pins make the list.
Velcro straps , plastic clips , zip ties even double sided tape whatever your choice you can get it cheaper at the 99 cents store . I found a 12 inch broom and mop rack with spring loaded clamps that I attached to a (verticle) leg of my desk right next to my case. My crown jewel of improvisation is a metal window plant holder (99 cents store) I attached this to the horizontal crossbars on the backside of my desk it holds my surge protector and modem and since my desk is on wheels I only have 2 cables ( DSL & power cord) cinch together with plastic clips going to the wall makes for easy acccess for vacumming.
PVC (I believe) irrigation pipes cut along the the side. Simply feed cables through the cut in the side and hey presto – no more wire tangles under your desk. Classic, cheap (offcuts can often be sourced from the local hardware shop for free) and highly effective. Or you could just ‘borrow’ a few velcro strips from the POS hardware if you work in retail.