Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
Many technologists fiercely defend their overflowing boxes of legacy cables, seeing them as a cheap insurance policy against project delays, rare connectors, and last‑minute rescue jobs for friends and clients. Others argue that most of this hardware will never be needed again, urging people to declutter, rely on fast shipping for replacements, and avoid burdening families with piles of obsolete gear. Across both views run shared themes of organization strategies (labeling, bagging, categorizing by type or capability), the hidden costs of clutter, and the environmental or scrap value of excess copper and electronics.
Scale of the “Big Box of Cables”
- Many commenters have multiple boxes, drawers, or even cabinets of cables, often separated by category (USB, power, A/V, networking, audio, “weird one‑offs,” etc.).
- Some sort by age or commonness (modern vs legacy; everyday vs rare; commodity vs truly odd/proprietary).
- A minority keep just one small, tightly curated box or travel kit.
Organization Strategies
- Common methods: transparent bins, labeled banker boxes, CD spindles, coat racks, map drawers.
- Fine‑grained grouping: ziploc/mesh/pencil bags per cable type (often one cable or one type per bag), then bags into boxes.
- Labeling emphasized: by connector, capability (USB speed, PD wattage, video support), length, or device it belongs to.
- Tools: USB‑C testers, PSU cable testers, label makers, colored tape/Velcro schemes.
- Cable care: loose coils, “over‑under” for long runs, avoiding sharp bends, using Velcro/hair ties/twine instead of zip ties.
Why People Keep Them
- Just‑in‑time utility: cables repeatedly save projects, customers, friends, and small businesses from downtime.
- Legacy/proprietary gear (SCSI, FireWire, mini‑B, Palm, console and camera cables, odd serial/programming leads) can be hard or slow to replace.
- Emotional aspects: satisfaction and pride in producing the “exact right cable,” nostalgia, and identity as the fixer/tinkerer.
- Some see the stash as resilience against fragile supply chains and as a way to avoid waste; others even scrap copper for money.
Arguments for Purging
- Several describe large purges (down to one or a few of each type) as liberating, reducing clutter and mental load.
- Concern about burdening heirs with junk; estate clean‑out stories are common.
- Many note that most generic HDMI/USB/Ethernet cables are cheap and easily replaced via online or local retail.
- Some adopt “expiration boxes” labeled with a date; if unopened after years, they’re discarded.
Risks, Failures, and “Curated Hoarding”
- Misleadingly similar cables can be dangerous or flaky: modular PSU leads with incompatible pinouts, bad SATA/USB/HDMI/Ethernet cables causing corruption or speed drops, power‑only USB cables, stiff or under‑spec USB‑C.
- Old insulation can become sticky; damaged cables can spark or be fire hazards.
- Several advocate a middle ground: keep a tested, labeled, modest set (especially rare/proprietary types) and aggressively discard damaged, out‑of‑spec, or heavily duplicated commodity cables.