HOW CUTE IS THIS FAN? I found it in some rich lady’s hobby vintage shop a few years ago. It was surrounded by a lot of very ambitiously-priced milk glass and crusty old crochet blankets, but for some reason they were only asking $15 for it. Score! I’m very proud of the fact that I used it all summer and only got my fingers caught in the blades twice. (Very painful btw. I’m not sure how so many children made it out of the 60’s with all ten fingers.) After many months of cool breezes and almost no life-threatening injuries, I went to unplug it and the plug popped right off the cord. Always pull from the plug, guys! Or don’t, I’m not your boss!

Since I’m terrified by electricity and also 100% clueless, I just accepted the fan’s fate and helped it transition to its new role in life as a very cute paperweight. Lately, though, I’ve realized that I could really use it in my dining room/woodshop–modern fans, with their silly finger-proof grilles, get dirty and sawdust-y so fast and take forever to clean, but this guy just needs a quick once over with a swiffer duster thingy and it looks pristine (or at least as close as anything in my apartment is going to get.) So I took to the internet to find a solution to my plugless power cord.

It turns out I am an idiot and you can just get a replacement plug for $5 and it takes two minutes to install. Is the modern world amazing or what? I actually had to order one four different times because I kept not noticing them in the box with my other Amazon stuff and accidentally throwing them away with the packaging. (I do this much more often than is acceptable for a functional adult.) Anyway, once I successfully managed to not throw one away, I figured I’d document the (super easy) process of installing it in case anyone out there is as intimidated by electricity as I am.

This is what the plug looks like.

Peel the two wires apart and use a wire stripper to get the plastic off of them. I guess there are different size wire strippers or something, but I found this in my boyfriend’s toolbox and it worked fine.

Next I twisted the wires around the screws inside the plug and screwed the screws down. If you’re doing this with something newer, the wires are probably two different colors and you’re supposed to attach each color to a specific screw. (Something about “grounding,” which is a concept I’m not super clear on. It’s safer? It’s why I can never plug anything in on the first try?)

Close the plug up, screw it shut, and that’s it! WHY DID IT TAKE ME THREE YEARS TO DO THIS?

Now please enjoy this video I spent 30 minutes making.

Oh, and I left out the really important final step. When you go to turn your item on, be sure and press a little too hard on the button and cause the ancient plastic to break inwards, trapping the button inside of your item. Then hope that your friend George who is coming over later to help you with another electrical project will take pity on you and try to fix it.