Funny story about labeling cords …
About 2 weeks ago, the security system control panel that’s located in our master bedroom decided to go on the fritz. More specifically, it emitted an uber-annoying beeping sound every 30 seconds. It was accompanied by a yellow warning light. The only way to make it stop was to manually hold down a button on the panel. This action would cause it to stop beeping for 30 minutes, at which time the beeping started up again.
During the first night this happened, I had flashbacks to those sleepless nights associated with having a newborn baby. Not good.
Over the course of the next few days, I made several calls to the company that installed our system, attempting to trouble-shoot the problem over the phone in an effort to avoid that $100 service call. They were a bit baffled by the error code of a “system failure” that they were receiving on their end.
After a few more sleepless nights and during another trouble-shoot phone call, the service man asked me if we had recently made any changes to our internet infrastructure. Hmm…interesting that he asked that, since my husband had recently replaced our modem.
He prompted me to take a close look at the wiring, to be sure that the cable that connects the “brain” of our security system to our internet had not been disconnected.
Bingo!
When questioned about this, my husband confessed that he had no idea what that cable was for, so he decided that it need not be reconnected to the router after he completed the modem upgrade. Wrong Dear Hubby…
So what’s the organizing lesson to be learned from all of this? Label your cords my friends.
I love to use washi tape coupled with my label maker for labeling cords, but it doesn’t have to be this fancy. You can also use a regular ol’ mailing label folded in half and write on it with a Sharpie.
This is what I get for not practicing what I preach! Got a funny organizing-related story? I’d love to hear yours!
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Sabrina Quairoli says
I love when I learn from mistakes like that. It always amazing me that this stuff happens at night. Why is that? My husband is a cable geek so we have all the cables labeled. It really helps me out because things like this happens when he is traveling. ugh. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Natalie Gallagher says
Sabrina,
You’re totally right! When the fire alarm starts that annoying chirp to indicate the batteries have gone bad, it’s always at 3 a.m., LOL!
Janet Barclay says
That’s what I call an attention-grabbing title! Great story. Labeling things is such a simple solution, yet how often do we lose time (though maybe not sleep) because we didn’t bother?
Natalie Gallagher says
LOL! Yes indeed Janet!