Project for self-improvement #1: Organization

There are several things that I need to work on. My biggest one? Organization. At work and at home, I am extremely disorganized. I am in charge of filing at work. Both paper and electronic files.

I am a month behind in my paper filing. Electronic filing is up to date, but the paper files is where others look for things in my absence. So I fear calling in sick, because if someone were to need something they probably wouldn't be able to find it without me. Some day, I will get sick. It's just not possible that I will be healthy forever. Therefore, I need to get caught up on my paper filing to serve the office better.

At home, it's not just organization, but general cleanliness that I need to work on. By the way, I live with my boyfriend, who I will be recruiting to help with all of the following problems:
1) Laundry piles up until we are out of clothes. There is no official laundry day.
2) Dishes will pile up in the sink, and we have a dishwasher. That is insanity. Put the dishes in the dishwasher. If the dishwasher is full, run it. If it is full of clean dishes, take two minutes to unload. There should never be dishes in the sink.
3) Bathroom counter is covered with all my toiletries. They need to be put under the sink, in the drawer, or in the medicine cabinet. At the very least, lined up neatly against the mirror.
4) We don't have a vaccuum cleaner or a mop. Gross, but true. I've been borrowing my mom's vaccuum every couple of weeks. We did have a mop, but it broke. Our kitchen floor is sticky and the carpet looks nasty. We need to budget for a vaccuum and a mop.
5) Tables are always cluttered. This includes the dining room table and all coffee and end tables. Most of it is junk mail and uncategorized crap, like my ipod nano and Stacey's paycheck stubs. Time to organize the clutter.

I have a plan. Or rather, an experiement. For all of next week, I will FORCE myself to stick to this. I will use this weekend to prepare.

My work plan:
1) Give myself two 15-minute breaks, just like any other job I've had. Two hours into my day and two hours after lunch (around 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.) I will take 15 minutes to surf the net and to update my blogs. Other than that, if I'm online it's work-related.
2) Give myself a schedule every day, and put reminders on Outlook that will pop up to tell me what I should be doing right then.
3) Write down a task list at the beginning of the day, and check off items as they are completed. Add to the list as needed.

My home plan:
1) Clean the house from top to bottom this weekend in preperation for keeping it that way.
2) Buy a vaccuum cleaner and a mop. Use weekly.
3) Do laundry every Friday.
4) Any time I prepare food, immediately clean up after the meal. No excuses on this one.
5) Let Stacey know the new rules and get him on board.

This should be a learning experience. It's beyond time to start improving myself. Wish me luck!