I have frequently suffered from the attentions of the cable fairy, so I certainly won't deny her existence. (Then again, is it perhaps bad luck to mention her by name rather than by euphenism?)

I agree that coiling is preferable to folding and/or knotting, at least for cables that are to be used and stored repeatedly.

I'm not sure what kind of cable ties previous posters have in mind for keeping cables done up. Those that come with cables are usually the kind consisting of a thin steel wire inside a flat plastic strip, which I call "twisties". They are very convenient, but I try not to leave any lying round loose in my house lest my cats try to eat them, and the same with rubber bands.

I favour ty-wraps (which I think may be a brand name that has become generic, like "Hoover"): either the single-use kind or reusable ones like these.

Richard