tip from a roadie
If you have driven by, you may have noticed that the extension cord is in the form of a chain stitch from crochet. A roadie taught me this.
If you are not familiar with concert culture, a roadie is a person who travels along with performers to handle their technological needs. Sound, lights, etc.
He did not describe this as a chain stitch but I recognized it right away when he showed me. Storing your cords like this keeps them from getting tangled, from flopping everywhere. The cord becomes easy to pick up and put down and shove into a corner and pull back out of the corner. You can deploy as much as you want from the chain stitch without having to deploy all of it. Sometimes when you coil cord and you start to deploy it, it all comes uncoiled. And you deploy it merely by pulling on it and letting it unchain itself.
I have further refined this approach by starting in the middle and then doing a chain stitch towards each end. I find it handier to deploy towards the outlet and also deploy towards the equipment. And then rechain them after it's all over.