Every household has one, and most of what is in it is unusable, unidentifiable and unnecessary.
Organising a cable drawer without emptying it produces a tidier version of the same problem.
Take everything out and identify each item. Anything you cannot identify, and cannot match to a device you own, is not going to become useful later.
Most people find that half of it is for devices they no longer have.
Shallow divided trays and small bins, of the kind at bino.us.org, work here because cables tangle in a deep container and untangle nothing in a shallow one.
Loose cables tangle, which is why the drawer is unusable rather than merely full.
Coil each cable and secure it with a tie, a clip or a small band, then stand them upright in a divided tray rather than laying them flat in a pile.
Upright means every cable is visible and taking one out does not disturb the rest.
Small tags on each cable, naming the device. It takes ten minutes once and saves the recurring task of working out what unplugs what.
It matters most behind a desk or a television, where cables are inaccessible and identical.
Worth stating clearly. Any cable with damaged insulation, exposed conductor, a cracked plug casing or a connector that has become loose should be discarded rather than kept as a spare.
The same applies to any charger that becomes hot in use or has been crushed.
Repairing mains cables with tape is not a repair.
The point most people do not know. Lithium batteries and devices containing them cause fires in bin lorries and at waste facilities, and those fires are frequent and serious.
Batteries, power banks, vapes and anything with a built-in cell go to a designated collection point rather than in a bin.
Damaged or swollen lithium batteries should be treated with particular care and taken to a collection point promptly.
Cables and small electronics are accepted at electrical recycling.
When it is full, something goes.
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