Phone Home

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash.com

Do you have a system for keeping track of your phone and/or tablet? 

Do you always know where they are when you're at home?  What do you do with all those charging cords?  Do you have a phone home?  (If you don't get the reference, you're young, and you need to go watch the classic 1980's movie ET)

If you're like us, you have a basket or drawer full of tangled chargers.  Charging a phone involved untangling a cord from the pile and then plugging it in on the kitchen island.  The phone and charger only added to the clutter already on the counter.  Sometimes, it would get bumped when accessing the refrigerator or the GFCI outlet would get tripped for some reason.  After you thought your phone was charging, you would discover it was still dead.  Often, both plugs would be tied up in the morning when someone wanted to use the toaster.  This caused a fight over which phone to unplug.  

We finally solved all this with the bamboo charging station below.  We now have a home for our phones and tablets.  Plugged in or not, it's a handy place to put them instead of the middle of the kitchen counter.  

I made space for it on our kitchen counter tucked back out of the way next to the fridge.  ​Inside is a 6-port USB charger.  We had so many USB cords around that I didn't even need to buy new ones.  I even connected the charger for our Amazon Tap device, which can easily be disconnected to use for a phone or tablet. 

Several versions of these charging stations are available on Amazon and I'm sure other stores.  I like the look of the bamboo and the way the dividers are easily removable, yet strong enough to easily hold several devices.  Plus, bamboo is considered a sustainable material. 

​Below are affiliate links to the charging station, charger, and just in case you're interested, the Amazon Tap.  (Note that the Tap is an older model Alexa enabled device.  The thing I like about the Tap though, is it isn't constantly listening to you.  You have to push the button before asking Alexa a question.)

If you want to be fancy, you can buy all new USB cables for it so they match and are all the same length.  If you have a mixture of devices needing their own type of cord then I suggest buying different colors for them.  For example, now that my wife is back at work I plan to get a white iPhone charger for her work phone.  All the other devices we have are Android based and are using black cables.

If you are tired of seeing your phones and tablets all over the house, you keep forgetting where it's plugged in, or are constantly searching for your phone charger that your kids stole, then this is the way to go.  The version above may not be the right one for you, but since they come in several shapes and materials, I'm sure you'll find one that works.