Somewhere in your home is likely a twisted, writhing mass of cables for all manner of devices — I know because I have multiple caches of cords dating back at least 20 years, if not older. For my spring cleaning this year, I’m getting rid of everything I no longer need, so I’ll share a few helpful guidelines along with what I’m sending to the thrift store.
Tips for cutting cord clutter
Don’t be afraid to toss less common cords — even if you accidentally throw out a cord before finding your vintage iPod — replacements are readily available at thrift shops and specialty stores.
Let’s start with a few essential steps to help you determine which cords to keep and which to toss. Orphan cords are an easy target because they no longer have a compatible device to power, charge or connect to a computer — think smartphones, internet routers, desktops, CD players, etc.
Next, you want to target extras and backups. There’s no reason to hold on to every Ethernet cable from every router you bought since time immemorial. This is especially true when all the devices using that cord type already use one. For example, I use many Ethernet cables in my smart home testing to connect various hubs and base stations to my router. They all came with cords of their own, so I didn’t even need the five backups sitting in my junk drawer.
That said, I don’t see a problem with keeping one spare of a specific type around just in case, which leads me to my third recommendation: a little organization goes a long way. Store spares individually in bags, using twist ties or rubber bands to keep them from sprawling around the junk drawer. This way, you can avoid creating a tangled mess as you rummage for batteries or pencils that share the same space.
Conducting an inventory of your cable collection
Start with an inventory of your cords, cables and adapters.
What you choose to discard depends on your personal circumstances. Most people likely won’t need to keep as many cords around as tech reviewers, retro electronics enthusiasts or tech preservationists. Still, here are a few categories of cables and adapters to consider putting out to pasture — this isn’t an exhaustive list.
Power adapters and cables
I thinned my collection of wall warts from 12 down to 4.
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Wall warts: Wart is hardly a term of endearment, as we all stress out about AC adapters blocking other outlets or jutting out from the wall. But they’re also the bulkiest items in any junk drawer — with the possible exception of old TV remotes, which you probably need to throw out, too. I thinned my collection from 12 spare wall warts down to just 4.
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Stray power cords: As I went through my cords, I discovered four desktop computer power cords—the kind that also work for monitors, projectors and certain TVs. A year ago, this would’ve been fine, but I finally donated three old monitors from a previous home office layout to a thrift shop in the last couple of months. Now I’m down to a single spare for a projector in storage.
Audio/video cables
If there’s an AV cable that saw widespread usage in the last 40 years, I probably have it in my junk drawer.
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Coaxial, RCA, component and S-Video cables: The transition to HDMI more or less sounded the death knell for Standard Definition (SD) AV cables. While these are still important in the retro community for CRT TVs, VCRs and retro consoles, some modern TVs don’t even have the right ports.
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Auxiliary cables and cheap wired headphones: While aux cables remain relevant for some devices designed in the last 15 years, they are losing ground every year as Bluetooth becomes more reliable and affordable. The same applies to cheap wired earbuds — the kinds they still hand out on airlines, not your vintage studio-quality Sennheisers — especially if they’re wearing out. If you still want a wired option, you can find a respectable pair of USB-C earbuds or a dongle to use with a nicer pair.
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Tape deck adapters: If the last time you saw a tape deck in your car was more than a year ago, there’s a very good chance you won’t need that tape deck adapter anymore.
Data cables
Older USB cables are becoming less relevant with each passing year.
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Mini USB, micro USB, USB-B and USB-A cables: As USB-C rewrites the rules for what to expect from a USB cable, older types of USB cables are becoming less relevant with each passing year. I have an old external hard drive that uses Mini USB, but I don’t need more than a single cable since I rarely use that drive anymore. Likewise, a different external drive, digital piano and (recently-deceased) printer were the only tech still using USB-B, so I have no idea why I had six cables.
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iPhone cables: Lightning is still useful for some iPhones, but there’s likely no reason to keep the imaginatively-named 30-pin dock connector—unless you’re still rocking an iPod.
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RJ45 phone cables: I can’t think of a single instance where RJ45 phone cables are useful when Ethernet cables do most of the lifting these days.
Dongles and adapters are your friends
For maximum connectivity in the smallest possible space, you should consider trading out for a few USB-C adapters.
As I went through my cords, I discovered that most data cables and almost anything that uses a DC power supply has an affordable USB-C alternative. In the case of data cables, you can find dongles for Micro USB, USB-A and Lightning in a single kit with common smartphone connectors. While Mini USB and USB-B are less likely to show up in mobile phone kits, adapters are easy to track down.
But the game-changer for me was the realization that I could use my USB Power Delivery (PD) to power almost anything with a USB-C cable, including ancient USB devices and laptops that use DC barrel connectors. The secret is a specialized USB-C cable with adjustable voltage settings and interchangeable connector tips. I picked up a YTADNETH model that supports voltages between 3V and 12V, a polarity switcher cable, and a USB-A cable with some extra adapter tips to cover pretty much everything I need.
Most devices I have are positive-center polarity, but this old voice recorder uses negative-center polarity.
The most important thing to get right is the voltage and polarity, which you can usually find next to the barrel connector’s power port. While voltage is straightforward, the polarity is a small diagram with a positive plus sign (+) and a negative minus sign (-) on either side of a circle. Whichever symbol connects to the center of the circle (rather than the edge) is the correct polarity. If you need to reverse the polarity, a polarity switcher adapter will do the trick.
Also, you need a USB PD wall adapter that’s powerful enough to support the required voltage, as these adapters step down the voltage to an appropriate level (they can’t increase it). For example, a 100W PD wall charger can support higher voltage than a 65W PD adapter, so make sure you double-check the power requirements (and whether you have the right adapter) before you buy.
If all you need is a simple 5V connection, you can use a simple adapter cable without a step-down feature. Still, bear in mind that these adapters lack data connections, unlike the dongles I mentioned above.
With any luck, you’ll free up a bit of space in your junk drawer.
