diff --git a/edbob/configuration.py b/edbob/configuration.py
index 52554ac..4d8edbe 100644
--- a/edbob/configuration.py
+++ b/edbob/configuration.py
@@ -115,6 +115,39 @@ class AppConfigParser(ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser):
             d[opt] = self.get(section, opt)
         return d
 
+    def get_user_dir(self, create=False):
+        """
+        Returns a path to the "preferred" user-level folder, in which
+        additional config files (etc.) may be placed as needed.  This
+        essentially returns a platform-specific variation of ``~/.appname``.
+
+        If ``create`` is ``True``, then the folder will be created if it does
+        not already exist.
+        """
+
+        path = os.path.expanduser('~/.%s' % self.appname)
+        if sys.platform == 'win32':
+            from win32com.shell import shell, shellcon
+            path = os.path.join(
+                shell.SHGetSpecialFolderPath(0, shellcon.CSIDL_APPDATA),
+                self.appname)
+        if create and not os.path.exists(path):
+            os.mkdir(path)
+        return path
+
+    def get_user_file(self, filename, create=False):
+        """
+        Returns a full path to a user-level config file location.  This is
+        obtained by first calling :meth:`get_user_dir()` and then joining the
+        result with ``filename``.
+
+        The ``create`` argument will be passed directly to
+        :meth:`get_user_dir()`, and may be used to ensure the user-level folder
+        exists.
+        """
+
+        return os.path.join(self.get_user_dir(create=create), filename)
+
     def options(self, section):
         """
         Overridden version of ``ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser.options()``.