Call me crazy...

Do you save your User Manuals for different items you purchase?

I am anal about this. Thankfully my better half has been threatened into submission enough about these must-save gems, that it is automatic for him to now file product manuals when they are done being thumbed through.

How anal you ask?

Hole punched, three ring binder, color coded dividers for each product, date-of-purchase written on the family calendar each year- Anal.

It’s a sickness, I know. I inherited it from my grandmother. She used to write the date on tiny pieces of paper and tape them to the batteries that she would change out of her remote controls, so that she could satisfy her curiosity when she had to replace them again. Do you need to know the anniversary date in which your pinky finger was operated on in 1984? It was written and carried over on her wall calendar every year. How about the day you purchased that coffee grinder? Yep, that’s there too.

You see, I can’t help it. I must save the manuals, and date stuff. Do you know how many times we have referred back to a user manual for an electronic, complex toy or the like? Do you really know what all the settings on your high-tech GE Harmony washer-that-talks-to-your-dryer do? I didn’t think so.

But when we need to reference or troubleshoot, behold the giant purple binder…


For instance, each winter when we want to use the fireplace, we can never remember which button and valve goes which way on the gas line so the fire will start. It’s almost that time of year again. This is a pain, I miss my wood-burning fireplace from my old house. The cords of wood delivered and stacked just-so outside the house. But that is what new construction gives you – fancy gas burning logs – fake fire as I like to call it. Anyway, since this fireplace does not require matches, kindling and opening a flue, we need the manual every year.


Did you forget which way your kid’s 100 piece Matchbox race track design is set up after you’ve cleaned it up? No worries the next time – the giant purple binder is at your service!

Does the automatic garage door tension need to be tweaked again? Gotcha covered!

How about that remote control code that you use to program your new Does It All remote-from-hell with the 10 million buttons on it? Do you remember the right code to reprogram it after your toddler gets her hands on it then frantically pushes buttons while you’re coming towards her to get it back?

Oh sorry, I was wrapped up in a flashback for a moment...

No problem – that code was written down on the front cover of the user manual for just those occasions by an anal homeowner. Just follow the tab labeled Remote Controls and your TV remote is back in business!

What brought me to thinking about this particular quirk about myself on this day? I had thoughts of my late grandmother today while tearing a piece of plastic wrap from the roll. I purchase the giant roll at Costco so I don’t have to keep buying it. And it lasts for years. Seriously.

When I tore a piece off, I glanced at this and thought of her…

Yes, she even taught me to date the plastic wrap to see how long it lasts! C’mon, 3000 ft. of wrap is going to take a while to get through! In fact, I’ll let you know just how long it took when I am ready to buy my next roll.

Probably sometime in the year 2010… call me crazy, but I will have the exact date in fact, don’t you worry....