How to Keep Your Devices Manuals

When we bought appliances or devices or gadget, they come with packaging and manuals. I used to keep all those packages, considering that if I ever have to sell them, I will get better prices if they come with their original boxes. The I realized that I have never sold any of my gadgets, I just gave them away to our helpers who rarely asked where is the original packaging. I then made up my mind that I will not keep those boxes anymore since they tend to pile up everywhere around the house and gather all that nasty dust.

But I think it is a different story when it comes to the manuals and the warranty cards. I collect them in case I need to find some information regarding the appliances or the gadgets. We do not have many things that come with manuals and cards so I still save them in the plastic pocket like so.

The plastic pocket to hold all my manuals and warranty cards

If the pockets become inadequate, we will categorize the manuals.
Since we do not have many, this is sufficient for the moment

Since our working area has not completely done, I keep this pocket in the cabinet in our bedroom, along with my paper stock, my Project Life items, and the expandable plastic folders that keeps the copies of our important documents.

I also try to find the soft copy version of the manuals. So far, I have only collected four which are the manuals for my cameras, for the new fridge, and the iron.

I put the manuals in my IBook for easy read

Should the manuals adding up, then I will consider to have them categorized. At the time being, i find this system serves us just fine.

And The Winner Is

Before moving to the new house, I have shared with you the home appliances I intended to buy here. In the end, these are the things that made it into our home.

It turns out that we did not need to purchase a new microwave since my mother-in-law gave us one as a gift. This saves us a lot. (Thanks, Mom!) I like the white color it brings in front of our brick wall although this is actually an old model. You can tell from the turn knob.

So far we do not have a problem with this baby. We use it only to warm our meal. 

As for the rice cooker, you know I really dislike how most home appliances look here. They look as if they are all made from plastic. The flowery pattern and the bright color just does not meet my taste. I have narrowed down my choices and already decided where I will but it from based on the above table. I changed my mind once I found this one.

http://www.starcosmosgroup.com
(I think the manufacturer should improve their product image, seriously)

Since I do not need any fancy feature and I dislike any pattern on my home appliances, this seems to be the perfect choice. It does what a magic com should, it cooks rice and it keeps them warm. That's it. No fuss.

I intended to buy it on-line but in the end, due to my procrastinating habit, I ended up buying this baby from one of our local supermarket. One online shop is running out of stock, the other has two weeks delivery time. Price difference is around IDR 85,000

Cook or warm, that simple

Excuse the 'blah' image, I tried to fancy it up a bit, but somehow it just did not work

We have not yet buy either kettle nor toaster. I am now considering whether or not we need the kettle since these days I cannot see any kettle features that may benefit us. Toaster will probably serves us better. 

What do you think? 

A Little Change of Plan

I have posted earlier the water dispenser I wish to purchase and the comparison I made. You can read it here. 

Last night my husband assessed our inventory and we realized that we already have two units of fridge. The new one certainly goes to the kitchen and the old one goes to the second floor. We have not yet determined whether we wanted to put the old fridge in the kids room or we want to have it in ours. We bought that fridge right after I gave birth to my eldest daughter. Its main purpose is to store my expressed milk and after 6 months, I also store the baby food there too. 

Anyway, I am preparing to buy a smaller unit of water dispenser and this is the comparison I made so far. 

The table has more items because I found that there were more option from local brand with a very reasonable price for top loading water dispenser. I actually would like to compare more than what I already put in the table but I don't want to confuse myself in the end so I settle with these five options. Can you guess which one I am aiming for?

And Today I Decided to Buy This

When you deal with domestic helpers, it is no wonder that you will face some silly domestic conflict. Mine starts a couple of days ago and in order to settle this ridiculous matter, today I bring home this baby.

www.philips.co.my - Philips HD1172

Again, this is a buying with impulse, because I need it right away and we were happen to be going to a mall where they have an electronic & appliances store. 

I bought it merely because the others looks too colorful for my taste and it looks like they were all made of plastic. This one has a graphite plastic handle which made the total look is forgivable. I bought it for IDR 220,500

www.philips.co.my - Philips HD1172

If you check to this site, the product feature is described as follows:

Easy gliding on all fabrics

• Non-stick sole-plate coating - The soleplate of your Philips iron is coated with a special non-stick layer for good gliding performance on all fabrics.

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Reaches into tricky areas

• Button groove speeds up ironing along buttons and seams - The button groove makes ironing along buttons and seams fast and easy.
• Pointed tip for ironing tricky areas - The uniquely pointed tip allows you to iron even the hardest to reach areas.

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Full control

• Iron temperature-ready light - Indicator light goes off when the required ironing temperature has been reached.

When I was in the store trying to make up my mind, the other one I was also considering is one from Electrolux. 

www.electrolux.co.id - EDI 120

This one is cheaper IDR 204,000 but I really cannot get over the blue plastic plate which is not any better from the rest of the iron the store is displaying. Even the steam iron which cost double from the one I bought comes in those plastic look. These household manufacturers better come up with a better product design in the future, don't you think?

