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Here’s how I organize all of my warranties, manuals, and big-ticket (aka expensive purchases!) receipts. I don’t keep ALL of my receipts in here, only expensive items that I might return, need to show proof, might break, or sell one day. Small purchase receipts are kept somewhere else. A lot of warranties and manuals can be downloaded online (and thus the physical manual can probably be chucked or recycled), however, I’m still stuck in the stone age and prefer “physical” paper I can see, touch, and hold 🙂

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Video Details

Hi everyone. It’s Alejandra. And in this video, I’m going to share with you guys how to organize all of your warranties, your manuals, and all of your big ticket receipts that you have maybe on your home office desk or on the floor or maybe they’re already in the filing cabinet or maybe they’re in a random pile in a random corner somewhere in the house. Either way, I’m going to show you an easy way to do it, something that doesn’t take a lot of time to set up and it’s inexpensive to buy some of the supplies.

How to Organize Warranties, Manuals & Receipts

So let me grab the camera and show you guys exactly what I’ve done. OK. So these are my warranty and manual binders and I have two of them. So let me quickly explain why I have two of them. So this one right here, this is the warranty and manual binder that has stuff that comes with the house. So when I move from the current house I’m living in, I’m going to give these warranties and manuals to the new homeowner. I’m not going to take them to my new house with me because the stuff inside the binder is stuff that I’m going to leave in the house. So that includes like the refrigerator, the washer and dryer, the oven like I’m not going to take that to my new house. In some cases, some people might do that. So if that’s the case, you wouldn’t keep that stuff inside this binder.

How to Organize Warranties, Manuals & Receipts

How to Organize Warranties, Manuals & Receipts


The other reason why I have two binders is because the binders are pretty thick like that one is a 3-inch binder and that one is a 2-inch binder. So I didn’t want to have one really thick binder that was overflowing. I want to break it down into two categories. So again, this is stuff that stays in the house when I move to the new house and I’m just going to give this to the new homeowner or whoever is moving in or moving back in.

Organizing Important Documents in Binders

So this binder right here is warranties, manuals, and also big ticket receipts of expensive stuff I buy. So that includes like gadgets like a camera, your new computers, kitchen appliances like an expensive blender you might buy or a mixer or a toaster, what else does it include, furniture so like maybe a mattress, a sofa, or artwork, expensive art that you buy, beauty so that might be like in there I have my flat iron, I have – what else do I have? I can’t remember. And then there is like phone so like your cell phone or your home phone and then sporting stuff so like your new bike or any kind of sports equipment that’s really expensive to buy.

So now that you understand why I have two binders, let me quickly explain how I set it up, what kind of supplies I used, and I why I choose what I chose. OK. So let’s take a closer look at my warranties, manual, and big ticket receipt binder. First off, I just want to say doesn’t it just look really organized? I’m really happy the way it turned out. I did this project last week and after I did it, I just kept telling Ed that I was so happy the way it turned out. It just looks really organized and when you go like this, like shake the binder or turn it upside down, small papers, small receipts, nothing comes out. So it functions really nicely while all looking really organized.

Using Binder Pockets to Organize Warranties & Manuals

So let’s take a look and see what I used inside. So, I used these poly envelope pockets that are made for binders because they have holes in them. Now, they are very different from your traditional sheet protector that some people might use to organize all of their warranties and binders.

Now, I’m not saying that sheet protectors are the wrong things to use or aren’t good. What I am saying is that I showed one here because I want to show you guys the difference. Sheet protectors are made to hold one sheet of paper. They’re not made to hold a little booklet or like 20 pages. And if you ask why and let me show you the difference here. When you turn this page like it doesn’t turn very nicely like the booklet might fall out. It doesn’t have a closing or it doesn’t like zip or clasp or whatever up at the very top.

So when you – if you go like that or you go like that, something could fall out of the binder. So again, sheet protectors are made to hold one sheet of paper, not a booklet. Now, I mentioned that because I used to travel to people’s homes and a lot of people were organizing their warranties and manuals in sheet protectors.

So moving on, so these are made by Staples. I have an extra one here to show you guys. They’re made by Staples. They’re Staples brand. They’re called Binder Pockets and they hold up to 200 sheets of paper. They have a nice Velcro clasp up here so once you’re done putting your papers inside, you close it and nothing is going to fall out. And they have binder holes, perfect for a binder. So I love these. These are awesome. And so yes, so that’s what I used.

So what I have inside, let me show you what I do here. Every time I buy something expensive, this is the receipt from my GPS in my car. Whenever I buy something expensive, if I get a warranty or there’s a manual or there is some kind of paper that I need to keep to access later in case something happens, I will just staple the original receipt to the warranty. In this case, this is the Best Buy warranty. So I just took the receipt, stapled it, and then I put it inside of my gadget folder. So if there is some problem down the road, since it was an expensive purchase I would just come to this folder and easily find exactly what I’m looking for. So it’s the same thing with other things in every pocket here.

How to Organize Warranties, Manuals & Receipts

How to Label Binder Pockets

And then these since these don’t have like dividers and also, since these are extra wide, if you had a traditional divider, it would just be covered by the pocket folder. So what I’ve done here is I’ve used these little, they are called, they are filing tabs. They are little stickies made by Post-it Notes. I just stuck them to the top of the poly envelope. I kind of put them next to each other. And then I just took my label maker and I used a clear tape to label the category of what’s inside the poly envelope.

So a combination of a Staples envelope plus Post-it Note filing tabs plus my label maker plus the only binders that I use, I did a whole video on my favorite binders, they are made by Staples. They come in every size and every color and they now actually have designs because I guess the binders are so popular. So yeah, so binder, filing tab, envelope, and you have yourself a nice warranty and manual binder where nothing is going to fall out because the envelopes are closed. It looks very organized. It’s very contained and it’s very obvious where to find a receipt or where to find a warranty or manual if something breaks or something needs to be fixed.

Something else I love about these poly envelopes is how easy they are to turn. Like there is probably about maybe like 15 pages inside of this poly envelope and I just simply turn it and it turns so easily like nothing – it doesn’t turn like the sheet protectors turn. It just turns very easily.

OK. So that’s how I’m organizing all of my warranties, my manuals, and my big ticket receipts. It’s pretty simple to do. It doesn’t take a lot of time and it’s not too expensive to set up. If there is a different way that you organize your warranties and manuals and you want to let us know or you want to show us, leave a comment below, let us know or create a video response and let us see exactly what you do. That’s all I have for you guys. I will see you guys soon. Bye!

About Alejandra

About Alejandra

Since 2008, organizing expert & certified life coach, Alejandra Costello has taught thousands of students in 132 countries how to get organized through her video-based training programs. Her YouTube videos have been viewed 100+ million times. Named 1 of the 5 most organized people in America by HGTV and “The Decluttering Queen” by Good Morning America, Alejandra’s expertise has been featured in The New York Times, Oprah.com, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Woman’s Day, Parents Magazine, and CBS. 

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