DIY Family Charging Station

Conquer cord chaos with a DIY Charging Station made from an old shoebox!

I never met a box I didn't like and I try to reuse them whenever possible for storage (remember my pantry makeover?) and for wrapping gifts (save those cereal boxes!).

I also love things being nice and tidy and that includes all of my family's charging cables and cords and we have a LOT of them.

My sons tend to keep theirs in their rooms but my husband and I keep ours out in the kitchen. I cannot handle the sight of random cords, though it doesn't seem to bother my husband one bit 🙄.

Since I wanted a reasonable and cheap way to wrangle the mess, I thought this DIY Family Charging Station would be the perfect answer to the problem (I had a shoebox I couldn't part with), plus, it's a great thrifty style team DIY and today is the 2021 kickoff of Thrifty Style...so, it's a great fit!

After you check out this simple DIY, be sure to check out the shares from the other team members at the bottom of this post.

How to Make a Family Charging Station

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Supplies:

Shoebox

Contact paper - I bought a roll of Pioneer Woman Flea Market Floral from Walmart

Power strip (to fit inside shoebox)

Labels/Label maker

Exacto knife

Instructions:

1. Measure out enough contact paper to cover the shoebox.
2. Start with the lip of the lid tucking a small amount of contact paper under the lip removing the backing a LITTLE at a time.
3. Keep working your way around the box doing a little at a time....
4. Smothing out the paper as you go.

5 - 8. This entire process is similar to wrapping a gift. Cover the shoebox with contact paper leaving the sides for last.

9 - 10. Once you've covered the entire box tuck a small amount over the front of the box tacking it down inside.

11-12. This is the part that reminded me of wrapping a gift.

13-16. My side cuts were not quite equal but when the lid of the shoebox is closed it covers up any imperfections.

Now, on to cutting the hole for the surge protector.

Place the surge protector in the box with the plug portion toward the back of the box. Mark an area on the back large enough for the plug to exit the box easily.

Cut a hole on the back of the box using an Exacto knife leaving the bottom of the square hole intact (think of it as a trap door).

Next, We'll Cut Holes on the Front of the Shoebox for Our Charging Cables

1-2. Gather your charging cables and mark the opening for each charger hole. I drew slits in five equal intervals on the front of the box and then used the Exacto to cut small oblong holes for each charger cable to exit the inside of the box.

3-5. To keep things in order I used a label maker to print out a name for each charger and placed the labels above the corresponding openings.

Attach and charge your tech as needed!

So simple and I LOVE how this turned out.

I may make one for each of my sons to keep in their rooms but to be honest, it would probably end up under their beds or they'd step on them and smash them....they do stuff like that. It's in their nature. 🤣

Now, for the rest of the team's amazing thrifty style shares!