"We found one product that can organize all those cables," says Jeremiah Driansky, Test Engineer, Good Housekeeping Institute. "First you mount the product to the back of your entertainment center and then you feed the cords in through the top of the product, wrap them around the plastic columns within the product to shorten the cords and then run them out the bottom. This makes each cord the perfect length so you don’t have any extra cord lying around creating a big mess."

Another way to tackle the tangle around the living room is with something called Roundit Two Thousand. "The Roundit 2,000 bundles several cords together and protects them and keeps them organized," Driansky explains. "The Roundit 2,000 is also heat resistant to over 200 degrees farenheit so it won’t melt or burn if the cords get too hot because they’re overloaded, adding another level of safety."

And even the littlest cords can be made to behave. "The Cable Turtle is a great solution. It opens up by unfolding. You wrap the cord around the product to shorten it to the perfect length and then you encapsulate it by folding it back down onto the cord," says Driansky.

The Good Housekeeping Research Institute tested 14 cord-control products to come up with its winners. They cost between $1.50 a foot and $29.99. The cord-spool products like Cable Turtle were the easiest to use. To learn more, check out the September issue of Good Housekeeping or visit www.goodhousekeeping.com.