The Incredibly Expanding Box of Wires

Peter Walsh’s third kind of clutterer is of the techie variety. And if we were to pin this kind of clutterer onto a PixieType we’d have to go with Fun Structures (STPs). These types tend to be drawn to mechanical, technical things — you know, the friends you call when your printer is frying your very last nerve. But frankly, every type suffers from the ails of who Walsh calls The Techie Clutterer.

I mean who doesn’t identify with this situation:

Drawers, cabinets, and desk weighed down by a metastasizing tangle of cords, chargers, remotes, and half-full USB drives, many belonging to clunky devices dating to the ’90s.

Walsh describes this type as “Twenty- and 30-something Apple devotees; eBay enthusiasts; grandparents terrified to pitch the cord that connects their digital camera to their computer.” I mean doesn’t that pretty much describe EVERYONE?

So while the Techie Clutterer isn’t really a type so to speak, Walsh is right about it being a serious clutter problem. There isn’t a home we’ve organized that hasn’t had at least half a dozen phone cords (who needs those anymore?) not to mention extension cords, random adapters, those red, black and yellow TV cords, and endless chargers for outdated gadgets. I seriously think that the Blackberry people change those chargers just to create a market for organizers. Or just to vex me.

Walsh’s solutions are pretty universal. Purge, organize and label. But labeling is not something we recommend for all types. Frankly, just getting rid of stuff you don’t use or need can be enough. Organics and Smarts can stop right there. Classics are the ones who feel better with everything labeled, but it does make keeping things in order in a shared household easier.