UniKeep Home Owner Organization Tips
Project no: 015

It may be the American dream to own your own home, but everyone who has ever made a mortgage payment, or rent payment for that matter, knows that home maintenance can often seem like a nightmare. Add to that the tangle of insurance and the myriad appliances and electronic devices that make our homes our castles, and you can easily become mired at the bottom of a money pit buried in home owner documentation

Keep everything in one place. Most people don’t actually think about home maintenance every day. When repairs or purchases are made, it is often in an emergency situation. Important documents like receipts and warranties may be grouped together, but they don’t always get filed the same place as the receipts from the last purchase. Decide where you will keep EVERYTHING and make sure you do. The kitchen desk or home office are often good choices as they are either close to where most products are used, where emergency calls are made, or where the invoices are ultimately paid.

Organize in advance. By taking the time to designate a place and a system for organizing important documents, you will actually save time and headaches later when you need to know if a product or service is covered by a warranty or whether you have one more house call left on the carpet care plan you purchased six months ago. An efficient system makes it easy to file documents and find phone numbers no matter how much of a rush you are in.

UniKeep offers an easy way to organize these important documents for long-term storage and easy retrieval. The fully enclosed cases keep everything together and the durable poly rings add efficient organization with a range of accessories. Even if you don’t take time to put the receipt in the right pocket or compartment, it can be safely contained and you have significantly reduced your search area when you need to find the purchase date.

How you use this information is often the best guide for how to organize it.

Organize by product group. Most homeowner information can be categorized into three broad product groups and stored efficiently in a three-compartment UniKeep Extreme 4.5 Case Binder. Each group encompasses a wide range of individual products, but each group tends to have similar types of information that is received, filed and referenced.

Appliances include anything that is mechanical within the house and requires a power source to operate. Electronics include all entertainment systems from large to portable. For both groups, documents to keep include the product instruction manual and parts list, manufacturer’s warranty information, invoice or receipt with date of purchase and retailer contact information. The difference is often where to go for repairs. Appliances may require a house call from a service technician. Electronics often must be returned to the manufacturer or designated facility for repair.

Maintenance includes repairs or improvements made to the structure or land such as new carpet, remodeling or landscaping. Items to keep include the original plan and estimate, invoices for down payments, completed or installed work and product warranties from both the manufacturer and installer. Organized information can be especially helpful in preparation for an accurate appraisal or in marketing your home to potential buyers. By documenting improvements and repairs, you provide additional value.

Organize by document type. An alternative filing system is to file Receipts, Warranties and Manuals for all of the product s grouped together in the separate compartment of the UniKeep Extreme 4.5. For example, receipts for all products in one file, while all manuals in another.

You may also choose to set up individual binders for insurance documents, utilities bills, and banking statements and account information.

Organize by date. If you prefer chronological order, you may wish to file household document or financial statements by date, grouped according to purchase or activity by year.

Organize by function. Individual UniKeep Case Binders are great ways to organize your desk and encourage privacy by grouping current bills or items that need attention in one, paid bills or items ready to file in another, and documents to shred in a third.

Other tips for home owner organization:

• Write the date of purchase on the product or service manual as you file it away OR staple the receipt directly to the booklet.

• Use adhesive business card pockets to attach the technician’s or contractor’s card to the UniKeep binder cover or manual cover.

• Add a media disc page or single disc adhesive pocket for electronics and service manuals that are provided on a CD or DVD.

• UniKeep binder pockets and tabbed pockets easily organize loose sheets and quick reference guides.

Home Owner documents to include in your files:

Things to consider when setting up your files:
Adhesive address labels are easy to format and print from your own computer as labels for your binders. All of the label files are available online at www.unikeep.com. You can write contact information in the covers provided in your kit, or you can download and edit the Microsoft Word files with your individual information. Don’t forget to save the file to your local hard disk to save your additions.