Over the weekend, I took advantage of having to move my computer desk at home to try a DIY cable organizing method I first read about on lifehacker.com.  Basically, the article describes how you can suspend a rain gutter under your desk to help aid in cable management.  To start I drove over to Home Depot and found a 10′ section of vinyl gutter for around $5.  I only needed less than 6’ but this was the closest thing they had.  Also they had it in either white or brown.  I choose brown to help blend in my with the desk.  The article from before used hooks to suspend the gutter from the matching hangers, but since my desk has a back on it, I just decided to use the hangers as you normally would by inserting screws through them and into the back of the desk.  I used three hangers for my 5’8″ section of gutter.  I also bought the matching end caps, but if I were to do it again I may just leave those out. 

Before From Above

Closeup Of Before

Yikes! That is a tangled mess of cables. You can now understand why I was trying to find something to organize them all and get them up off the ground. I thought about ordering two or three baskets from IKEA, but figured a DIY project would be cheaper.  It definitely was cheap, the hangers couldn’t have been much more than a dollar each, so add that to the gutter and some screws and we are talking less than $10.  I also managed to take the cable modem and wireless router that were on top of the desk before and hide them down under with the cables, freeing up even more space on the desk.  If you look close you can see the gutter already installed in the second photo above. 

After From Above

Closeup Of After

Wow, what a difference it really did make.  I might still have a mess of cables, but at least it is up off of the ground.  The biggest thing cluttering up the gutters are the two power strips I need to power everything (two computers, two monitors, printer, scanner, cable modem, router, speakers, and lamp).  I don’t know if a couple of PowerSquids would help or make it worse, but it is something to consider in the future.  Overall I am very happy with how this little project turned out.