Keeping Manuals Organized

Veering away from design today to give you a project to work on while it’s so cold (why is this happening so early??) outside!  So let’s talk about managing all of those large manuals that come with every gadget you have in your home.  Exciting, right?  And, yes I know you can access most manuals online these days but I think it’s easier to have the original manual so you have the exact model number of your product and it’s so much quicker to access your own manual (if you can find it!) than searching online.  Also, if you ever go to sell the product the buyer will be happy you have the manual to go along with it.

I use two binders to orgainze all of my manuals.  The first one is my Home Maintenance binder which contains all things related to the home that will stay with the home if we were ever to sell, such as:  dishwasher, oven, furnace, etc.   The second binder labeled, Home Receipts holds all of the warranties/receipts that are items we have purchased such as: electronics, furniture and other personal items.

Both binders are broken down into categories labeled with tabs and clear plastic sleeves behind each tab with the manuals inserted.  This makes it easy to find the manual/receipt I am looking for quickly.

Behind the category tab I break it down even further on the front of the plastic sleeve so I can see what each sleeve holds. And let’s face it, there is nothing I enjoy more than using my label maker!   There is no rhyme or reason as to what things go together in the plastic sleeve, I just keep each sleeve about the same thickness.

My home maintenance binder looks the same inside but each plastic sleeve usually contains one manual since the manuals seem to be bigger and thicker.

I’ve also added one more document to my Home Maintenance binder that I think any future homeowner of our home would be thrilled to have.  In the front of this binder, I have an excel spreadsheet that documents every update, repair or regular maintenance we have done to our home.   It’s a very simple spreadsheet with the date on the left, followed by a brief description of the update and who did the job, and then the far right hand colum is where I included the cost of the repair/update.

It’s also been super helpful to take a look and know when I last had a carpet cleaning, walls painted or furnace cleaning. I came up with this idea four years ago when we moved into our home.  Since I’m primarily the one that arranges for work to be done (thanks to my hubby being at work all day!) I needed to keep track of what they said they were going to do and what work was completed so that when the same problem happens six months later (this has indeed happened) I could pull out my binder and see exactly what was done.  In the sleeves behind this spreadsheet I also store all of the receipts of the repair/updates.

I’m hoping this will help sell our home someday when the future buyer can look at the spreadsheet and know that we maintained our home and have the records to prove it!