So much depends upon the box of cables.

Recently rediscovered this as I did some reorganization. This is also an opportunity to reaffirm Chesterton's Fence.

Dont get rid of a cord until you know what it goes with and you dont need the thing it goes with any longer. It takes up basically zero space if you twist tie it and place it in a special unknown cables box seperate from cables which you know or can easily visualy infer what they go with

I was about to throw away all my S-Video connectors this week.

Then all this TV-Spying debacle started getting exposed, and I looked at my old VHS and remembered why I kept the cable.

Wasn't planning on letting anyone take away my big box of cables.

Now that I have evolved into an old guy, who has developed a habit of buying old used music gear, I can assure you that your years of hoarding, and defending, your box of cables will not be in vain. I have been digging into my box of old AC adapters, and finding success about half the time. It's like finding gold!

My stock of old adaptors is running low, but I'm good at scavenging them when stuff is getting tossed out. I always make sure to coil up the cord, and secure it with a twist tie. When I undo a cable, I always keep the twist tie on the cable.

I'm impressed with all of the ones organizing, tying up, and labeling your cords. I have a few boxes of cords, adapters, and boards. I have a gut feeling what's in there, but I won't know until I need something. Part of the fun is in the journey anyway, going through it all and remembering what it was for.

My only problem is that it's not just cables, but like 10 banker boxes of crap that I don't want to throw away in case I ever need, but it takes up space in the apartment and the main reason is because i'm poor enough that I can't afford to replace all of that shit, but that shit just needs to go.

If I didn't have that clutter (in the boxes, outside of the boxes), I'd have a neater place, and that would make it more pleasant to live here.

I have used so many cords in my technomancer box over the years, and there are some from the 90s that still get used.

I kept all my old console cables, and wouldn't you know it, I needed two for nostalgia purchases, one for a friend, and one that I used to fabricobble a Frankencord(s monster).

I'll let someone throw it away over my dead body.

I clean out my SnakeBox pretty regularly. Sometimes there just isn't a reason to keep them anymore.

It's worse having to dig through a bunch of garbage to find the cable you want, then to have to order a new cable once every 10 years.

So many great organizing ideas being shared here for the big box of cables. Thanks, everyone.

My family call it the "spaghetti box".

Just one cable box??

I have one smaller box in the office with “modern” cables that are still useful, a bigger box in a closet with duplicates and less occasionally useful cables, then a last box with… vintage computer shit that I never touch.

Box one still has one of each of USB-C to Lightning, USB-C to 2.0 Micro, USB 3.1 A-to-B cable, and USB 3.1 C to micro-B, and a few thunderbolt 4 and 5 cables (fully compatible with USB-C, but easier to identify high speed certified cables than the utter USB-C compliance nightmare). Any other USB-C cables are assumed to be charging cables. It also has a few CAT6A, DisplayPort, and Ultra-certified HDMI cables, as well as a few still-useful dongles to round it out.

I somewhat recently relegated all of my USB-A chargers and cables, all of my USB-A to lightning, micro-, and mini- USB cables, and all non-ultra HDMI cables to box two.

When I moved, all coax cables and pre-CAT6 Ethernet cables got moved to box three.

I keep a box of just old power bricks. Some are pretty normal like 12vdc@2a but some are weirder. What needs 19.5vac@5a? I don't know but when it needs it I've got it.

The one time it was useful to stack like four different video adapters together was all the validation I needed.

Timely.

I just organized my big box o' cables last weekend. Of course, then yesterday I had to unpack the entire box because I needed one from the bottom but it's still progress

Edit: I found my old serial 33.6 modem in there.

I used to neatly coil and velcro strap all of these. Seems like there was a time where I'd sometimes use them. Now it's all madness and a usb cord isn't trustworthy at all as far as how much charge it can carry or data rate etc. More and more I just through out anything that isn't especially high quality. I don't like that, but it only adds to the chaos to keep everything.

I started to sell cables I don't need anymore, this year. Works great and keeps the copper in the ground.

I have the cables I might conceivably need again some day sorted into labeled plastic bins (USB, ethernet, etc.) The serial cables and other stuff I doubt I'll ever touch again unless something odd happens are coiled, bound neatly with twine, and stuffed in a cardboard box in a semi-inaccessible corner where I don't have to worry about them.

There's a good reason to keep old cables. These days with everything made in China, there's a lot of garbage cables out there. The main problems being that they're made out of aluminum or the wire gauge isn't as claimed.