Organizing manuals, related warranties and receipts together in a 3 ring binder is extremely useful. First, this provides easy accessibility. Second, it saves you money because this paperwork gives you important information for maintenance and repair of your appliance. This will also add value if you sell an appliance.
Gather manuals for all your appliances and electronics, big and small, like furnace, air conditioner, washer/dryer, refrigerator, range, dishwasher, food processor, mixer/blender, spice grinder, coffee maker, televisions, computers, cell phones, tablets, watches, lawn mowers, snow throwers, tools and so on.
Throw away manuals for appliances you no longer own.
Categorize the manuals by room (living room, kitchen, home theatre, utility room, laundry room, garage etc.).
It is a good idea to keep the receipt and warranty cards along with the manual. If you purchased extended warranties for any item, keep that information and the receipt along with the manual. This way if you have any questions regarding a particular product, you can quickly find out whom to call. Also it will be easy to find operating instructions about the TV/computer when you want to connect a new device to it.
Similarly, if you need information about the maintenance schedule or spare parts for your furnace, air conditioner, air exchanger etc. all you need to do is to take the appliance binder, go to the utility section and voilà there it is. This could be done in less than a minute instead of wasting time looking for the manual. You can also save money on repairs if you do the necessary maintenance.
Use sheet protectors to store the manuals, warranty information and receipts for each appliance together so that you don’t have to punch holes in them.
3 ring binders are great for organizing manuals. Depending on the number of appliances you have, you can get a 2”, 3” or 4” binder. Arrange the manuals in the binder by alphabetical order starting with the room first and then the appliances within each room. Use divider tabs to separate and label each room of the house.
You can use separate binders for your indoor and outdoor appliances if you prefer. Keep the binder for outdoor appliances and tools in the garage shelf. This will be helpful if you need to quickly refer the type/volume of oil for your lawn mover or snow thrower.
Having a manual will also be of great help to the buyer when you sell a used item. And if you are selling your house, the buyer will appreciate the manuals for all the appliances.
Assign a shelf in your bookshelf for the binders.
Similarly keeping the assembly instructions for furniture in a separate binder will help if you want to reassemble it after taking it apart for moving.
Maintain the results of your organization. When you get a new appliance, put the manual, warranty and receipt together in a sheet protector and put it in its appropriate place in the manual binder right away.
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