Managing the clutter in your home can be quite the task, especially seeing as how the average household in the U.S. contains over 300,000 items.
In the modern age, much of that clutter stems from electronic devices. Case in point, many American homes have more television sets than people — each of which is left on for an average eight hours and 14 minutes every day, or one-third of the time.
Do you remember the last time you misplaced the TV remote? Some people lose up to nine items every day, or 198,743 over the course of a lifetime. And those minutes we spend searching for misplaced items can add up. On average, we’ll spend 3,680 hours — 153 days, total — looking for the items we lose.
Organization is the trick to not losing things. If your TV is mounted up close to a wall or the back of an entertainment center, for instance, you might consider investing in some 90-degree or swivel couplers for your HDMI hookups. This also helps reduce stress on the neck of the cables, as they’re forced down by gravity, which will help them last longer.
If you want cable clutter out of sight altogether, you might also try installing an undermount basket or bracket right on the underside of your desk. IKEA sells the Signum for just this purpose, and for only $10.
The best time to take control of your cable organization is when you’re first installing or replacing an old system. When you do so, consider using a color-coded system so that you can tell on sight which cable is connected to which device behind your TV. Added bonus: colored cables in red, blue, or yellow are often less expensive than black or white cables, too. You’ll not only save some money, you’ll also help preserve at least a little bit more of your sanity.
