This applies to any kind of cable including phone chargers, laptop chargers, headphones, and any other kind of electrical cable. Even sturdy cables that aren’t as prone to breaking, like electrical appliance power cords, will last longer if you unplug them by grabbing the plug head instead of the wire.
For example, if you plug in your phone charger behind your bed or another piece of furniture, don’t push the headboard of the bed or the piece of furniture right up against the charger. Leave some clearance so the cable isn’t squished. If you use an electronic device like your phone while it’s plugged into a charger, try not to use it in a position that requires you to bend or pull on the cable.
You can easily tuck a cable looped in this manner into a small pocket inside of your backpack or suitcase to transport it safely without damaging it.
This will prevent accidents like accidentally rolling over your cables with an office chair or otherwise squishing, bending, and putting stress on them. You can buy an electronics and cable organizer case online for under $15 USD. You could also look at local electronics stores.
This will help prevent fraying at the cable’s most delicate point while still keeping it flexible. Use 2 pens springs to reinforce both sensitive ends. Put 1 where the wire connects to the charger connection and 1 where it meets the device connector side. Keep in mind that your pen won’t work after you take the spring out, so this might not be the best option if you want to reinforce a whole bunch of cables, since you’ll be left with a bunch of non-working pens.
These types of protectors look like thick rubber spirals and come in a variety of colors. You just coil them onto the cable where you want to protect it. Some other styles just have an open side that you stretch out to slip the protector over the cable. You can use 2 protectors per cable for maximum protection. Just slide the first one all the way down the wire to where it meets the charger block. Slide another one onto the part of the wire where it meets the device connector. You can also find fun decorative cable protectors that look like animals if you want to add some more flair to your cables. You can buy a pack of 24 or so basic spiral-style cable protectors online for under $10 USD.
You can buy paracord in a variety of colors and patterns, so you can give your cables a unique appearance using this technique as well.
You can do this with just 1 color or with multiple colors of string or cord. It’s totally up to you and the look you want to give your cable!
You could also reinforce cables that aren’t fraying this way, but electrical tape doesn’t look pretty, so this is probably best reserved for when you want to prevent further damage to a cable.
