6 Tips to Keep Your Office Cable Clutter Under Control

Computer cables can easily become the bane of your office existence. We need our computer systems and networks but it can often feel like all of the cables, the Cat5e cables bulk, crossover cables, fiber optic cables and all of your power cords and everything else, like to turn into a snakes’ nest under your desk as soon as you give them the chance. There are ways to deal with that mess without sacrificing the connections you need.

It does not have to cost a ton to get the cable messes under control. Often, the supplies you use in your business may be all you need to tame the snakes and reduce the clutter.

1. Use binder clips to attach cable to your office furniture. Do you have cables that refuse to stay on your desk? You can keep all of the cables you want to stay on your desk firmly in place with binder clips from your local office supply store. Binder clips are inexpensive and come in a large selection of sizes. You can use these to clamp your Cat5e cables bulk, printer cables, power cords and any other USB cables or whatever to your office furniture.
2. Keep your cables together with zip ties. These are super inexpensive and easy to use. Keep all of your cables together and tidy with some properly placed zip ties. If you bought a bunch of Cat5e cables bulk, you can store what you are not using easily by coiling it and then keeping it together with your zip ties. If you need to run a few cables along the wall, floor or ceiling, you can make sure they stay together the same way.
3. Use old credit cards as cable organizers. You will need an expired credit card (or rewards card or even a library card), a singe hold punch and some scissors to make this do it yourself cable organizer. Create a space in the middle of the card with the single hole punch. Use your scissors to add an easy way to slide your cables through. If you are just inserting at the end of your Cat5e cables bulk, for instance, you may not need this but if you are approaching your cables somewhere else, you can add this to the card. This method can also be used to keep those cables on your desk. If your binder clips are not big enough for all of your cables, feed them into a card and use the binder clip to attach that to your desk.
4. Mount surge protectors to the wall or furniture with double stick tape. You can use this to affix a number of items to walls or furniture. If you have a modem or router that likes to fall off its perch, you can keep it in one place with the tape. If you want to have your surge protector in a fixed location, the tape works well for that, too. Even if you want to just keep it from sliding around on your desk, a little double stick tape can go a long way in making it stay put.
5. Label everything. This may not keep your cables from becoming snakes when left alone but it will make it a lot easier to fix things and replace the right cables when you need to. Label both ends of the cable. So many cables these days have the same end on both sides so this is really helpful when you are switching out cables. Label the end that is going into the device and the end that is going into the computer, the network or whatever it normally is attached to. If you have a hub for all of the cables you need, this makes a big difference. It will save you time and money.
6. Tack down your cabling. When you run cables all over, they can be stepped on, furniture can roll over them, etc. Tack down the cable so that no one trips over it and place a protective cover so nothing breaks it.

Messy cables are a problem for offices and businesses all over the world. These simple and cost effective tips can help reduce your clutter.