I live in a college dorm during the school year, and I have tons of cables. USB cables, printer, power, headphones, everything. And, because of my college-ness, I am often packing these cables up in boxes, storing them for the summer, and bringing them home. Oh, wait, I need my USB cable, let me get that out of my dorm box. Time to move back to school, let me throw my equipment into a box and take it back to the dorm. "Oh yeah, I have an extra cat5, let me get it out..."
In all of this, the cables are continuously getting tangled, as they're just thrown into a box, and it is a serious pain to manage.
How can I organize these? Should I roll them up into coils, and then twist-tie? That is really time consuming. Is there some (inexpensive) thing I can buy?
And when things are connected, obviously I can't purchase Joel-esque cable-managing hardware, and I can't really drill holes in the walls. I don't have much space in my room anyway.
What are peoples' thoughts on cable transport and storage options? What are good ways to easily take my computer mouse from my desk to class and back without cords dangling everywhere?