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Design Dilemma: 5 Options for Organizing Gadgets

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A few years ago, we were all  worrying about how to organize our growing collection of books. Remember bookshelves? But this is 2012, and these days we’re concerned not about organizing books but a growing collection of electronic devices, including our Kindles, Nooks, Ipads, Iphones, Netbooks, cellphones, external hard drives, flash drives and other assorted gadgetry and the cords that come with them.

Are electronic devices taking over your life? Here are 5 ideas to help you get organized:

1) The Door Dropspot (pictured above). Need a safe place to stash your continuously disappearing cellphone? Invest in the Door Dropspot which provides a nifty place to keep cellphones, keys, letters that need to be mailed, etc. Since it all hangs from a doorknob you’ll be reminded of what to take out with you each time you’re ready to leave the house. This handy gadget, called the Doorganizer©

2) The Backpack from TwelveSouth. Got an external hard drive that is eating up a lot of desk space? Well, if you’ve got an iMac or an Apple Cinema Display, check out the Backpack. By clamping down on the mounting arm of the display, it acts as a little shelf, tucked out of the way. They even come with wire ties for cord management, and a silicone mat so that the spinning of the drive doesn’t cause too much noise.

3) Velcro. Here’s another option for tucking away that pesky external hard drive. Try affixing industrial-strength Velcro underneath your desk to hold your drive and any USB cables or USB hubs you may need.

4) The OneLessDrop cord organizer. Has your life disintegrated into a tangle of cords? Check out the “H” which elegantly sits on your desk to keep your cords in place and out of sight.

5) The OXO Cord Catch. It keeps your unplugged cables and cords off the floor and within easy reach. No more crawling underneath desks to find cellphone cords of computer cables!

And here are some other ways to cut down on gadgetry clutter:

• Buy less. Do you honestly need the device you’re considering buying? Will it improve your life or complicate your life?
• Become a late adopter. Instead of running out to buy the latest Kindle, Ipad, Iphone, or what have you, take your time and wait for the products to improve (and come down in price). You’ll get a better product that you can hang onto for longer, you’ll pay less and you’ll save the environment by not making multiple purchases of the same product.
• Edit relentlessly. Are you the type to hold onto all the old gadgets and cords you’ve ever owned, even if perhaps the gadget is now broken and unusable? Don’t be afraid to toss.
• Identify where to send old electronic gadgets before it’s time to toss. Sometimes, we are reluctant to get rid of an old laptop, a broken TV or cellphone because we have no idea how to safely dispose of such items. Make a point of researching when and how you can dispose of your electronic gadgets ahead of time, so that there’s no hesitation about tossing an item when it has reached the end of its useful life.

Images: via apartmenttherapy.com