Colorful plastic  dry iron, I can not get over the look. Seriously?

Upcoming Appliances

Still in the subject of house appliances, from this site I still have to purchase the following items :

II. Counter-top Appliances and Accessories

www.shutterstock.com

1. Toaster or toaster oven

2. Mixer

3. Coffee maker

4. Kettle

I find the list is not really applicable since I do believe we can use rice cooker (or magic jar or magic com as you may call it) more than we use toaster.

I really dislike the look of rice cooker and its kind, with the flower or the ornament along the appliances body. I settle with one in a bold color if we cannot get anything in white or stainless steel finish.

And as we hardly ever use mixer, we might as well buy a kettle first before buying a mixer or a coffee maker.

So I come up with a new list that is more suitable to our needs and budget, which are :

1. Rice cooker / magic jar / magic com

www.aroma-housewares.com - Aroma 20-Cup Digital Rice Cooker & Food Steamer

P.S I have no idea where to but an Aroma house ware in Jakarta, I put the image above because the item looks good. Why can't the local brand here make one looks like that? Or the very least, having a worthy product photography.

For purchasing this items, I'm preparing the following table:

My guidelines in buying rice cooker / magic com, sources mentioned above

2. Kettle 

www.electrolux.co.id - Electric Kettle EEK 3100

image source www.phillips.co.id

3. Microwave

Price source mentioned above, image source from each brand (www.sharp-indonesia.com & www.panasonic.com)

I think there is a pretty good chance I am going to buy all my necessities to one of the price source mentioned above because it has the best bargain

4. Toaster (if budget permits)

I know that sometimes images from each brand or manufacturer do not represent the real items since they may have photoshop-ed the image to make it look more appealing. Hey, they have to make a sell, right? How can I not wanting something like this in our kitchen :

www.uncrate.com - The Egg & Muffin Toaster 

I will skip the small appliances like cooking implements, kitchen utensils and tools, tableware, and bake-ware, and goes straight to :

III. Floor Care and Cleaning Items

1. Vacuum cleaner

When we found bumps on baby Rachel, we suspected there was bugs, mites, dust, you name it, all those nasty things on our spring bed. My husband settled for this vacuum :

www.raycop-europe.com

Although I was not familiar with the brand, when they claim that they are the first anti-bacterial cleaner that kills between 93.5% to 99% viruses and bacteria, well, I'm sold. Anything to protect your baby's skin, right. 

This vacuum is hand-held, thus make it quite difficult to cleanse other than mattresses, pillows, and upholstered furniture. Should we find spare in our budget, I would like to have this baby :

www.newsroom.electrolux.com

I have seen my in-law uses this baby and I find it quite helpful. I have read the review in Amazon where most people find the battery disappointing. Like I said, only if we have spare budget.

2. Broom and dustpan

3. Floor mop, scrub pail, scrub brush, and cleaning rags

For the last two items, I think I just go with whatever products available. What is important though is how we are going to keep them nice and tidy like this : 

I'm terribly sorry I forget where I download the above image. I saved it to my IPad and totally forget to take note. Please confirm should the image has copyright

And for the small cleaning items, the following images of cleaning caddy should be very inspiring.

http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com

Wish me luck on the new house, guys!

Coming Soon

Just like any owner of a new house, we are now trying to furnish ours. My husband already bought us some appliances like water heater, kitchen hob and its exhaust, and some other things that I don't even think I have seen yet. But I'm pretty certain that we still have a few items we need to purchase before we can actually run a household.

Since we're on a budget, I think we need to learn what is the basic home appliances we need to have so we can prioritize our purchase. I googled around and find this list from this website.

I. Major appliances 

1. Refrigerator
2. Stove or cooking range
3. Microwave
4. Laundry appliances

I opt to leave out the last two appliances which are freezer, which buying a separate freezer from a refrigerator is really not an option for us and dishwasher, which is not commonly used here. 

Here are what we bought for now :

www.samsung.com - Samsung Refrigerator RT32FARCDSA

We bought the fridge because my husband like the recessed handle and he thinks that the price still fit our budget. I personally think that I was not ready to spend that much on a fridge but since we are going to locate this fridge in a place that is noticeable from all angle in the first floor of our house, my husband, who happens to be the interior designer of our house (deh) consider that this is an appropriate choice. The recessed handle does make the fridge look more modern with its smooth metal graphite finish. 

www.samsung.com - Samsung Refrigerator RT32FARCDSA

With that baby, comes along this one :

www.electrolux.co.id - Electrolux Washing Machines EWT704S

I wish I can tell you guys that I have done deep research on those two products and both that we have purchased are the ones I see fit to our requirements and budget. No, I did not do any research at all before purchasing those two babies. For something that is considerably costly, I think I should have done better. 

That is why for my next purchase of home appliances, I made this table like this one :

Comparison table for buying guide 

Hopefully I will have the time and energy to make such comparison for other purchase we are planning to make for our house.