Has your home office become filled with paperwork? Is it a bit overwhelming to work in such a cluttered space? If so, then consider it time to change that. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to deep clean your home office space.
Getting rid of the clutter
Before you dive in and deep clean your home office, you want to make sure that your space is free from clutter. It’s easy to let your office become a dumping ground for items that really don’t have any other place to go. And on top of that, normal office clutter piles up quickly.
The first step in deep cleaning your home office is to go around and make sure everything has a home. Decide whether things need to be thrown out, donated, or moved to another room where they belong.
Organizing your files
Now the next thing you want to do once you’ve de-cluttered your home office is start to organize your filing cabinet. If you don’t have a filing cabinet, this is the time to organize your desk and office supplies.
Get rid of any papers or files you no longer need and then check your office supplies to see if there’s anything you need to pick up. And if you do have paper files, you can also consider switching them over to a cloud-based platform. This will help minimize paper waste in your office space.
Deep cleaning your home office
Once you’ve removed the clutter and organized your files you can start to deep clean your home office. The process of deep cleaning a home office space is very similar to deep cleaning any area of the house. What you want to do is work your way from top to bottom from the inside out. Let’s talk about it.
Dusting
When you begin deep cleaning your home office, the very first thing that you want to do is dust. Dusting is extremely important because it allows clean and proper airflow through the house. If you or someone in your family has allergies, you’ll want to dust your office on a regular basis.
Starting at the top of the room dust all your light fixtures, ceiling fans, blinds, and pictures or artwork. Then working your way down you’ll want to make sure you dust off your computer, keyboard, chair base, and baseboards.
Disinfecting
Making sure every that surface you touch in your home office gets disinfected is a vital part of the deep cleaning process. Take a disinfectant wipe and wipe off your desk, mouse, and keyboard. You’ll also want to wipe down all the handles in the room whether they’re on the door or the cabinets as well as the arms of your chair.
Windows
If you have any windows in your office, now is the time to make sure they are squeaky clean. Be sure to wipe down the windows, the sills of the window, and the tracks so that there isn’t any dirt left behind.
Baseboards
Though we covered dusting your baseboards in the first step of the deep cleaning process, you still want to wipe down your baseboards. Fill up a bowl with warm water and some mild detergent. Using a cleaning cloth soak it in the water and ring it out so that it’s damp and wipe down your baseboards.
Floors
The last step in deep cleaning your home office is cleaning the floors. No matter what kind of floors you have in your office (carpet, wood, laminate, etc.) you want to work from the inside of the room out.
If you have hardwood floors start by sweeping and then finish with mopping. And if you have carpet, sprinkle baking soda evenly throughout the floor, letting it sit for 30 minutes and then vacuuming it up.
Save yourself some time
Looking to cut your cleaning time in half? Here are a few things you can do going forward that will save you some time in the long run:
Add a small plant to your office space to introduce a healthier airflow and prevent heavy dust buildup.
Keep a container of disinfectant wipes on your desk for easy access so you can clean as you go.
Use cloud-based storage for your files to eliminate clutter.
Put a small recycling bin by the door so that you can easily throw things in it as you go.
Hire a professional house cleaner to do a routine cleaning.
