Are you like the old me, tired of the cluttered mess of cables in your closet, or worse yet in your car or on the bus? Try the new dpk CableHolderThing™ 5000™*!

Here’s how it works. Just slip one end of a cable under one of the patent-pending elastic cords along the side, and wrap the rest of the cable around. Put the other end under another elastic cord and presto! It’s a new you! Got transformers? Plop ‘em inside the box after wrapping the cords around the outside. (Note: Transformers may cause cable tangling.)

I know what you’re asking yourself: Me, do I deserve to live a life without tangled cables? Of course you do. So here’s what you need:

• 6″ diameter round paper mache box — the taller, the more cables it can hold
• about a yard of 1/8″ thick elastic cord per 5 inches of useful box height (i.e. excluding lid)
• package of hook-and-eyes (I used 16)
• needle and thread
• a pen or a pencil
• measuring tape (sewing, not construction)
• a pin or thumbtack
• glue

Wrap the measuring tape around the bottom of the box. Divide up the hooks for the top and the bottom. Mark where the bottom set of hooks will go, at about 1/4″ from the bottom. For the top hooks: if your box has a lid and you want to use it, put it on (on the box not on you), and make your marks 1/4″ below the lid; otherwise: mark 1/4″ below the top of the box. For best results, mark the top and bottom hooks in a zig-zag pattern. Optional, but recommended step: poke a hole on either side of each mark, spaced however wide the holes in the hooks are.

Sew the hooks evenly around the side of the box — half on top, half on the bottom. I ran the thread around each hook 5 times. Apply glue to the threads on the inside of the box if you can’t make a good knot in there (it’s tough on the bottom). Tie a knot in the elastic and, while holding it stretched pretty taught, run it up and down through the hooks, twice (there should be room in the hooks). Tie off the end and cut. Enjoy!

* This offer not available in stores. See store for details.