Ipad, ipod, iphone, laptop, camera, kindle, blue tooth,psp – ugh!!

Does your charging station look like this?  
Desk Before

As you can see above, this station even has one of those $50.00 organizers.  But guess what?  Once you (or kids or spouse) take any one device out of the organizer, you must spend a frustrating amount of time finagling it back in;  1) Find an available spot 2) wind the cord around and around 3) thread cord through the opening 4-6) Take cord out and repeat steps 2 & 3 after discovering the cord is wound too tight 7) squeeze the power strip back into the box 8) somehow close the thing.  Finally breath a sigh of relief – until the minuscule sized screws pop out, launching cords and cables everywhere!

I mean who has that much patience anyway?  So I have a simple and inexpensive solution:

Baskets!  When Micheal’s has those 50% off sales (like every other week), purchase a couple of baskets – the ones below cost me $10.00.  Make sure they have an opening at the ends to insert the cord on the power strip and a large enough weave for your cables to fit in between.  See below – I inserted a power strip cord through the end, pushed the cables for my devices up from the bottom, and flipped the whole thing upside down (to hide all those cables and power strip).  Everything is neat, and if a device is removed it is quick and easy to put it back in place.


Desk After

 

 

Desk After close up

And speaking of cords, does anyone else have this ugly eye sore jump out at them when they walk into a room?

 
Plug BEFORE

How about this instead?

 

Plug AFTER 1

Simply purchase a fabric cord cover, which I’ve only been able to find online and in Hobby Lobby.  Then hang a small canvas print over the plug – in this case my electric plug was large enough to balance the canvas right over the plug.  Now you notice the art work, not the ugly cord. You might also recognize my fur-babies.  This 11 x 14 canvas I had made at Sam’s club for $30, but any pretty canvas will work.

I love to hear your comments and unique organizing and design ideas!