How to clean up your home office in a flash
Our top tips on keeping your home workspace clean.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, workers worldwide had to learn to adapt to working from home.
Subsequently, hybrid working has remained a fixture of our new work culture.
Whether commuting to a home office, kitchen table or bedroom, keeping your workspace clean benefits your productivity, mood and health.
To commemorate national organise your desk day, the cleaning experts at Merry Maids have compiled a list of simple things you can do to tidy up your at-home workspace.
Cleaning your Desk
Your desk, whether at home or in the office, is probably where you spend most of your working day.
As a result, it likely sees a lot of traffic from your hands, papers and stationery, keyboards, phones, laptops and computers, and even lunch.
With the average desk containing more germs than a toilet seat, knowing how to properly clean them is imperative. You should be:
- Cleaning your desk frequently
We all grew accustomed to carrying out proper sanitisation and cleaning procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, you should still be sanitising your workspace regularly using antibacterial spray and a damp cloth.
Most shop-bought cleaners will do, or you could also use a combination of 1:1 water and vinegar to get rid of germs on your desk.
- Ridding your desk of marks
Though less important from a sanitation standpoint, if you have a hardwood desk that has been marked, you can clean them with household items.
Use bicarbonate of soda and a damp cloth to scrub marks from your hardwood.
If this doesn’t work, you can also try using a clean tennis ball.
Simply rub it on marks like an eraser and watch the marks disappear! Similarly, you can…
- Remove watermarks
Water rings from cups of tea and other beverages can be an eyesore and foster germs.
You can remove them by turning a hairdryer onto a high setting and pointing it directly at the mark; voila, water rings vanished!
Don’t eat at your desk
Working from home or in the office, it can be easy to forget to take time away from your desk to eat.
Eating at your desk can be an easy trap to fall into. Especially when working from home. For the sake of cleanliness, as well as your general health, we wouldn’t advise it.
Studies have found that you should be leaving your desk/screen for at least five minutes every hour, to benefit both your productivity and overall health.
As well as this, food can easily fall into your keyboard and foster germs and odour.
Cleaning your Keyboard
Speaking of your keyboard, how do you clean it to avoid germs and smells?
- Turn everything off
First things first, you’re going to want to disconnect your keyboard from your computer or monitor.
If you’re using a laptop, then make sure it’s turned off before you start.
- Flip it
Start by turning your keyboard or laptop upside down to get any initial crumbs, hair, and other debris out of the nooks and crannies.
- Hoover up debris
Use the duster appliance on your vacuum cleaner or a can of compressed air to eliminate any remaining debris lingering between the keys.
- Sanitise the keys
Take an antibacterial wipe, cotton bud or piece of kitchen roll and dip it into some antiseptic disinfectant. This can be purchased at most supermarkets.
Rub it between and along the keys of your keyboard.
Make sure to use a light touch, as getting your electronics too damp is an obvious no-no.
- Wipe up
Use a microfiber cloth to clean up the remaining disinfectant and give the keys a little polish.
Cleaning your Computer Screen
Your computer screen will also likely be home to a surprising amount of dirt and grime as a potentially high touchpoint area.
Luckily, cleaning your computer screen follows the same process as cleaning a TV screen.
Cleaning your Office Chair
Your office chair follows the same principle as your desk, but when upholstered can be even more stained and more difficult to clean.
To give it a proper clean, your best option is to start by vacuuming it to get rid of dust and hair etc.
Then follow up with a damp cloth or an antibacterial wipe to disinfect it.
You should be aiming to do this regularly, at a minimum of once a fortnight.
If your chair’s upholstery is looking tired or too difficult to clean, you can call on the ServiceMaster family of brands.
Our furniture repair business Furniture Medic offers services to repair damaged upholstery and ServiceMaster Clean offers bespoke upholstery cleaning services.
If you want to leave your home cleaning to the professionals whilst you work from home, get in touch with your local cleaning experts.
Find your nearest Merry Maids business today to book a free quote or to find out more about our services.
Simply call 0800 021 3072 or book online now.