Do you work from home? Many people work from home these days - the global pandemic forever shifted attitudes towards working from home, with many never returning to the office full time and preferring it that way. Some people take a hybrid approach, working a few days from home and the rest in the office. The benefits to wellbeing from working from home are indisputable, with reduced commutes and the associated costs in fuel or public transit fares - and benefits to health and wellbeing as well.
Yet part of working from home is ensuring that your home office stays neat, tidy and clean. Working in a cluttered, dirty or messy home office can be stressful. Lucky for you, we’ve developed this simple guide to detoxify and declutter your home office. Read on to discover how to make your home office look and feel brand new.
The first step is to invest in the best home office cleaning tools. You’ll want items like a vacuum, dustpan, cleaning sprays, dusting sprays, cloths, brushes, steam cleaner, gloves, and other protective equipment. You may already have some of these items, such as the vacuum and the generic cleaning supplies. However, if you’re missing anything, now is the perfect time to stock up.
If your home office is filthy and messy, you may feel overwhelmed when it comes to beginning to clean it. This feeling may cause you to procrastinate and tend to other tasks to avoid the job. One easy way to avoid procrastination is to break a big job down into several smaller ones. Set yourself a few smaller tasks to partition out the big clean, and you’ll find it much more manageable.
Flooring can quickly become dirty, especially in high foot traffic areas. Pets can add to floor debris, as dogs and cats can cart in small dirt particles from outside. Run the vacuum over your home office floor to suck up all that nasty stuff. If you have a carpeted floor, you can combine the vacuuming with some powdered carpet cleaner or deodoriser to remove musty smells.
If your home office floor is hard-surfaced, such as timber or tiles, give it a good mop after you’ve vacuumed. A steam mop is perfect for tiled floors, as the heat from the steam makes for an excellent natural antibacterial measure. Wooden floors should be wiped down with a damp cloth and maybe some timber cleaning product or mopped.
If your desk is cluttered and full of papers, stationery and other assorted work items, spend some time tidying it up. You can shred any paperwork you don’t need any more - this makes a perfect carbon addition to your compost bin or heap. Otherwise, file it away in a cabinet or document folder.
Next, tidy up the stationery, such as loose pens, pencils and other items. If you don’t already have one, a pen holder is an excellent addition to your home office desk. Otherwise, tuck them all away in a drawer so they don’t clutter your space.
Once you’ve tidied up your desk, wipe it with some cleaning spray and a damp cloth. If you drink tea or coffee at your desk, there may be some cup stains that you should wipe away. Then, your desk will be sparkling clean and ready for a hard day’s work.
Look around the rest of the room to see if you can tidy it up. For instance, are their clothes on the floor or strewn over chairs? Have you kicked off your shoes underneath your desk? Is there any other rubbish scattered about that you can dispose of? Put away any loose items in their respective spots and create some order in your home office. If the walls are stained or marked, thoroughly wipe them down with sugar soap.
Over time, your keyboard can accumulate hair, dirt and dust between the keys. Turn it upside down and give it a gentle tap to remove the grit and grime, then wipe that away and dispose of it. You can also use a can of pressurised air to blow out deeply ingrained dust.
Your computer monitor can get dusty and dirty over time. Using a special cleaning spray, give your monitor a spray and wipe it down to restore it to its former glory.
This helpful article has shared how to declutter and detoxify your home office. You’ve learnt how to avoid procrastination, what cleaning supplies you need and a step-by-step guide to tidying and cleaning your home office. Follow this guide for a clean workspace that you’ll love to occupy.