One of my major pet peeves are messy, tangled wires. It's a pain trying to untangle them, especially earphones. Patience is so not my virtue, so I would pull at the wires in frustration, ending up with a knotty mess instead.


So last week, as I was doing some spring cleaning, I decided to try out a simple solution that I came across online before to prevent tangly wires. I used some old tags (I always keep the tags, they look too useful to throw away)...



... and using scissors, cut them out into this shape, which looks like an hourglass:


You'll find out that when you cut them, you'll get sharp corners. I just snipped the edges into rounded corners because a sharp paper edge is another one of my pet peeves. Paper cuts!

Then I cut slits into the sides so I can wrap the wires around the shape like this:


For longer wires, you can cut out a longer hourglass shape and once you've wrapped the wires around (and inside the slits), fold the hourglass at the center (see below).


Hope this helps!

By the way, thank you to all those who downloaded my first freebie and left comments either here or over at 4shared. I'm glad to see familiar names and new ones. I'm so glad to be doing this again!

Just don't forget to pass the generosity on to others around you, especially those who need it the most. We all are somebody's angel, and most of us don't know it yet. :-)

4 croaks:

Simply Sarah says:
at: April 16, 2009 at 12:41 AM said...

That is a cute idea... to wrap the wire like that. I usually just wrap it and put tape around it but then it gets all sticky.

I also hate not knowing which cord belongs to what so I use those medium mailing labels and fold it over, near the plug, like you did so that they stick together and I write the name of the electronic on it. That way, when I want to unplug my EHD, I can tell which plug I am actually pulling.

Thanks for the great tip.

Lorie M Designs says:
at: April 18, 2009 at 11:59 PM said...

Thanks for the tip! Glad that I found you new blog!

Unknown says:
at: April 19, 2009 at 10:13 PM said...

@Simply Sarah: Yep that's how I did it before too! If there's no sticky tape around, I bunch 'em up and twist them into a mess hehe. Hey that's a great idea about labeling cords! I am forever confused by which usb cord is for my printer, camera, tablet, scanner, etc. I think you just gave me a useful idea there. Thanks!

@Lorie: Hey I'm even gladder to see you here again! :-)

Apple says:
at: April 26, 2009 at 12:05 PM said...

That's a great idea!!!