Wires?.. for what?.. In any case i was thinking largeish clear plastic containers so he can see what it in the them. They have some for little money from the containter store.
Maddiemom

I guess everyone approaches that differently. Personally, I'd rather root around in a box looking for the wire I want rather than have to fiddle with plastic bags, but that's me (and that's how I store my wires).

I don't doubt that you could find a unit which would let you organize the wires the way you want, but I wonder if it would be flexible enough to accommodate different amounts of different types of wire over time.

If DH was okay with rooting through his current bins, why not just get one or two of those clear plastic bins with covers and use those?

When I was transfering photos from my camera to the computer while also lableling Christmas cards this past December, I labeled all the camera wires with mailing labels and put them in sandwich baggies. They're in a basket under the TV. I guess you could label the bags as well, so he knows which is which before taking it out of the bag. I should do that - great, something else on my list!

My vote: get a P-touch, and make a label for each type of wire (get DH to help--he'll love playing w/ the toy--and he should pick the terminology). Basically, on the BIG setting, make two words in a row; lay the wire (by a plug) in the center, and fold the labels over to stick to itself, to make a tag.

Then, get long wire twist-ties (from the gardening dept. at Home Depot, maybe?), and fold each wire up, and tie shut in a bundle.

Then, he can lift each bundle, see the easily-identifiable tag, and hopefully toss it back (unopened) into the bin.

If length is a reason he tries and disards some of them, add the length to the label.

Or, label the bags themselves--ALWAYS put the label on the part of the item you see first. The tops of the spice jars, the top edges or ends of the text books and notebooks, etc.

One reason I'd jettison the bags is, if he DOESN"T put stuff back right, you have TWO things out of place.

W/ the twist ties, I use good, long ones, and I FIRST wrap the twist tie around one length of the wire, and twist it onto itself twice, so it is fastened to one thickness of wire. Then, if I undo the larger bundle, the twist tie CAN'T get lost; it's fastened to the wire.

This might be my nuttiest organizing idea yet. I was looking through one of those warehouse products catalogs from work. I was thinking of getting little stacking bins to organize the wires in but came across something else that caught my eye. They were showing ziploc-type plastic bags with a hole on the top that were held on a pegboard with a small hook. I am tempted to put all the bags that the wires are in now on a pegboard, if only to make a point that there are way too many. I can't imagine that the pegboard and hooks will cost very much.

Am I going way overboard on this?

Am I going way overboard on this?

My $.02? Yes. By the time you buy enough pegboard and hooks for "too many" wires, you'll have spent at least $50-100. Is it worth that to make a point? How much is it worth in peace of mind to simply find a place to put the bins away so you don't have to see them?

You're treating a symptom here, not the disease.

yes, you're going overboard. Don't get those stupid little bins, don't get pegboard.

You want a SIMPLE solution, and a cheap, cheap, cheap one, bcs these are NOT valued items.

And if DH will not participate by putting the wires back in the plastic bags, what makes you think he'll be willing to stuff them neatly back into the bins, or recoil them (or put them--duh!--back int he plastic bag) and hang them on the hooks/

Did you LABEL them? Why is DH taking them out of the bag at ALL if they're not the right one? Can't he tell from looking at the label, that it won't work?

Start there--that's the SIMPLEST thing right now--Label the bags, both sides.

If you DID label them, then you need to get DH on the case w/ you to figure out how to label them more effectively. So he can tell, from the label, that he doesn't need to open the stupid bag.

Label w/ type of cable, what it goes to or is used for, how long it is.

Oh, and date it. Or, write the label on wide duct or masking tape (duct tape sticks better to plastic), and wrap the tape over the edge of the bag where the opening is; to open it, he'll have to remove the tape, and then you'll know which ones he HASN'T used, bcs their tape will be undisturbed.

Another advantage of putting the duct-tape label over the opening is that, it'll be a mild pain-in-the-neck to peel it off, and he'll perhaps stop and read the label before he goes to the trouble of opening it--make it hard to get out of the bag, and he won't want to take it out of the bag at all unless it's the right one.

Then give it a few more months. if he still persists in taking them all out of the bags and LEAVING them out of the bags, then you can just sort of quietly start throwing the unbagged ones (and the bags) away when he's not looking, or something. Or, throw them at him and yell.......that works for me sometimes.

