cords and wires and power sources, oh my

[Backroads]

So this morning, because there is something very wrong with me, I decided to clean out our office closet instead of sleeping while my toddler was at preschool and my 10-day-old infant was napping.

The closet turned out to be a mystery of physics with more items in it than space... and also included a plethora of cords and the like.

I have no idea what to do with the majority of them. Are they tossable? Would thrift stores take them? Are they worth selling online?

[NeedleinA]

I accumulated a box just like this. Kept hanging on to it "just in case". Technology/cords change so fast that a lot of it is obsolete before you realize it anyways. Goodwill in our area has a "computer" donation center. I just took the whole box there. Great feeling to get rid of the clutter/junk!

Edited November 24, 2015 by NeedleinA

[Crypto]

I have no idea what to do with the majority of them. Are they tossable? Would thrift stores take them? Are they worth selling online?

How old? (Older can be harder to find)

How often do you find yourself needing an odd cord out?

Are you willing to spend the time to go find and buy a new cord if you need it?

Are you talking power cords, or other cords (like for TV, computers, printers etc....) Power cords may be easier to find and buy.

You might be able to sell them online, but you likely won't make much. Some cords sell for less than the cost to ship! If you are going to sell them online, you should probably know what they are first for the description.

[Palerider]

I would think Goodwill or something like that would take them

[Iggy]

When we moved from AZ to OR, hubby was in charge of packing up his "stuff". Two years after being here, I was moving all of the boxes he had packed up and didn't unpack trying to get to the corner to get my canning jars out. Each and every box was only partially full. There were six boxes of *computer* stuff aka junk. From those huge square floppys, to the smaller floppys, from Windows 391 to Windows 98. And cords, power packs, and more cords. 

 

I moved all of the boxes out of his Den/Office to my work space in the corner of the very long living room, and with a magnifying glass, I went online and typed in the serial numbers and model numbers to find out where they belonged. Two weeks later I had them all labeled. You know those garage/yard sale tags with strings? Yep, used them. Didn't want to use up my velcro strips so I used rubber bands to hold them together. 

 

I found the powerpack to my adding machine, to my AT&T cordless phone, and the cord to my mP3 player that goes to the computer. The rest of them, a total of two banker boxes, don't have the item they belong to. Yet when I tried to take them to the car to take to the DI pod, Hubby actually yelled at me. They could come in handy - - wait for it - - wait - - Someday. This from a man whose work resume is 16 pages (both sides of paper) long with his educational information on 15 of those pages!! He is an Engineer for heaven's sake! Retired from TWO careers! 

 

It has been 3 years since that has happened. He wants into his Den/Office. Move his recliner in there. Rearrange his HUGE, solid oak man DESK. Can't do that until the boxes are cleaned up and 90% of the stuff aka JUNK is tossed. He hasn't seen any of that stuff aka JUNK in almost 6 years. Hadn't really seen it let alone use it back in AZ. Not for nearly 7 years before we got married. 

 

You computer nerds/geeks/guru's - why keep the 5" floppy's? The totally obsolete windows os? The  Meta-Stock programs from the ice age to 2010, when you already have the ones from 2011 to 2014? Before we moved, hubby burned the 14 FULL banker boxes of the printouts of his pretend stocks. The ones he had moved around from house to house - 7 houses. 

 

I had one wood apple crate lined with an oil-cloth table cloth filled with extension cords and dryer/range cords. Seemed like every rental house I moved into had a different set up for the dryer. As for extension cords - they work on any electrical outlet in the USA and power any product. After we moved here, do you think I could find that box? Nope. Finally I asked hubby about it. Oh, I gave that to Hershey for his Mom. Great, now how are we going to power our dryer? The cord we have isn't the same configuration as what is in the wall? AND our outlets are so few and far between, how am I going to power the lamps? 

