Here's a nifty thing we found at the Minnesota State Fair:
(click to embiggen)
It's called a "Cord Pro" and it lets you wind up a hose or cable and then unwind it without kinks. Works like a champ. I think I paid around $35 for the two of these. Even wound up I can get water through the hose, so I don't have to unwind the whole thing. This let me get rid of a storage tub!
Shop around at places like Amazon... you can get them there. Here's the company web site:
I doubt you can do it with a water hose, but for the cords, wind them in the same direction. You can just pull one end of the cord and it will unwind itself, then.
The big one worked fine for the water hose. Like I said... water even flowed through it whilst on the reel. OPPOSITE winding for the hose SAME WAY for the wire.