All Those Chargers

[lucyem]

I am going a little crazy with all these things that need to be charged and their wires.  Ipods, iphones, ds's, cameras, laptops, flashlights etc.  I have phone and ipod chargers taking up kitchen counter space.  I have a bin of wires that floats around the livingroom.  I cannot tell you how often kids are asking me where the plugs are to charge their ds.  How do you handle it all?  Do you have one spot?  Do you have one of those charging mats?  Do those work??  I guess I could always hook up a power strip and plug it all in in one place but it would look messy.  We do not have a desk as the laptops tend to move around a lot.  Thanks for any tips!

[Juvysen]

we have a nice looking jar thingy that I keep them in.  We just stick them back in the jar when we're done with them.  But then, my kids aren't really at an age that they're doing much of it, so it's manageable.  I don't have a good solution for when the kids start wandering off with them, but I'll be interested in what other people say.

[PeacefulSeams]

I have a decorative box with a lid that I use for the random chargers, like phone and others. My laptop cords go in my case...as does all the attachments and cords to my camera. The cords tend to stay with the item they are for. My DS PSP cord is in his case.

[ASusan]

I have not found a good solution for the house, but for travel - I have a small LLBean-style tote (square bottom, handles, open-top) that we use IN the car for electronics. This includes IPod, IPod thingy that allows it to plug in to the cigarette lighter, phone chargers, camera...

When we go overnight, I put everything into a large zip-loc bag so we can see what we need.

I think the reason I can't find a good solution for the house is that the responsibility is shared - or diffused - between DH & myself. He resists a "system" that I try to put in place. But, when we travel, he is more likely to use the system.

[K'sMama]

Do any of the devices use the same style of charger?  If so, you don't need duplicates out of the same thing.  We have a plastic container in one of the kitchen cupboards that holds all of the chargers and when something needs charging we plug it in at the kitchen counter (only place my toddler wouldn't be getting into it) and then the charger goes right back in the box. 

[crunchy_mommy]

We only have maybe 2 or 3 chargers so it's not as big an issue... we keep them in a small decorative box near the outlet we use for charging phones. But one thing that helped a ton with the crazy-wires-everywhere thing was bundling up the cord with a twist-tie, leaving just enough cord to reach from the outlet to the counter when something is plugged in.

[JesKace]

We have a ton of chargers too!  I keep the charger for my laptop plugged in on the kitchen counter since that is usually where my computer is, and I like to keep it charged when I'm not using it or when I'm using it in the kitchen.  We keep the cell phone charger plugged in next to our bed because DH charges his phone at night.  We do luck out because we both use iphones, and it also charges ipods so they all use the same charger.  But we still have a ton of others, like for cameras, and other things that might get plugged in occasionally.  For those I keep them in a big plastic bucket in the closet in our dining room.  Each charger is in a heavy duty ziplock bag (I used freezer bags) and wrote on each bag what the charger was for and all the other wires for it are in the bag also.  Like the camera has a charger wire and a usb wire for it... I never buy ziplock bags, but for that purpose they have come in really handy, and because they are heavy duty they have lasted for the past few years.  It's nice because even though they are all thrown in there all I have to do is flip through the bags and read which cord is for which thing.... Before that I spent a ton of time trying to figure out what each cord was for!

[bobandjess99]

I BOUGHT AN OVER THE DOOR SHOE HOLDER THING.   aND I SLIP 1 CHARGER/CORD/HEADPHONE, ETC INTO EACH SLOT.  wORKS AWESOMELY, AND TAKES UP NO FLOOR SPACE! 

[laurabfig]

Originally Posted by JesKace 

We have a ton of chargers too!  I keep the charger for my laptop plugged in on the kitchen counter since that is usually where my computer is, and I like to keep it charged when I'm not using it or when I'm using it in the kitchen.  We keep the cell phone charger plugged in next to our bed because DH charges his phone at night.  We do luck out because we both use iphones, and it also charges ipods so they all use the same charger.  But we still have a ton of others, like for cameras, and other things that might get plugged in occasionally.  For those I keep them in a big plastic bucket in the closet in our dining room.  Each charger is in a heavy duty ziplock bag (I used freezer bags) and wrote on each bag what the charger was for and all the other wires for it are in the bag also.  Like the camera has a charger wire and a usb wire for it... I never buy ziplock bags, but for that purpose they have come in really handy, and because they are heavy duty they have lasted for the past few years.  It's nice because even though they are all thrown in there all I have to do is flip through the bags and read which cord is for which thing.... Before that I spent a ton of time trying to figure out what each cord was for!

Originally Posted by bobandjess99 

I BOUGHT AN OVER THE DOOR SHOE HOLDER THING.   aND I SLIP 1 CHARGER/CORD/HEADPHONE, ETC INTO EACH SLOT.  wORKS AWESOMELY, AND TAKES UP NO FLOOR SPACE! 

I love both of these ideas.  We're about to downsize and move into a much smaller space, so I need all the great organizational ideas I can get.  DH's cords are the major battle we have in this house over clutter- he has cords EVERYWHERE...and probably doesn't even know what half of them are for! :)  I think with this move we can use these ideas to label and only keep what we need.