If you’re one of those people who has collected several living room-based electrical devices over the years, you’ll know just how cluttered things can get with so many remote controls vying for space on the coffee table. With separate controllers for each appliance, things can quickly get overbearing – and how many times have you been able to find every single remote except the specific one you’re looking for? It’s frustrating to say the least.

One solution is to look into the possibility of picking up a universal remote control to streamline the way you control your appliances. These devices can be programmed to control each of your individual entertainment systems, meaning that you can safely pack away all of your existing remotes and rely on just one piece of kit.

Universal remotes are compatible with all sorts of appliances such as your plasma or LCD TV, hi-fi system, DVD or Blu-ray player, hard drive recorder and so on. Some will even be able to control mp3 players plugged into a special dock, so if you like to use your IPod nano , for instance, as your main music centre then your new remote can cover that too. On the downside, cost can be an issue. If you tend to buy all of your electrical appliances from within the same brand than a low-end universal remote should be able to do the job for you but if your goods sport several different brands then you may be better off with a more advanced model – and that can come at a cost. As with any relatively expensive purchase, be sure to read up on the specific model you’re looking at so that you’re 100% sure it will work with everything you need it to – generally the more top-end devices will be fine with anything you throw at it but it’s always good to check just in case.

Universal remotes are a wonderful invention but they do require you to be mildly tech-savvy as they do require some initial programming from the user in order to set them up to interact with the different machines. Not ideal if you’re something of a technophobe. If you’d rather just be able to pick up your remote, point it at the screen and go – straight out of the box – then perhaps this isn’t for you. That said, the best universal remotes come with simple instructions that should guide you through the process without any issues. It’s perhaps best to look online for customer reviews to see how ‘real people’ have got on with their new remote, rather than trusting the marketing blurb on the box.

If you’re a gadget freak and like the idea of a universal remote, you may even want to up your budget and look into all-singing, all-dancing touch screen versions, which, although expensive, offer great functionality. Alternatively, if you already own a smartphone or a tablet computer like an iPad then take a look at the available solutions for those devices – downloadable apps or dongle-based systems can turn your existing touch-screen device into a highly customisable universal remote control. The best thing about going down that route is that you’re already completely familiar with how to work your phone or tablet, so there’ll be no need for that ‘bedding in’ period normally needed with a new remote to allow your muscle memory to develop.