OK so I emptied my container of power cords and sorted everything.
Somehow going through all these cords one by one, sorting them into various piles, taking notes/statistics about each pile... was enjoyable, therapeutic, in some weird way. It's no longer a messy ugly container of cords... now it's organized, documented...I must have German blood from long ago, an appetite for ordnung...
So, at first I made the 5 piles / categories I mentioned earlier (first pic), but then I ended up with one of the piles being too big so I further divided that one into more sub-categories (second pic).
Stats:Total number of cords 68, about 50/50 2/3 pronged.
2 Pronged- Complete cables : x18
- Incomplete ones (W/O plug on appliance side, or with a PCB connector) : x17
3 Pronged- Without plug : x2
- With a 90° plug on appliance side : x2
- With a straight plug on wall socket end of the cable : x16 (11 black + 5 grey)
- "Normal" cables, with a 90° plug on wall side : x12 (x8 black + 3 grey + 1 short white one).
It's amazing how things appear so balanced ! I mean it's about 50/50 2 or 3 pronged, and within the 3 pronged category it's 50/50 between those with a wall plug that's straight, or 90°. furthermore, within the 2 pronged category, again it's 50/50 between complete and incomplete cords.
So that's pretty cool, I have a bit of everything.
So now that I have the stats and everything is neatly laid out on the bench, I can go through each pile and decided which ones I want to keep and which ones will get scrapped. Too many, some need to go and save me space and search time. So I need to come up with objective criteria to decide which to throw away... Maybe I can get rid of the shorter ones, and the ones that look really really old, or those that are stiffer than the average cable.
White one will go for sure, it's extremely short.
3 pronged ones, choice will be tough as they all look quality ones, pretty soft despite their thickness. 2 pronged ones however, they are all stiff/crap, brrr...
It's 22H15, normal people watch TV, but I find sorting my cables a less brain damaging activity, and more useful as well.