 

So, when I finally get over this cold, and my blood sugars get in line,or in Other Words when I have the energy & stamina, I am tossing all of that CRAP out. All of the boxes have to be moved to the dining room and extra bedroom. To keep boxes go to dining room, toss it out boxes go to guest bedroom. I would dearly love to rip out the carpet in there before the HUGE, solid oak Man Desk gets moved. BUT I don't know what is under the carpet. 

 

Backroads, if you don't have the item that the cord belongs to - what good is the cord to you? If you don't know what the cord goes to, what good is to anyone else? Go online, type in the numbers you see on the cord, label it, then donate it. Doesn't matter to whom, just donate it. 

[Mahone]

<snip>

 

I found the powerpack to my adding machine, to my AT&T cordless phone, and the cord to my mP3 player that goes to the computer. The rest of them, a total of two banker boxes, don't have the item they belong to. Yet when I tried to take them to the car to take to the DI pod, Hubby actually yelled at me. They could come in handy - - wait for it - - wait - - Someday. This from a man whose work resume is 16 pages (both sides of paper) long with his educational information on 15 of those pages!! He is an Engineer for heaven's sake! Retired from TWO careers! 

 

<snip>

 

You computer nerds/geeks/guru's - why keep the 5" floppy's? The totally obsolete windows os? The  Meta-Stock programs from the ice age to 2010, when you already have the ones from 2011 to 2014? Before we moved, hubby burned the 14 FULL banker boxes of the printouts of his pretend stocks. The ones he had moved around from house to house - 7 houses. 

 

<snip>

 

Backroads, if you don't have the item that the cord belongs to - what good is the cord to you? If you don't know what the cord goes to, what good is to anyone else? Go online, type in the numbers you see on the cord, label it, then donate it. Doesn't matter to whom, just donate it. 

 

I'm something of a hoarder of computer kit that I obtain through various means. My wife puts up with it more than she used to, mostly because she has now realized it saved both us and others a decent amount of money. It's a fairly common occurence that people come to me with broken equipment and components that need to be replaced. Broken graphics card? I'm pretty sure I have a 3 year old one in a drawer somewhere that you can have. Router stopped powering up? I've got a box of them I can replace it with.

 

When we moved to the US last year, I had to leave all my spare kit behind. I got asked to look at a ladies TV briefly a couple of months after we moved here and quickly determined they needed to replace their HDMI cable. I've got loads of them saved up in my 'hoard' in the UK, but none of them here, so we had to go out and buy one. Unless you order these things online, they are pretty expensive. I think target has them for something like $20 which is crazy for a basic cable. They bought it that day as they wanted it quickly and I replaced the cable.

 

Later that week, I was back at her house and had to go into the garage. I found a box of old cables with at least three HDMI cables in. What a waste of $20 - I took it back to the store and got the money back. She may not have known what an HDMI cable was or what they are used for, but if she hadn't kept them, she'd have lost that money.

 

I also have a copy of windows 3.1 somewhere... believe it or not, it's been useful at least once in the last 5 years - some companies still use this operating system today, including the LDS church.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Mahone

[Guest]

When we moved from AZ to OR, hubby was in charge of packing up his "stuff". Two years after being here, I was moving all of the boxes he had packed up and didn't unpack trying to get to the corner to get my canning jars out. Each and every box was only partially full. There were six boxes of *computer* stuff aka junk. From those huge square floppys, to the smaller floppys, from Windows 391 to Windows 98. And cords, power packs, and more cords. 

 

I moved all of the boxes out of his Den/Office to my work space in the corner of the very long living room, and with a magnifying glass, I went online and typed in the serial numbers and model numbers to find out where they belonged. Two weeks later I had them all labeled. You know those garage/yard sale tags with strings? Yep, used them. Didn't want to use up my velcro strips so I used rubber bands to hold them together. 

