I still haven't done the cords and cables cupboard.
Husband went through it last night looking for something and was making very obvious noises of frustration and displeasure.
(Most of it is his stuff or he has been the hold up because we might need that cable one day. *rolls eyes*)
So when I heard him muttering away, I said, 'Yeah, it's awful in there, we really should sort it out. Make it easier to find what we need.'
He thought that was a great idea.
(Part of the problem is that I don't know what some of these cables and cords are for. My new system is to tag any new ones with washi tape to prevent the situation getting worse.)
I think the cords and cables drawer is the hardest. I'm insisting hubby and I do it together. We have millions of discs for software but our current laptop has no disc drive... We also have an old laptop that needs clearing off and recycling but it's too painful a job so a year after we bought a new one, still not done.
I have attached tags to a lot of cables, but when you look at them, many fit multiple devices/ purposes. I don't the names of the cables but there is one with a USB one end and a small thingy the other end and it fits both cameras and some phone or other. Maybe I can rid of a couple, but then if one splits...
Funny thing is that decluttering cables have become so much easier over the last few years. I have reduced my cables to basically this bunch:
1. USB Cables - I kept 2 of every type of usb connector.
2. 1 VGA Cable (the blue one) as a backup in case somebody shows up with old stuff
3. 1 DVI Cable (the white) in case somebody show up with not-so-old stuff.
4. 6 standard power cables (may be a bit much)
5. All the HDMI cables I had (about 3-4 extra)
6. All Cat 5E or better network cables
7. 1 roll of loudspeaker cable
8. 5 assorted audio cables (coax, optical...)
9. 4-5 usb sticks of at least 1 gigabyte
This fits nicely in a small drawer and I have never wanted for a second cable. I have also thrown away all old software on cds, I have no machines that can read them anyway so they are effectively useless.
Really at this point everything is USB, network and HDMI if you're dealing with digital stuff. So just dump the rest.