DIY under desk cable management tray for under NZ $10

A couple of years ago or so, we set up a home office to be used for day job working from home and side hustle work. This meant getting furniture, some hardware, equipment and some tinkering to get it working just right. One thing that we left ’till later’ was an under desk cable management tray or anything to organise the mess of cables.

Having a mess of cables sitting on the floor beside or under the desk was something that we put up with for a while but wasn’t ideal. To add to that, cables under the desk is a safety hazard. We just couldn’t find a way of hiding away the cables neatly and safely.

When we got to the point of finally looking for a solution, an online search returned results ranging from $2 AliExpress items through to about $60 OfficeMax/TheMarket items. There are also overseas options such as the Scandinavian hub Under Desk Cable Tray on Amazon. But, overseas options come at a cost when you factor in shipping.

We were just about to settle on a OE Elsafe Prodigy Cable Basket Single Tier 750mm White from OfficeMax for $37.38. But, buying it, I wondered if there was a cheaper option out there. The original search then extended to DIY options on Google images and Pinterest. It’s at this point that I came across people who using basic wire baskets hung under desks or fixed under a desk in some way shape form.

The plan was now to look for a unit to easily attach to the desk modesty panel. This lead to a trip to Mitre10 and Bunnings to see what basket options they had. Whilst slowly walking through Bunnings, I came across a spice shelf (or shelf as they have it listed) that looked like it would do the trick.

Measuring 38.5×10.5×7, the spice rack was just the right size to hold a powerboard and tuck some cabling into.

Attaching DIY under desk cable tray attachment

Attaching the spice shelf to the desk was a quick and easy process. Tools needed for the job included a drill, appropriately sized drill bit and phillips head screwdriver and 2 x 15mm screws.

Side note: our desk is 25mm thick and the screws that came with rack were about that length too. This meant buying screws that weren’t going to go through the desk. Zenith 6G x 15mm Zinc Plated Sheet Metal Screw – 40 Pack ($5.10 at Bunnings) (that’s 12.75c per screw).

From there, it was a matter of following a step by step process as per below:

1. mark out where to place the tray
2. mark out screw holes
3. drill screw holes
4. screw unit into place with screwdriver

The end result:

So there you have it. That is our DIY under desk cable management solution for under $10. A little thinking outside the box lead to a saving of a few dollars to put towards the future.

This action resulted in saving some money. Instead of spending it, it will be split between regular savings and investing (and putting it to work!). I invest through Sharesies (sign up today and get $5 to get you started) and Kernel Wealth. 🥂 to our financial future!