 

I found the powerpack to my adding machine, to my AT&T cordless phone, and the cord to my mP3 player that goes to the computer. The rest of them, a total of two banker boxes, don't have the item they belong to. Yet when I tried to take them to the car to take to the DI pod, Hubby actually yelled at me. They could come in handy - - wait for it - - wait - - Someday. This from a man whose work resume is 16 pages (both sides of paper) long with his educational information on 15 of those pages!! He is an Engineer for heaven's sake! Retired from TWO careers! 

 

It has been 3 years since that has happened. He wants into his Den/Office. Move his recliner in there. Rearrange his HUGE, solid oak man DESK. Can't do that until the boxes are cleaned up and 90% of the stuff aka JUNK is tossed. He hasn't seen any of that stuff aka JUNK in almost 6 years. Hadn't really seen it let alone use it back in AZ. Not for nearly 7 years before we got married. 

 

You computer nerds/geeks/guru's - why keep the 5" floppy's? The totally obsolete windows os? The  Meta-Stock programs from the ice age to 2010, when you already have the ones from 2011 to 2014? Before we moved, hubby burned the 14 FULL banker boxes of the printouts of his pretend stocks. The ones he had moved around from house to house - 7 houses. 

 

I had one wood apple crate lined with an oil-cloth table cloth filled with extension cords and dryer/range cords. Seemed like every rental house I moved into had a different set up for the dryer. As for extension cords - they work on any electrical outlet in the USA and power any product. After we moved here, do you think I could find that box? Nope. Finally I asked hubby about it. Oh, I gave that to Hershey for his Mom. Great, now how are we going to power our dryer? The cord we have isn't the same configuration as what is in the wall? AND our outlets are so few and far between, how am I going to power the lamps? 

 

So, when I finally get over this cold, and my blood sugars get in line,or in Other Words when I have the energy & stamina, I am tossing all of that CRAP out. All of the boxes have to be moved to the dining room and extra bedroom. To keep boxes go to dining room, toss it out boxes go to guest bedroom. I would dearly love to rip out the carpet in there before the HUGE, solid oak Man Desk gets moved. BUT I don't know what is under the carpet. 

 

Backroads, if you don't have the item that the cord belongs to - what good is the cord to you? If you don't know what the cord goes to, what good is to anyone else? Go online, type in the numbers you see on the cord, label it, then donate it. Doesn't matter to whom, just donate it. 

 

 

Your husband and my husband can be Sanford and Son.  LOL.

[Iggy]

Your husband and my husband can be Sanford and Son.  LOL.

 I'm so glad I didn't read this as I was injecting my insulin - as it was I nearly choked on my morning pills! 

 

What came to mind was Sanford holding onto his chest and calling to the heavens to his wife. Anatess you are such a kick. 

[Athena9]

Hey Girlfriend . 

 

Bless you! I can hear you are just going into fits....

Ok, I am married to a darling of a man who is a hoarder

and pack rat of the first order.  He brings things home that 

are the third and fourth copy of THINGS WE ALREADY HAVE.

 

If you can get yourself a copy of "Fascinating Womanhood,"

by Helen B. Andelin ,  it might be a real eye opener for you

and provide some relief. It is a little old fashioned, but through it

you will be able to discharge yourself of the obligation of taking 

the responsibility (not yours to begin with) of trying to figure out

and clear out all of the electronic garbage you are speaking of.

(I assume you are married. If not, I apologize and will pray for 

you!) 

 

I am old enough to have grandchildren, and I can virtually tell

you, Honey, that making this wire encrusted area into a wire

encrusted battle field is a BAD, BAD idea and will bring you

grief in the future. We're ladies --- sure we like cleanliness and

order!  And most men have NO IDEA of how to properly sort 

things, BUT if this IS your spouse's area, leave it ALONE and

tell him it's HIS own personal junk yard to do as he wishes

(just don't let it encroach out of it's circumscribed BOUNDARIES). 

 

Best if  luck, Sweetheart, now go take that nap with your daughter!