I moved last year and found a box labeled “CABLES.” It weighed about fifteen pounds. Inside: three VGA cables, two printer USB cables (the square kind nobody uses anymore), a FireWire cable, and an iPod charging cable with the wide 30-pin connector. I have not owned an iPod since 2011.

I still kept them. “Just in case.”

The keep pile: what you’ll actually need

1. USB-C cables: Everything is moving to USB-C. Keep every working one you find. Your phone, laptop, headphones, and probably your toaster soon.
2. USB-C to USB-A adapters: Tiny, easy to lose, essential. Keep them. Maybe buy more.
3. HDMI cables: Still the standard for TVs and monitors. Keep two or three. More than that is cable hoarding.
4. Micro USB: Keep one. Some cheap gadgets still use it. One is enough.
5. 3.5mm aux cables: If you have an older car. Otherwise, one for emergencies.
6. Ethernet cables: Keep a couple. WiFi goes down, Ethernet saves the day.
7. Proprietary chargers for current devices: Apple Watch charger, Fitbit charger, electric toothbrush charger — anything you still use daily.

The throw pile: be ruthless

• VGA and DVI cables: If you don’t know what these connect to, you don’t need them. New monitors don’t use these.
• Old printer cables: That square USB-B connector. Printers are wireless now. If yours isn’t, get a new printer.
• Component and composite AV cables: Red, white, yellow. Red, green, blue. These are not coming back.
• Random power adapters with no label: If you can’t identify what it powers, that device is long gone.
• Damaged cables: Frayed at the connector, kinked in the middle. They’re a fire hazard. Throw them out.

The donation option

Some cables still have value. Best Buy takes electronics recycling for free. Goodwill takes working cables. Don’t landfill them — copper is recyclable.

I filled a whole shopping bag with dead cables. Best Buy took them. My cable box now weighs two pounds instead of fifteen. I can actually find the cable I need without excavating archaeological layers of obsolete technology.