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BooMama's Before and After Event....

Hello BooMama visitors! I'm not sure how many of you will be stopping by considering I'll probably be at the bottom of the list--but for those 1 or 2 who do....hello!

For those who normally stop by and have no idea what I'm talking about...here's the scoop.

BooMama is having a little DIY Before and After event. The goal was to do some project on your to-do list.

I had grand plans people. Grand plans. My hope was to refinish my grandmother's china hutch.

This cabinet has been in my family for quite some time, and due to water damage, the veneer is starting to pull away. I have wanted to refinish it for some time.

But due to a little thing called the Breast Cancer 3-Day (this is a video--watch it...it's great!) any grand plans of using power tools came to a screeching halt.

So, I then thought, "Ohhh! I'll clean out the hall closet." Afterall, I'm tired of digging through there trying to find anything....

Notice the hodge-podge of items. In this closet you'll find:

• The vacuum
• Wrapping paper (recently purchased from a school fundraising drive)
• Games
• Bulk sized fruit cocktail from Costco
• 4 fanny packs that I tried out for the 3-day
• My viola

Well, again, that 3-day walk really ate up my time. So, I had to settle for organizing my bills.

I feel like a "Before and After Flunkie". I've peeked at the posts already--and you people did some awesome things.

Is this where I say that I just walked 60 miles for Breast Cancer, and helped my team raise over $30,000?

Now, let me say that my bills are paid (thankyouverymuch), but the stubs have laid in a pile since May.

Which would be when I started training for the 3-day.

So, here is my sad, sad, sad contribution to BooMama's Before and After.

So, here's the bill pile before.

And here is the bill pile after.

You'll notice that I have a folder for each bill (school loan, cell phone, credit card, etc) and I keep information for 1 year. So, right now, I have nothing older than January 2007. My handy shredder gets quite the work out each January. I've read that there is no need to keep your bill statements longer than a year. Tax information is a whole 'nuther story. I never get rid of tax stuff. But this has really been a way for me to stay organized. It's a lot easier to grab the folder for my school loan if I should need to contact the Bank of North Dakota for any reason. I think folks find what works for them in organizing their stubs--but this has been my way for 12 years.

If it's not broke--it doesn't need fixing.

I forgot to take a photo of the shelf, but it is clean--and the only thing showing on that shelf is a ream of printer paper.

I would like to point out that at least I'm not like the Big Guy. His organization style is as follows:

Notice the basket on the antique piano stool? Well, the Big Guy does "auto pay" for all of his bills. So he never opens them. They land in a pile in the bill basket.

Is this where I say that it was by chance that he realized that our cable bill went up $30? Had he run his course of normal, he would have never known.

And his way of organizing those stubs?

His drawer in the file cabinet is really just a bigger version of the bill basket.

That's true love, I tell ya.

So, to the BooMama folks, I apologize for my lack of creativity.