Billy Wetterer: Search for old instruction manual leads to messy office

"Can you find the instruction manual for the old riding lawn mower?" my husband asked.

"Sure," I responded, "I just put it in the file cabinet this morning."

When I handed him the instruction/maintenance manual for the mower, he looked at it and said, "No, not this one, the old Montgomery Ward mower."

"Why do you want that? I didn't think we even had that mower anymore," I said as I headed for the file cabinet.

My husband explained that a man from Shelton wanted to buy the old mower and would like to have the manual that goes with it -- if we had it.

"I'm sure we have it," I said as I began to pull file folders from the cabinet. "Here it is."

By this time, the top of my desk was piled high with file folders containing instruction manuals and other bits of information about things we have purchased through the years.

"Joe will be surprised that we still have this," my husband said as he walked out the door.

Me, too, I thought as I looked at the mess on my desk.

For months I've been trying to sort out and pitch stuff we no longer want or need but have been ignoring that file drawer. What on earth have I been saving?

For some of this stuff, my husband the gardener will have to make the decision about what to pitch and what to keep. The files include maintenance and instruction manuals for garden equipment such as a couple of rototillers, a garden seeder and other things to make gardening easier.

The drawer includes manuals for farm and shop equipment, most of which we still have so that's not a problem.

And then there are files containing information about appliances such as the refrigerator, freezer, washer and dryer, kitchen range and television sets. The date of purchase is written on the folder. Has it really been 16 years since we bought the refrigerator and 15 years since the washer and dryer were new?

If our country's economy depended on the spending habits of people like us, we would be in even deeper trouble. Our air conditioner was purchased in 1990 (that long ago?) and the sales ticket for our major television set shows it was bought in 1995. It still works just fine.

There are little things that really clutter up the file cabinet such as the instructions for installing the lazy Susan in our kitchen cabinets and instructions for putting up the curtains we have in the sun porch. I won't even tell you the date I bought those. Well, I've shopped for new ones but haven't found any I like better.

I laughed when I found the booklet that came with the Singer portable typewriter I bought more than 40 years ago. Another booklet, "Type Right Away!" includes information about the inventor of the typewriter. The typing instructions are very detailed. Maybe I should have studied it more before I got caught up in the computer craze. More about that another time.

Instruction and maintenance manuals for the computer are kept in a separate drawer. I know where they are because I need them often.

That's just the beginning of what I have saved over the years. Will I ever need the information? Probably not. Some of it will get pitched instead of being filed again. On the other hand, one never knows what information may come in handy so you can be sure I won't pitch anything I might need.

For now, the file drawer is empty and my office is more cluttered than usual.

Billy Wetterer writes a weekly column for The Independent. E-mail her at billybillw@aol.com.