Paul__B:
Well, there is of course - you have to use a shift register on a piece of stripboard next to the relay board, reduces the cable to five wires - Gnd, Vcc, Clk, Data, Latch.
Hey, hey, tell me about it please.
They do seem like what I want, would I have to alter my code much?
What would you say the level of difficulty is to get this working?
It's pretty straightforward.
The code is not too difficult, can use the ShiftOut library function, I prefer to roll my own.
Thanks for that diagram, I'll file it for another day. I did read up on it and watch some videos and it is a cool chip however after much thought I decide I'll put up with the 9th wire. I was also thinking going wireless using IR, xBee or RF but reliability will likely always be a problem. RF sounds the most promising but maybe on another project. I've been working on this project, my first, for over 2 months now and probably best to finish it up or it will become something that never gets done, plus I have other projects I want to start. 
I also don't really want to redo all my code for power. I'm at 243kb for my sketch size so I'm almost out of memory and still need to add stuff. I know it could be half the size or better if written properly but its runs really nice.
I am happy to know it can be done with 5 wires, I had a feeling somebody sometime said "that's too much wire", lol :).
Just bear in mind.
RF may be convenient - sometimes - but one thing it is not - reliable.
If reliability is any significant part of the specification, "lose" RF connectivity.