(are these computer cables, or electrician's wires, or something else? If they're computer cables, labeling each of them w/ the piece of equipment it goes to might make DH realize that it's stupid to keep a serial cable if he has upgraded to a USB system)

I agree that I'm going overboard. Talley Sue, you are right, as usual. I will follow your instructions and label the wires. We don't own many computer wires and those are put in a separate place from the bin. The wires in the bin are mainly wires for electronics. DH has 2 separate stereo systems in the house. They obviously are using wires but he feels that when we move he might have a need for others in the bin. Now the wires are in 2 bins and 1 small box. I think I'll buy a large bin that will hold all of them. Maybe, it will look neater to me that way and I'll stop stressing out on this.

Well here's my 2 cents worth. . . . Y'all being waaay too patient. NOONE requires 2 (I'm assuming Rubbermaid type) totes of wire - not even an electrician. That is entirely unreasonable and disrespectful. How large are these totes anyway??

He gets ONE bin, marked wire. His responsibility to go thru the two and consolidate into one --> within the next two weeks Unwilling to do so? Fine, then it will all go into the garbage truck at the next opportunity. Don't like it? Divorce me.

It's one thing for you or I or our DH's/DS's . . . to keep a small amount of stuff that others feel is unreasonable, silly, pointless or whatever. However an enormous amount of stuff that will likely never be used and also impinges basically on others freedom thru its existence &/or aggravation is unfair and disrespectful. It basically says "I and my desires are more important than you and yours."

All that said, I do have a couple of questions:
What does your DH do with all this wire? IS he an electrician?
and
How often is he going in to the 'present bags of wire in totes' and leaving them laying about? Is he re-wiring the house or something? We're amidst lots of renovations but I can't recall anything for which we've needed wire. At best I'd think we'd *perhaps* need it maybe once or twice a year. So I'm a little confused why the *wire mess* exists?

My DH can be unreasonable with things like this, too, but he's getting much better as the house gets cleared out! I think I'd probably see what it cost to replace the wire, then try to figure out if storing it for years on the off chance that he'd need it was worth more than the cost of buying some new wire if and when he needed it. If you were moving to a new house, you would probably expect to spend some $$ to set things up. Is it really worth the cost to you (and there is one - mentally, cost of storage, etc.) to store it until then?

remember--label the CONTAINERS, not the wires (unless you decide to ditch the bags).

Label the FIRST part you see.

Also, maybe you could get him to thoroughly explain to you the characteristics and differences about these wires. Then, w/t he specs, go to Radio Shack and buy **new spools** of these wires (or of whatever size he says he'd use more of). Bcs spools store much more tidily.

HOWEVER...a spool of wire can be $30 for only 20 feet (enough for a small room only), or $40 for only 50 feet, even at Radio Shack, depending what you get

(what is it that he's looking for all the time? Get more of that, and toss the other stuff?)

And, as long as he keeps it in the bin, maybe you shouldn't care what it looks like in there?

Anybody want to buy an extension cord?????

DH buys one whenever he thinks we need one. We are strangling in them..........

Carol

OK, let me get this straight. These are wires for your electronics? And DH is keeping them because you might need them when you move? Are you actually planning on moving or just thinking that you might someday? Does DH use these now?

If you will be moving within a reasonable time, keeping some stuff like this isn't a bad idea. DH has kept some extra cables & things for our equipment. They are limited to a small box & I refuse to let them take over more space than that. Is there any way to make him see that maybe parting with at least some of this is a good idea?

We have moved 23 times, long distance, local and international. And we're not military. We will almost certainly be moving in a year or so. Different houses require different lengths, etc. of wires. Usually, it's me who goes looking in the bin because I make less of a mess than he does (he won't change, believe me). And until I finally got all these wires into one location, we were buying new ones because I could not locate the ones needed. That's the reason why there are so many.

Yesterday, at Target, I found a 40 gallon Rubbermaid container for under $7.00. I've decided to throw all the bags of wires I now have into it so there will only be 1 bin instead of 2 bins and a box. Maybe that will help my psyche in the interim. I've been on such an organizing binge that the things in the house that are not perfectly organized really do stand out. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Wow, Marie, you move a lot! The Rubbermaid container sounds like a good solution. At least you've gotten the stuff consolidated into one container.

1 bin, bundle them (you can keep them from tangling so much by putting TWO rubber bands or twist ties on, one near each end), and LABEL THEM (include the length; then you can tell if it's the one you want WITHOUT unbundling it.).

Sounds like a plan!

And I think you're right, that single bin will make a HUGE difference.

1 bin, bundle them (you can keep them from tangling so much by putting TWO rubber bands or twist ties on, one near each end), and LABEL THEM (include the length; then you can tell if it's the one you want WITHOUT unbundling it.).

Sounds like a plan!

Oh, and, CONGRATULATIONS on getting so far into your home organization, that you can have energy and time to parse stuff like this!

And I think you're right, that single bin will make a HUGE difference.